Nevada County Grand Jury • 2003-2004

Code Compliance in Nevada County Reason for Investigation The Grand Jury received citizen complaints that the Code

Published: April 06, 2004 14 pages
Ver PDF original

Findings and Recommendations 10 findings

F1
The Code Compliance Manual states: "Potential violations can come to the attention of Code Compliance through the public, community groups, other agencies, and Board of Supervisor referrals. Code Compliance works with communities and neighborhoods to resolve key enforcement issues; it is Code Compliance's sole authority to decide complaints or violations to pursue based on the priority system and staff resources. Code Compliance is strictly a complaint driven process. Compliance is the goal; enforcement is to be used after all other options have failed."
No recommendations for this finding
F2
The 2001-2002 Grand Jury report found that code compliance in Nevada County is strictly complaint driven except in cases that involve health and safety issues. This is still true.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Grand Jury continues to recommend that the Board of Supervisors: A. Streamline the process to correct a violation of any non-permitted building B. Encourage all Nevada County employees to file official complaints if they observe code violations C. Increase amounts for mandatory fines and penalties to punitive levels
F3
The 2001-2002 Grand Jury report found that there were 11 separate notices/letters used to serve notice of building code violations. Included in the notices is a "Warning Notice of Violation" which states that infractions are punishable by a mandatory fine of $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second, and $500 for the third and subsequent violations within a 12-month period, plus penalty assessments. The BOS did not agree or disagree with this finding because the Code Compliance Manual was still in draft form and not yet presented to the BOS for consideration.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
The current Grand Jury noted that the 2004 Procedural Guidelines of the Code Compliance Department now contains 13 separate letters/notices, which can notice a violation of non- permitted building.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
The 2001-2002 Grand Jury report found that if a property owner builds without a permit, and no complaint is filed, property taxes on improvements are not collected. In addition, mitigation fees and other development fees are not collected. This remains a true statement. In response to this Grand Jury finding, the BOS partially disagreed stating “un-permitted construction is sometimes observed and reported by building department officials during performance of their official duties.”
Related Recommendations (3)
R1
The Grand Jury continues to recommend that the Board of Supervisors: A. Streamline the process to correct a violation of any non-permitted building B. Encourage all Nevada County employees to file official complaints if they observe code violations C. Increase amounts for mandatory fines and penalties to punitive levels
R2
If the County cannot resolve a violation, a lien should be placed on the property to cloud the title, or add this assessment to the property tax bill.
R3
The Grand Jury strongly recommends that the Board of Supervisors move away from the hands-off policy that exists today. Stop the County’s loss of fees, fines and levies resulting from the continued unreported building taking place within the county by promoting CODE ENFORCEMENT policies that require everyone to "pay their fair share" of construction and development-related fees.
F6
When building permits are issued, the County receives fees. In addition, schools and fire districts receive separate funds from building permit fees. For example, the property owner of a 2200 sq. ft. home in Penn Valley paid $9,279.81 for the following fees: • County fees: Nevada County Grading Permit $64.73 Nevada County Plan Site Review 472.89 Nevada County Inspection Permits 2,113.07 Total $2,650.69 • Other fees: NID hookup $700.00 PG&E hookup 750.00 Penn Valley Fire District 1,054.52 School Mitigation 4,124.60 Total $6,629.12
No recommendations for this finding
F7
The 2001-2002 Grand Jury report found more than 1000 open code violation cases. As of the date of this report, the code compliance department acknowledges approximately 600 open code violation cases.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
The 2001-2002 Grand Jury report found that the Assessor's Office does not actively communicate with the CDA regarding non-permitted building. The BOS responded that the Assessor allows CDA access to printed records and the Assessor and CDA communicate with each other on an as-needed basis. The current Grand Jury found little, if any, improvement in this process.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Grand Jury continues to recommend that the Board of Supervisors: A. Streamline the process to correct a violation of any non-permitted building B. Encourage all Nevada County employees to file official complaints if they observe code violations C. Increase amounts for mandatory fines and penalties to punitive levels
F9
Other counties use law enforcement to ensure full compliance with existing codes. This was a finding of the 2001-2002 Grand Jury and remains true today. The BOS response to the 2001-2002 Grand Jury report states: "Some other counties most likely do use stricter code enforcement to compel compliance with their codes, just as other counties may not be as strict as Nevada County in seeking code compliance."
No recommendations for this finding
F10
The Grand Jury notes that Placer County takes a more active approach to code enforcement: “It shall be the duty of the Placer County Sheriff, the planning director, the chief building official, and/or the health officer and the employee(s) designated by the above officials as code enforcement officers to enforce the provisions of the County Code1 as specified.” CONCLUSIONS
No recommendations for this finding

Conclusions 6

No Responses Found 1

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

Nevada County Board of Supervisors Elected County Office