An app designed by the city of San Luis Obispo resulted in an avalanche of code violation reports to the Community Development Department.
Through a centralized resident inquiry system called Ask SLO, the department saw an increase in code enforcement requests pertaining to health and safety rules, building standards, zoning and land use designations, property upkeep, animals, and substandard housing.
Complaints spiked by 65 percent at the end of 2022 compared to the average of the three fiscal years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Code Enforcement Supervisor John Mezzapesa told the SLO City Council on Oct. 3.
Mezzapesa attributed the rise in code violations to the app and “less proactive enforcement activities due to staff vacancies and the creation of new ordinances like the abandoned shopping cart regulations.”
Abandoned shopping carts were actually the top offense, making up 170 of the total 937 requests. It’s been a prevalent enough issue that the City Council adopted a shopping cart ordinance in 2021, which was amended last June. The policy requires grocery stores to make efforts to secure their shopping carts every night, label them with their store information, and promptly retrieve them when they are found abandoned off-site.
Other frequent code violations included overgrown vegetation, active unpermitted construction, strewn waste containers, and inappropriate fence, wall, and hedge heights.
“Not all of these requests result in a verified violation and opening of a code enforcement case,” Mezzapesa said. “However, each of these requests do require a field visit and at least an attempt to perform an inspection.”
Less than half made the final cut. Mezzapesa told New Times that for fiscal year 2022-23, the department opened 428 code enforcement cases. Of those, department staff identified 109 property maintenance issues visible from the public right of way. Ultimately, staff’s investigations resulted in 319 cases, and they issued notices of violations once the offenses were confirmed.
“Regarding the total amount of citations issues in FY 2022-23, we issued $23,600 in administrative fines and collected an additional $32,175 in special investigation fees for work commenced before obtaining a permit,” Mezzapesa told New Times via email. “These funds are routed to the general fund for cost recovery of code enforcement efforts.”
Both the department and City Council touted the rise in code violation reports as a success of the Ask SLO app. But the Oct. 3 study session about the department’s code enforcement program identified an absence: a vacant code enforcement technician position.
According to Community Development Deputy Director Michael Loew, while the department is still responding to complaints, there remains a gap they’re trying to fill through a future safe housing specialist.
“What we’re missing as part of the program with this vacancy is the education and outreach component,” Loew said at the meeting.
Department staff joined heads to come up with alternatives for the controversial Rental Housing Inspection program that mandated inspections of single-family and duplex rentals in SLO to check for health and safety code compliance. After a rocky two-year run, the City Council abandoned the ordinance in 2017 and directed staff to find a replacement.
“Some of the direction we received was to focus efforts on the education and outreach rather than pursue elements of self-certification or voluntary inspections,” Loew said.
Staff returned with education materials like a brochure created for landlords and tenants, and a website dedicated to safe housing information. Staff also added enforcement tools like increased fine amounts and accruing interest on unpaid fines.
Members of the Cal Poly student government weighed in. Tyler Coari of the Associated Students Incorporated (ASI) said the student body is interested in working with both SLO and the county on establishing educational campaigns about safe housing.
“At ASI, we have money that can go towards educational campaigns like this, and we have people that are ready to assist in these efforts,” he said during the study session.
Coari added that with better awareness programs, community members will have a more complete understanding of what constitutes a code violation.
City Manager Derek Johnson supported working with both Cal Poly and Cuesta College’s student leadership and tenant and landlord groups on educational efforts.
“We haven’t really seen the full effect of ed outreach,” Johnson said. “We had some fits and starts. The [safe housing specialist] position didn’t get funded until the 2019-21 financial plan. … It got funded and then pandemic hit. Then we put it off the side.” Δ
This article appears in Oct 12-19, 2023.