New rule: If Fresno’s code enforcement cleans up your property, they’ll send you a bill
The Fresno City Council is cracking down on property owners who don’t clean up their vacant lots in a timely manner when there’s illegal dumping.
The City Council last week amended the city’s unlawful dumping ordinance, reducing the abatement deadline for property owners from 30 days to 10 days before code enforcement cleans it up and sends the owner the bill.
Councilmembers Miguel Arias and Luis Chavez on Wednesday held a news conference at a vacant lot on North Marks Avenue next to the Victoria Park apartment complex on West Shields Avenue. A city code enforcement team also was there with equipment ready to clean up trash on the property.
It wasn’t the first time code enforcement cleaned up that property, Arias said.
“We’ve been here for several months, cleaning it up monthly, and we’ve done it at the cost and paid for by the taxpayers of Fresno,” he said. “We need private property owners to be responsive and responsible for their own private property.
“In this case, this will be the last time that the city cleans up this private property at the expense of taxpayers. Going forward, it will be cleaned up, and the property owner will be billed for the full cost of cleaning up this property,” he said.
Property owner responds
The owner of the vacant lot, Vinny Vohra, told The Bee in a phone interview he recently hired someone to clean up the parcel, and the work was nearly complete. Vohra said he hasn’t heard from code enforcement, and in the past, when he’s called the police about encampments or illegal dumping, they were no help.
However, code enforcement notified Vohra in June about the violations on his property. The notice also served as an order to correct violations, including illegal dumping, vehicles on an unpaved area, and illegal use of vacant land. The Bee obtained a copy of the notice, dated June 3. It gave Vohra until June 21 to correct the violations.
Vohra said the pandemic has made it hard to find people willing to work to clean up the property. He recently hired Robert Salazar, who told The Bee he’s talked with code enforcement to try to close a case, but that he’s new to the job.
Overall, Vohra said it’s unfair for the city to target property owners.
“It’s 100% unfair,” he said, adding that he was willing to partner with the city to find a solution. “They just want to give us a citation.”
Once, Vohra said, someone parked their RV on his property and was living there. When he asked them to leave and pointed out a no trespassing sign, the person knocked down the sign and pulled out a gun, he said.
Chavez recommended property owners secure their land with fencing to prevent illegal dumping and encampments.
“Abandoning their property is not an option anymore,” he said.
Vohra said fences don’t work and that people either knock them down or break through them.
Nuisance to neighbors
Lucy Sanchez, the manager for the Victoria Park apartments, said the vacant lot attracts safety hazards, such as homeless encampments with drug activity. Her residents have faced car break-ins, too. She’s tried to contact the property owner but resorted to calling city officials, who sent a code enforcement team and a police officer.
Chavez said sites that invite illegal dumping and homeless encampments pose a health risk to neighbors.
“I’ve had illegal dumpsites in my district where we actually had rats and cockroaches that were going in neighboring apartment complexes and making children sick,” he said. “No family should have to live next to a site like this.
“Look at the folks that live here behind us,” he said, pointing to the Victoria Park apartments. “They shouldn’t have to see this. They shouldn’t be concerned about their children walking through here on their way to school or on their way to the market or other amenities that the neighborhood has.”
New rules
The new deadline will go into effect 30 days from Jan. 27. Arias said if code enforcement cleans up a property, the owners will face a bill anywhere from $5,000 up to $60,000 if there’s a homeless encampment.
In January alone, Arias said his office received 174 clean-up requests for sites like Vohra’s property.
The councilmembers said out-of-town property owners are a big part of the problem.
Code enforcement’s budget is around $11 million, and it’s unclear how much staff time and city tax dollars have been spent abating private properties. Many times, the cost of abatement also includes time for an inspector to take photos and file reports on properties. Plus, there’s the time staff actually clean up the property using heavy equipment.
The councilmembers acknowledged the city also is grappling with a homeless crisis. The city will work to house people living in encampments before abating a property, Arias said.
“We have to do all these things at the same time, and everybody has to do their part, including private property owners, whether they live in Fresno or outside of Fresno,” Arias said.