Fresno County beefs up code enforcement and fines. Here’s why it’s taking action

Fresno County Supervisors plan to more than double the county’s code enforcement staff and increase fines to combat violations such as illegal dumping. To collect fines, the county may also add the bill to the owner’s property tax.

“So many things are going wrong in our neighborhoods,” said Supervisor Steve Brandau during an April 19 discussion of the new procedures. Brandau represents urban areas and county islands close to and within Fresno city limits.

“The county ...was able for many, many years to take a hands-off approach, but now our society is not allowing that.”

Presently code enforcement actions can be drawn-out. For instance, in December 2019, the owner of a property near central Fresno was repeatedly cited for clutter, according to a then-Fresno County Fire inspector, but undertook no cleanup efforts. Then, a fire erupted, killing two people and critically injuring four children. Fire Investigator Andy Isolano said at the time that the debris slowed first responders when the blaze erupted.

Wednesday morning, much of the clutter remained on the property, despite the removal of some of the fire-damaged material. Asked last year about the mess at the intersection of Sussex Way and Harrison Avenue, a neighbor responded that she was moving.

“This neighborhood sucks,” she added.

John Thompson, assistant director of the county’s Public Works Department, said the county would be targeting “quality of life violations” by spending an estimated $1.3 million a year by increasing the full-time code enforcement staff from five to 12 along with the cost of additional vehicles and office expenses.

In addition, County Counsel Daniel Cederborg outlined efforts to make it easier for the county to use “summary abatement” procedures that would expedite the clean-up of a property that is a threat to public safety, and enable adding the fines to tax bills. Training for new planners hired to enforce the measures would be completed in October or November.

“This is something we needed to do a long time ago,” said Supervisor Buddy Mendes. “Really, the places that are suffering are the unincorporated communities.”

Mendes, who represents southwestern Fresno County including areas near Coalinga, Riverdale and Kingsburg, cited illegal dumping as “chronic,” including garbage, washers, dryers and mattresses. Violators tip the items off trucks to avoid paying fees at county disposal sites. Mendes said he believes one property owner set up an illegal dump site of his own, charging a fee for disposal.

For Supervisor Brian Pacheco, who represents a northwest area near Firebaugh, Mendota and Tranquillity, there is another emerging issue. . That’s the setup of trucking operations on land formerly used for farming, He’s received complaints that the operations run 24 hours a day, with the noise from refrigeration units disturbing nearby neighbors.