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17 Staff Report.Brush Abatement with attachments PREPARED BY: Meredith Johnston Administrative Technician Reviewed by: Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Town Attorney, Finance Director, and Parks and Public Works Director 110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● (408) 354-6832 www.losgatosca.gov TOWN OF LOS GATOS COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: 06/18/2024 ITEM NO: 17 DATE: June 3, 2024 TO: Mayor and Town Council FROM: Laurel Prevetti, Town Manager SUBJECT: Conduct Brush Abatement Program Public Hearing to Consider Objections to the Proposed Removal of Brush on Parcels Listed on the 2024 Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Area Non-Compliant Parcel List and Order Abatement RECOMMENDATION: Conduct a public hearing to consider objections to the proposed removal of brush on parcels listed on the 2024 Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Area Non-Compliant Parcel List (Attachment 1) and order abatement. BACKGROUND: The Brush Abatement Program is a different and complementary program to the Weed Abatement Program. Both programs work to protect the Town from wildfire risk by reducing potential fuel, such as brush, in hillside areas. The Brush Abatement Program is managed by the Santa Clara County Fire Department. The Town of Los Gatos Municipal Code Section 9.20.025 et seq requires property owners in the locally adopted Wildland Urban Interface Fire Area (WUI) (Attachment 2) to maintain effective defensible space by removing brush, flammable vegetation, and combustible growth, based on the locally adopted Fire Codes. Government Code Section 39560 and the following, authorize the County Fire Department, through a contract for services with the Town, to remove the brush if the property owner fails to do so and to recover administrative service and abatement costs through an assessment on the property tax bill for each parcel. PAGE 2 OF 5 SUBJECT: Brush Abatement Program Public Hearing to Consider Objections to the Proposed Removal of Brush on Parcels Listed on the 2024 Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Area Non-Compliant Parcel List and Order Abatement DATE: June 3, 2024 BACKGROUND (continued): The WUI area is the part of the Town at greatest risk for wildfire and primarily consists of the hillsides and immediately adjacent neighborhoods. Los Gatos has over 1,800 parcels in the WUI area. County Fire categorizes the parcels into zones and conducts inspections of each zone every three years within the five to six-week inspection time frame (April-June). Through this approach, each parcel is inspected every three years. Early each year, property owners are reminded that they must remove flammable vegetation from around their home and other structures on their property to create defensible space. The Town annually adopts the Hazardous Vegetation Abatement Program and works with the Santa Clara County Fire Prevention Division who serves as the enforcement agent and conducts the inspections. DISCUSSION: On May 7, 2024, the Town Council passed Resolution 2024-18 (Attachment 3) declaring hazardous vegetation (brush) a public nuisance, ordering abatement, and setting June 18, 2024, as a public hearing to consider objections to the proposed removal of brush. The following is a timeline of the program: FEBRUARY/ MARCH The Santa Clara County Fire Prevention Division (County Fire) notifies property owners located within the designated WUI area of the requirements and timeline to comply with the safety regulations of the adopted California Fire Code. At the time of the notice, property owners are given the option to complete the required work themselves, hire their own contractor, or elect to schedule the Town of Los Gatos’ authorized contractor (which is the County of Santa Clara Weed Abatement Program) to perform the work. APRIL County Fire conducts the first inspections of the properties identified in February/March. Letters and door-hangers are provided for those who are still not in compliance with the program requirements. PAGE 3 OF 5 SUBJECT: Brush Abatement Program Public Hearing to Consider Objections to the Proposed Removal of Brush on Parcels Listed on the 2024 Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Area Non-Compliant Parcel List and Order Abatement DATE: June 3, 2024 DISCUSSION (continued) MAY Town Council adopts a Resolution declaring hazardous vegetation (brush) a public nuisance and sets a June public hearing to consider objections to the proposed removal of brush on the non-compliant private properties by the Town contractor. County Fire re-inspects the properties that were non-compliant during the Spring property inspection. County Fire provides the Town with the list of properties that continue to be non-compliant. The Town then proceeds to schedule a Public Hearing (to be held in June) to direct the removal of brush from the non-compliant properties. JUNE On June 1, property owners who are not in compliance will be assessed with a fee of $546 to cover the administrative fees associated with the various inspections. Town Council conducts a public hearing regarding properties not in compliance (this public hearing is the subject of this agenda item). At this public hearing, property owns are provided the right to object to the removal of hazardous vegetation (brush) on their non-compliant parcels. County Fire provides notice of the public hearing to the property owners at least 10 days prior (Attachment 4). The Town publishes notices at least 10 days prior to the public hearing. As a result of the hearing, the Town contractor (which is the County Weed Abatement Division) is authorized to perform the necessary abatement on private property and charge the property owner for this service. After the June public hearing but prior to abatement, County Fire performs an inspection of the properties that were the subject of the hearing. If the property owner has completed the abatement and is brought into compliance after June 1 and before the contractor arrives, the property owner will only be charged the amount of $546 administrative fee. These properties are then monitored through the County’s Weed Abatement program (which works in partnership with County Fire) until such time as the property demonstrates three consecutive years of voluntary compliance. PAGE 4 OF 5 SUBJECT: Brush Abatement Program Public Hearing to Consider Objections to the Proposed Removal of Brush on Parcels Listed on the 2024 Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Area Non-Compliant Parcel List and Order Abatement DATE: June 3, 2024 DISCUSSION (continued): JULY County Fire provides the Town with an assessment list of charges for any abatement work performed on private properties. This assessment list will be brought to Council for a public hearing in August. If there are no proposed charges, no additional public hearing is required. AUGUST Town Council conducts a public hearing to consider assessments on properties in the Brush Abatement Program, if any are required. A list of assessments will be submitted to the County Tax Assessor. The timeline for the final inspections runs very close to the date of the June public hearing, which means that properties on the WUI area non-compliant list (Attachment 1) may ultimately comply prior to the date of the public hearing. There are currently nine properties reported as non-compliant; however, if additional properties comply, staff will provide an updated list on the day of the public hearing by way of a Desk Item. CONCLUSION: Staff recommends that the Council conduct a public hearing to consider objections to the proposed removal of brush on parcels listed on the 2024 Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Area Non-Compliant Parcel List and order abatement of the public nuisance and potential fire hazard pursuant to the Town of Los Gatos Municipal Code (Chapter 9) regarding defensible space. COORDINATION: This program is coordinated with the Santa Clara County Fire Department and the Santa Clara County Weed Abatement Program. FISCAL IMPACT: Funds allocated in the adopted Operating Budget cover the cost of publishing the legal notices for the program. The County’s cost to administer the abatement are recovered through the tax roll assessment charges levied against the affected properties. ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT: This is not a project defined under CEQA, and no further action is required. PAGE 5 OF 5 SUBJECT: Brush Abatement Program Public Hearing to Consider Objections to the Proposed Removal of Brush on Parcels Listed on the 2024 Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Area Non-Compliant Parcel List and Order Abatement DATE: June 3, 2024 Attachments: 1. 2024 Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Area Non-Compliant Property List 2. Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Map 3. Resolution 2024-18 Declaring Hazardous Vegetation a Public Nuisance (May 7, 2024) 4. Letter to Property Owners N A Town of Los Gatos Local Responsibility Area Fire Hazard Severity Zones January 2024 1 0.5 0 E3 E3 E3 E3 E3 MILES 1 LJ Municipality • Fire Station -LGA 100 / Very High FHSZ LGA 100 / LRA Very High FHSZ APN: S1014077 51014078 51014079 51015002 51015003 51015005 51015006 51015007 51015008 51015009 51015011 51015013 51015015 51015016 51015017 51015018 51015019 51015020 51015021 51015022 51015023 51015024 51015025 51015026 51015027 51015028 51015029 51015030 51015031 51015032 51015033 51015034 51015036 51015037 51015038 51016008 51016009 51016011 51016015 51016016 51016017 51016018 51016019 51016020 51016021 51016022 51016023 51016024 51016025 51016026 51016032 51016034 51016035 51016037 51016038 51016039 51016040 51016041 51016042 51016043 51016044 51018056 51018058 51018059 51018060 51018061 51018062 51018066 51018068 51018069 51018070 51018071 51018072 51018074 51018077 51018078 51018079 51018080 51018081 51018084 51018085 51018086 51018087 51018088 51018089 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52755016 52755017 52755018 52755019 52755020 52755021 52755022 52755023 52755024 52755025 52755026 52755027 52755034 52755035 52755036 52755037 52755038 52755039 52755040 52755041 52755042 52755043 52755044 52755045 52756001 52756002 52756003 ATTACHMENT 2 ATTACHMENT 3 Serving Santa Clara County and the communities of Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga. <<Date>> <<Owner Name>> <<Owner Address>> <<Owner City>>, <<Owner State>> <<Owner ZIP Code>> Re: <<APN>> / <<Property Address>> Dear Property Owner, Your property is located in the designated Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Hazardous Fire Area which requires defensible space to be maintained around all structures on your property. Defensible space is the buffer created when combustible vegetation is removed or reduced around a structure to slow or stop the spread of wildfire. On February 23, 2024, Santa Clara County Fire Department mailed to you a packet of information regarding the enforced applicable wildland fire safety regulations, available community wildfire preparedness workshops, and this year’s property inspection schedule mandating compliance of the enforced applicable wildland fire safety regulations before June 1, 2024. Your property was recently re-inspected by the Santa Clara County Fire Department on <<Re-inspection date>>. At that time, your property was found to be non-compliant with the applicable wildland fire safety regulations. The noted violation details are listed below: <<Violations>> <<Inspector comments>> On May 7, 2024, the Los Gatos Town Council passed a resolution declaring that hazardous vegetation (brush) growing to such size and such type in such locations as to constitute a fire hazard to the community may be declared a public nuisance which must be abated by the removal of said hazardous vegetation. For further particulars, please refer to said resolution. We are informed by the Town of Los Gatos that the Los Gatos Town Council will hold a public hearing at the Town Council meeting on Tuesday, June 18, 2024 @ 7:00 pm. For more information on this process, please contact the Town of Los Gatos at ATTACHMENT 4 408.354.6888 or visit https://www.losgatosca.gov. At that time, all properties identified by the Fire Department as being non-compliant with the applicable wildland fire safety regulations will be declared to have hazardous conditions requiring abatement. An additional inspection of all identified properties will be conducted after the hearing and prior to ordering any abatement work. If you do not bring your property into compliance, the Town of Los Gatos through its contractor, may perform any brush or weed removal at your expense and will be placed on your property tax bill for payment after legal requirements are met. If you would like more information about the hazardous vegetation abatement contractor services, please contact the County of Santa Clara Weed Abatement Program at 408.282.3145 or visit https://weedabatement.sccgov.org. For your convenience, a price list indicating the rates for the County Contractor is included below. 2024 TOWN OF LOS GATOS COUNTY CONTRACTOR WEED ABATEMENT FEES Please be advised that the property owner of any parcel found to be non-compliant on or after the deadline will be charged a processing fee of $546.00 and the property will be scheduled for abatement by the County contractor. If you complete the abatement work before the County contractor performs the abatement, you will not incur further charges. Should the abatement work be performed by a County contractor, you will be assessed the contractor’s charges plus a County administrative fee of $884.00 per parcel. A) DISC WORK* PARCEL SIZE: 1st Disc + 2nd Disc = Total Discs 0 — 12,500 sq. ft. $290.77 $179.94 $470.71 12,501 — 43,560 sq. ft. $337.87 $224.94 $562.81 Larger than 1 Acre $149.63 $118.10 $268.11 (Per Acre) *It is required that parcels be disced twice a year. The cost for the first discing is higher due to additional work normally required during the first discing. B) HANDWORK $5.09 PER 100 Square Feet (SF) C) FLAIL 6 Foot Mower $6.45 PER 1,000 SF MOWING 12 Foot Mower $6.45 PER 1,000 SF D) LOADER WORK $152.44 PER HOUR E) DUMP TRUCK $140.72 PER HOUR F) BRUSH WORK $4.84 PER 100 SF G) DEBRIS REMOVAL $55.70 PER HOUR H) DUMP FEE 100% (Added to orders with debris removal at 100% of the dump site charge) Serving Santa Clara County and the communities of Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga. Please note this program does not offer herbicide application as a method of abatement. If you have questions about this notice, please contact the Fire Prevention Division of the Santa Clara County Fire Department at 408.341.4420 or email prevention@sccfd.org.