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CITY OF SAN LEANDRO <br />STAFF REPORT <br />Date: September $, 2009 <br />To: Stephen L. Hollister, City Manager <br />From: Ian Willis, Chief of Police <br />By: William Baptista, <br />Community Compliance Specialist <br />Subject: Amend Weed Abatement Ordinance <br />SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION <br />This report consists of a discussion and request to amend the existing Weed Abatement <br />Ordinance and a draft of the proposed ordinance. <br />BACKGROUND <br />The current ordinance was revised in 2002 when the Code Enforcement Ordinance (Chapter 1- <br />12, Title 1 of the San Leandro Municipal Code) was adopted. After its adoption, weed <br />abatement and enforcement were processed under the Code Enforcement Ordinance. Staff <br />proposes to change the following: (1) Number of Notices of Violation necessary before moving <br />to abatement proceedings; and (2) Transfer of hearing body from the Board of Zoning <br />Adjustments to a hearing body composed of managers that could meet during business hours. <br />This proposed amendment would require that only TWO (2) Notices of Violation must be issued <br />before staff moves to seeking forcible abatement. The first Notice of Violation notifies a violator <br />of an impending administrative penalty and sets the hearing date. If no corrective action is taken, <br />then the fine is imposed and a hearing is scheduled. This change would reduce the time currently <br />required to obtain the right to abate violations. <br />The Hearing Body for Code Enforcement violations is the Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA). <br />The BZA meets on the first and third Thursdays of each month. This meeting schedule affects <br />when staff may enforce the weed abatement section of the Code Enforcement Ordinance because <br />there are additional days staff must wait to present a weed abatement matter for hearing. Staff <br />proposes to amend the Code Enforcement and weed abatement ordinances to allow for a separate <br />hearing body, composed of three managers, to be the hearing body for weed abatement cases <br />only. All other Code Enforcement matters would continue to be heard by the BZA. Staff <br />believes this will aid enforcement because such a body would have a more flexible schedule than <br />