§ 1.16.060. Administrative abatement—Procedure.

When a condition existing on real property within the unincorporated area of the County of Riverside is deemed by the enforcement officer to be a violation of a land use ordinance constituting a public nuisance, the enforcement officer is authorized to initiate an administrative abatement proceeding as follows:

A.

Advisory notice. An advisory notice may be issued to a property owner and any other responsible party advising of the condition(s) on the property that are in violation and constituting a public nuisance. If an advisory notice is issued, the advisory notice shall be in writing and shall:

(1)

Identify the owner(s) of the property upon which the nuisance exists, as named in the last county equalized assessment roll, and identify any other responsible party, if other than the owner(s), and if known or reasonably identifiable.

(2)

Describe the location of such property by its commonly used street address, giving the name or number of the street, road or highway and the number, if any.

(3)

Identify such property by reference to the assessor's parcel number.

(4)

Specify the manner in which the conditions on the property violate the provisions of the land use ordinances and the corrective actions required to abate the violation and bring the property into compliance with the land use ordinances.

(5)

Contain a statement that the property owner and any other responsible party is required to abate the land use ordinance violation within thirty (30) calendar days after the date that the advisory notice was served.

(6)

Contain a statement that failure to bring the property into compliance with the land use ordinances within thirty (30) calendar days could subject the property owner and any other responsible party to issuance of a "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance," as well as administrative and civil fees, costs, and penalties as set forth in this chapter, including criminal penalties and could result in the imposition of a lien and special tax assessment against the property for abatement costs and fees related to the enforcement of the land use ordinances and abatement of the conditions in violation on the property.

B.

Notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance. After issuance of an advisory notice, if such notice was issued, or upon initial inspection when a condition existing on real property is deemed by the enforcement officer to be a violation of a land use ordinance constituting a public nuisance, a "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" shall be issued to the property owner and any other responsible party ordering the abatement of the condition(s) in violation within fifteen (15) calendar days of giving notice in a manner set forth in section 1.16.090 of this chapter. The "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" shall be in writing and shall:

(1)

Identify the owner(s) of the property upon which the nuisance exists, as named in the last county equalized assessment roll, and identify any other responsible party, if other than the owner(s), and if known or reasonably identifiable.

(2)

Describe the location of such property by its commonly used street address, giving the name or number of the street, road or highway and the number, if any.

(3)

Identify such property by reference to the assessor's parcel number.

(4)

Specify the manner in which the conditions on the property violate the provisions of the land use ordinances and the corrective actions required to abate the violation.

(5)

Contain a statement that the property owner and any other responsible party is required to abate the land use ordinance violation within fifteen (15) calendar days after the date that the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" was served.

(6)

Contain a statement that failure to bring the property into compliance with the land use ordinances within fifteen (15) calendar days could subject the owner and any other responsible party to the code violation fee, noncompliance fee, and abatement fee, as well as other administrative, civil and criminal penalties and could result in the imposition of a lien and special tax assessment against the property for such fees and abatement costs related to the enforcement of the land use ordinances and abatement of the conditions in violation.

(7)

Contain a statement that the owner or any other responsible party may, within ten (10) calendar days after the date that the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" was served, make a request in writing to the county department that issued the notice for a hearing to appeal the determination of the enforcement officer that the conditions existing on the property constitute a public nuisance, or to show other cause why those conditions should not be abated.

(8)

Contain a statement that, unless the property owner or any other responsible party abates the conditions in violation within the time prescribed in the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance," the code violation fee shall apply and the enforcement officer shall abate the nuisance. It shall also state that in addition to the code violation fee, a noncompliance fee, abatement fee, and abatement costs may be incurred by the county and may result in the imposition of a lien and special tax assessment against the premises for those costs and fees related to enforcement of the land use ordinances under this chapter and abatement of the conditions in violation.

(9)

The failure of the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" to set forth all required contents shall not affect the validity of the proceedings.

C.

Right of mortgagee or beneficiary to comply if owner fails to do so. If the property is encumbered by a mortgage or deed of trust of record, and the property owner has not complied with the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" or before the expiration of fifteen (15) days after service of the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" described in subsection B. of this section, the mortgagee or beneficiary under a recorded deed of trust may, within fifteen (15) days thereafter, act pursuant to the requirements of the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance."

D.

Appeal of notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance.

(1)

Notice of appeal. The recipient of a "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" may appeal the validity of the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" and resulting code violation fee by filing a written notice of appeal with the county department that issued the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance." The written notice of appeal must be filed within ten (10) calendar days of service of the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance." Failure to properly file a written notice of appeal within this time period shall constitute a waiver of the right to appeal the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance." The notice of appeal shall be submitted on a form provided by the county department that issued the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" and shall contain the following information:

a)

A brief statement setting forth the appellant's interest in the proceedings;

b)

A brief statement of the material facts which the appellant claims support a contention that no violation exists and that no fee should be imposed;

c)

An address at which the appellant agrees that notice of any additional proceeding or an order relating to the imposition of the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" may be received by mail; and

d)

The notice of appeal must be signed by the appellant under the penalty of perjury.

E.

Appeal hearing. The appeal hearing on the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" provided for in this section shall be conducted in the manner set forth in Section 1.16.100 of this chapter and pursuant to the following:

(1)

Upon the conclusion of the hearing, the administrative hearing officer shall render its decision not later than thirty (30) days thereafter and shall make findings and conclusions, and in the event that it so concludes, it may declare the property, or the conditions thereon, to be in violation of land use ordinances and to be a public nuisance. The administrative hearing officer may order the property owner and any other responsible party to abate the conditions declared in violation.

(2)

The administrative hearing officer may further order that if the conditions declared to be in violation are not abated within the time frame ordered, that the conditions may be abated by the county and the abatement costs, code violation fee, abatement fee, noncompliance fee, and hearing fee, as well as any applicable extension fee shall be placed as a lien on the property and may be collected by a special tax assessment against the property pursuant to California Government Code Section 25845, and as may be amended, or by any other means provided by law.

(3)

The enforcement officer shall issue a copy of the administrative hearing officer's decision to the property owner and any other responsible party concerned in the same manner as set forth in section 1.16.090 of this chapter, and shall file a proof of service with the clerk of the board.

F.

Time to bring action. Unless the property owner or other responsible party presents an action in a court of competent jurisdiction within ninety (90) days after issuance of the decision of the administrative hearing officer contesting the validity of any administrative abatement proceedings leading up to and including the decision of the administrative hearing officer, all objections to the proceedings and decision shall be deemed to have been waived.

G.

Final order if no appeal requested. If the property owner or any other responsible party fails to make a written request for an appeal hearing pursuant to this section within ten (10) calendar days of the date of service of the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance," the order to abate shall become final and the enforcement officer shall give written notice in the manner set forth in section 1.16.090 of this chapter.

H.

Failure to comply with order to abate. If the property owner or any other responsible party fails to bring the property into compliance within the time frame set forth in the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" or within the timeframe ordered by the hearing officer after a timely filed notice of appeal, the county may file a notice of pendency of administrative proceedings as set forth in section 1-16-140 of this chapter and a noncompliance fee shall apply.

I.

Extension of time. If the property owner or any other responsible party fails to bring the property into compliance within the time frame set forth in the "notice of violation and order to abate public nuisance" or within the timeframe ordered by the hearing officer after a timely filed notice of appeal but has made substantial progress in completing the corrective actions, the property owner or any other responsible party may request an extension of time to comply. Such request for an extension must be submitted by an application for an extension and payment of the extension fee and is subject to approval by the enforcement officer.

J.

Abatement fee. Should the county abate the conditions in violation on the property, either administratively or through a civil action, due to the property owner or any other responsible party's failure to bring the property into compliance as required by this ordinance, an abatement fee shall apply.

K.

Cost recovery. All abatement costs, as well as the code violation fee, noncompliance fee, abatement fee, hearing fee if a hearing was conducted under this section, and including any applicable extension fee, incurred by the county pursuant to this section shall be reimbursed as set forth in section 1.16.070 of this chapter.

(Ord. No. 725.14, § 6, 3-15-2011; Ord. No. 725,15, § 3, 12-11-2018)