A closer look -- Living within limits

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- As code enforcement officer Mitt Sealy pulled over

during a recent patrol to examine a broken table leaning against a garage

in a Westside alley, the owner of the garage and adjoining home

approached.

“What is it now?” said Les Launder, shaking his head. “This is not my

. . . fault. [The table] is not mine. People drop things here, couches

sometimes and all kinds of other things. Get out of here. It’s not my

fault.”

Sealy left quickly, saying he decided to monitor the alley that day

after receiving a neighbor’s complaint about junk storage on Beach

Boulevard.

A few minutes later, he heard over his radio that Launder had called

911 immediately after the encounter and reported that Sealy was harassing

him.

RESPONDING TO COMPLAINTS

The not-so-warm welcome Sealy received is an extreme example of the

response to a number of new city property maintenance regulations -- and

the accompanying code enforcement.

Supporters and opponents of the code revisions have spoken strongly at

public meetings since September, when the city released a brochure

identifying changes to property maintenance regulations.

In August, the new rules went into effect. The city’s Code Enforcement

Department -- strengthened by three additional officers in July -- has

been working vigorously to bring homeowners into compliance.

After hundreds of residents at a Westside community meeting in the

spring requested stricter regulations, the city updated the property

codes, said Don Lamm, Costa Mesa’s deputy city manager and development

services director.

The residents’ main complaint was that absentee landlords --

particularly apartment owners -- were not maintaining their properties,

forcing lower-income residents to live in substandard conditions and

lowering property values for other homeowners, Lamm said.

The new property codes prohibit peeling paint, dry rot, broken

windows, torn screens or deteriorating walls. They also state that

sidewalks or parkways must be free of deteriorating fences or signs, dead

or dying landscaping and litter or weeds. In addition, residents cannot

live in a recreational vehicle or garage.

MORE CODE REVISIONS AHEAD

Property maintenance codes were not the only ones targeted for

revisions this year.

To combat overflowing trash bins, the City Council in early November

passed new waste-hauling service codes, regulating the size of trash bins

and the frequency of trash pickup that must be provided to tenants by

owners of multifamily apartments and homes.

Now the city is working on comprehensive zoning code revisions. The

latest revisions, if approved, will change the property development

standards and add a new design review process.

The Planning Commission is expected to review the proposed zoning

codes Dec. 11, then pass on a recommendation to the City Council.

The main effect of all the revisions has been to give the Code

Enforcement Department “teeth,” Lamm said.

“It used to be the city could only require a building to be repaired

if it didn’t comply with building codes or if the [disrepair] was

life-threatening, like if the hand rail on the second floor was

physically rotting and falling off,” he said.

“These regulations mean we can now force them to paint the hand rail

to keep it from rotting. These codes all address safety issues. We don’t

really care how high people mow their lawns -- that’s not a priority. But

safety is a big issue.”

Eleanor Egan, chairwoman of the Westside Improvement Assn., is an

adamant supporter of the new codes.

She said the code changes are a step in the right direction but that

many of the violations still have not been fixed.

Sealy agreed that the Code Enforcement Department has a lot of work

ahead but that at some sites, including homes on Ralcom Place, Hamilton

Street and Beach Boulevard, conditions have already taken a turn for the

better.

DECODING MIXED MESSAGES

Others don’t think as much of the tighter city laws.

Marie Kolasinski, a member of the Piecemakers -- a Costa Mesa

religious sect that often tangles with city and county government over

health, fire and building codes -- said she thinks the new codes are far

too strict.

“If our city government is going to tell us when and how to paint our

houses, we are rapidly becoming a dictatorial police state,” she said.

“I’m hoping things will start to turn around so people can start

thinking for themselves. I am really disappointed with our city. We will

never have a community feeling if the government keeps telling us what to

do this way.”

Despite some obvious resentment, Sealy said most of the people he

talks to want their neighborhoods to look better.

Toward the end of his route, a woman at a Victoria Street apartment

gave evidence to support Sealy’s view.

“The door to the laundry room doesn’t work sometimes,” said Maria

Franco, adding that her deteriorating apartment is owned by an absentee

landlord.

“We tried to put plants in near the sidewalk once and the owner said

we couldn’t. I think these [codes] are good because the property will be

brought up.

“Things will look nicer with new paint and the neighborhood will feel

better about itself. They [codes] will make the owner clean up, not us,

and that will also be good.”