What to do when homes encroach

Deirdre Newman

City leaders will consider a whopping 18 choices Tuesday on how to

handle encroachments at Fairview Park.

Encroachments by homeowners on Swan Drive west of Placentia Avenue

include block walls, wooden and chain-link fences, planters and other

improvements, occupying about 4,820 square feet of parkland.

Officials said 17 homeowners have exceeded their property limits,

from less than a foot to more than 22 feet.

The city’s encroachment policy mainly involves giving the

homeowner about 30 days to remove it. If it’s not removed within that

time, the encroachment is removed by staff, and the homeowner is

billed for the labor and equipment used to remove it, plus

administrative costs.

The myriad alternatives involve selling, leasing or requiring a

permit for the encroachment areas or not permitting them at all.

If they are allowed, staff recommends requiring a permit if the

encroachments are 6 inches or less and leasing of the property if it

is between 6 and 39 inches.

“Staff came up with some pretty good middle-of-the-road

alternatives,” Mayor Gary Monahan said. “And we’ve put some direction

in to keep it clean and tidy.”

At its Jan. 22 meeting, the council asked staff to conduct an

informal survey of all parks to determine property lines and to

develop a policy that allows encroachments of 6 inches or less. Staff

found that Fairview Park and Canyon Park had encroachments.

On Tuesday, the council will only consider a policy for Fairview

Park encroachments along the northern boundary, west of Placentia

Avenue.

Some of the options include allowing residents to purchase their

encroachment properties at fair market value. The council could also

consider allowing residents to purchase all or a portion of the park

property from their rear property lines to the Fairview Channel. This

would result in the loss of about 1.65 acres of parkland.

All of the 24 adjacent Swan Drive property owners would be

required to participate. Otherwise, there could be land-locked

parcels that would be impossible to access or maintain.

The Parks and Recreation Commission has recommended that existing

encroachments of up to 6 inches be allowed by permit and that all

other encroachments be removed.