There may be one less unkempt commercial property in the city if
the Cupertino-based owner of two parcels of land at Condit Road and
Dunne Avenue make good on their promise.
MORGAN HILL
There may be one less unkempt commercial property in the city if the Cupertino-based owner of two parcels of land at Condit Road and Dunne Avenue make good on their promise.
No information was available about the company with the Code Enforcement office, except a P.O. box address in Cupertino. There was also no contact person.
“Sometimes they hire individuals locally to represent them,” said senior building inspector Ken DeLuna.
Code enforcement received a complaint about the unkempt area once before, and China Bay “were asked to clean it up and then they did,” DeLuna said.
On Nov. 14 the city sent another “courtesy notice” to China Bay saying it violated the nuisance provisions of the city code by allowing its property to be littered and unkempt. An unidentified individual representing China Bay stopped by the code enforcement office this week to say the company would clean-up the 7.8- and 5.3-acre parcels it owns. The two are the largest of the three that comprise the area, and Gary Justino owns the remaining 0.8 acres.
The area has been on the Times’ “Eyesore Watch” for more than two months.
Any member of the public who wants to see property cleaned up needs to file a complaint with the city’s Code Enforcement Office. A complaint form in PDF format can be downloaded from the city’s Web site, www.morgan-hill.ca.gov. Once a complaint is filed, officials prioritize it amongst 80 to 90 other complaints lodged at any give time, DeLuna said. A “courtesy” notice is then mailed to the property owner stating he is in violation of the nuisance provisions of the city code.
Code Enforcement officer John Amos is usually the individual responsible for issuing notices to owners, many of whom are absentee. The office also responds to emergencies, or what it calls “exigent situations,” such as when there’s a fire hazard, DeLuna said.
At this time, code enforcement is “fairly manageable,” DeLuna added. “If (Amos) becomes overwhelmed, then the inspectors can become involved.”
If the owners don’t clean-up, the code enforcement office can issue a citation, which would require a court appearance to answer to misdemeanor charges of violating the city code.
“It’s very rare that we get that far,” DeLuna said. “We’ve written maybe about a dozen citations over the last 20 years.”
Morgan Hill City Attorney Janet Kern said there are no plans to strengthen the city code at this time, and typically, the code enforcement office would initiate any changes through the city council. The council would then refer the matter to Kern’s office.
The city attorney has taken enforcement actions before, she said. Several months ago the city received a noise complaint and discovered several hundred roosters on a property, apparently being trained to fight. Code enforcement contacted the city attorney’s office, which also involved the district attorney to resolve the matter, Kern said.
In regards to littered private properties, the city can only issue citations, but it can’t practice what’s called “self-help” as it does in weed abatement cases. In those, the city places a lien on the properties so owners are responsible for the cost of city workers’ cleaning the property.
“The process is after (issuing a notice) the law allows for the fire department to go out, and then we do weed abatement and put a lien on the property,” Kern said, adding “there’s due process.”
The Times left a phone message for a G. Justino in the Morgan Hill White Pages which was not answered by presstime.
