Zoning enforcement in Altadena: it starts with a complaint

Code enforcement in Altadena is complaint-based — there is nobody driving around looking for code enforcement violations, representatives from Los Angeles county said at Tuesday night’s ACONA meeting.Alex Garcia of county zoning enforcement told the group, “We’re complaint-based — if we got a complain, we have to respond to it.

The March 24, 2015 meeting of the Altadena Coalition of Neighborhood Associations dealt largely with code issues — and there are a lot of them, according to Garcia and Tim Grover of the county building and safety department.

Common violations include storing in operable vehicles, or parking vehicles in yards; over-height walls, fences, and hedges; unauthorized garage conversions; development encroaching in required setbacks; and damage or encroachments into protected areas of oak trees.

Building and safety also looks at unpermitted grading or construction, junk, debris, and overgrown vegetation, and vacant or vandalized structures on private land.

There are some vehicles that are not even permitted on private driveways, they said, such as RVs, boats, travel or utility trailers, and commercial vehicles, they said.

Oak trees, which are protected by county codes, are another concern, they said: a permit is required to destroy, remove, relocate, damage, or encroach onto a protected zone of an oak tree, defined as 5 feet beyond the tree’s dripline.

The best start for filing a complain is to call the county’s 2-1-1 number, they said.

ACONA also looked at local drought conditions (quick take: it’s bad), and a sheriff’s department presentation about their outreach on social media (including Nixle, Facebook, and Twitter).

Some meeting handouts are attached to the story.

UPDATE: Powerpoint of the meeting is available on the ACONA website.