by Garth Meyer
The Redondo Beach city council discussed vacant properties Aug. 20, part of a process for whether to add an ordinance on the subject to the city’s laws.
Quality of Life Prosecutor Joy Ford laid out the current status.
She told of the city’s watch list – for properties that get multiple reports over time, going in and out of compliance. A potential ordinance would give definitions of vacancy and blight, set enforcement violations, penalties, statements of intent to rehabilitate, maintenance requirements and those for security.
“It’s a policy call for the council, for what to put into law,” said City Attorney Mike Webb.
Ford noted that 70% of property owners comply when contacted by a city code enforcement officer.
Webb said that Redondo Beach has a whole quality of life team now, after code enforcement was moved in 2021 from the city’s community development department to the police department. Ford works with a sergeant and the RBPD quality of life officer, who oversees the non-sworn code enforcement staff.
“That has made a huge difference,” said Webb.
City council discussion followed Ford’s Aug. 20 presentation.
“If there’s something our laws don’t cover, what is it you want them to cover?” Webb said.
The city has an average of 15 vacant property cases per year, said Ford.
Code Enforcement has received 51 complaints since 2021 alleging abandoned or vacant buildings, five which were repeats.
Most complaints regarded overgrown weeds or trash. Code Enforcement works with non-compliant property owners to address the situation and avoid court-ordered action.
Resident Jim Mueller, who has pushed this issue for the past two years, spoke in public comment. He thanked the council and told of how he did a financial analysis which shows that addressing derelict lots increases nearby property values, thus tax revenue for the city.
“People have complained to me when they find out I’m pursuing this,” he said.
The council took no action after the discussion and public comment, other than to receive and file Ford’s report.
She told Easy Reader that the properties Mueller has spotlighted are under watch or their cases are otherwise being worked on.
City Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr. concurred.
“We’ve been able to handle it, to get action on them by the existing laws that we have,” he said, citing the organizational changes made in 2021.
In March, Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic made a referral to staff, with a second by Obagi, to put the vacant properties discussion on the agenda.
As current city municipal code stands, abandoned buildings in violation may be prosecuted – as a misdemeanor or an infraction – or they can be addressed administratively.
The city has a fund to help vacant property owners in need, the “Good Deeds Fund,” started in 2018 by former city Councilman Christian Horvath, in conjunction with the city attorney’s office. The program uses money from short-term rental violation (fines) to aid owners who do not have the means to comply.
More than $10,000 is now in the fund.
Residents may report property complaints to qualityoflife@redondo.org ER
