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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC - Public CommentsPu kcoomwrS - W. GARY SOKOLICH, PH.D. SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL CONSULTANT 801 Kings Road Newport Beach, CA 92663 (949) 650 -5379 NON - AGENDA ITEM PRESENTED AT THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE NEWPORT NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCIL JULY 8, 2008 Good evening Mayor Selich and other members of My name is Gary Sokolich, and I am not related reside at 801 Kings Road, Newport Beach 92663. minute time constraint, I am going to read froi manuscript that I have given to the City Clerk and inclusion in the documented record of this M the City Council. to the Mayor. I Because of the 3- n a prepared for distribution meeting. I have lived at 801 Kings Road for twenty years. During that entire time I have had an 18 -foot So1Cat catamaran on a trailer parked in the western half of my driveway. On May 28, 2008, I received a notice of violation that was issued by Code Enforcement Officer Brian Contino. I subsequently spoke with Mr. Contino by phone, at which time he told me that my boat was in violation because the distance between the property line and my garage was less than the required 19 -foot setback. Mr. Contino also stated that if I parked my car in my driveway next to my boat, my boat would be in violation but my car would not. In order to clear up my confusion about the car vs boat issue, I read Section 20.66.040 of the Municipal Code and I spoke with Mr. Alford in the Planning Department. Mr. Alford is the City's resident expert on Title 20. As a result, I learned that the purpose of the 19 -foot setback requirement is to prevent cars, that are parked in driveways, from blocking the public right of way on sidewalks. I also learned that, because there are no sidewalks on the south side of Kings Road, the 19 -foot setback requirement is not directly applicable. More importantly, I learned that Section 20.66.040 applies to motor vehicles (i.e. cars, trucks and SUVs) as well as to trailers and watercraft, and that Mr. Contino's assertion that it applies to my boat but not to my car was a lie. The notice of violation that I received exposes two serious problems. One problem has to do with the relevance and applicability of the 19 -foot setback requirement to driveways where there are no sidewalks. The other problem has to do with the enforcement of 20.66.040 in a fair and non - discriminatory manner to cars, trucks and SWs as well as to trailers and watercraft. The latter problem is a real can of worms because there are numerous residents along Kings Road and the Cliff Haven Community who are parking cars, trucks and SWs in driveways that are just like mine. To date all attempts on my part to get the people in Code Enforcement, the City Manager and the City Attorney to even acknowledge the existence of these issues, let alone address them, have failed. While the people in Code Enforcement and the City Attorney have simply ignored my requests for clarification of these issues, the City Manager has been quite free in expressing his opinions. In his most recent and most disturbing email, the City Manager stated "I intend to go down the road of bringing you into compliance with City regulations. You can kick and scream all you want, but you are going to be cited repeatedly until you come into compliance." The City Manager will soon come to realize that he is not my father and that I am not a five year old child throwing a temper tantrum. I've lived in West Newport for just over 19 years. About 6 years ago, the property next to us was sold to the Tolman family. They currently own and operate at least 10 seasonal rental duplexes in Newport and have become a major nuisance to the community. For several years, we tried to leave the City out of it and try to work with the Tolman's directly to keep their trash and tenants in line. After years of frustration over the situation, my wife began to get the City involved about 2 years ago by documenting the trash problem with pictures and e- mails. City officials have attempted to correct the non - compliant situation using the tools available, mainly warnings and citations. The Tolman's pay the fines, clean up a little and go back to business as usual. Before long, the trash or tenant situation is repeated. Multiple citations have been issued regarding this property at 4000 Seashore but this is not the only non- compliant building. Many of the other Tolman properties have been issued multiple citations as well so this is not an isolated incidence and we are not the only victims. In fact, they are well known in the community, especially to those of us who own a property adjacent to one of theirs, but it's hard for me to believe that anyone else is affected as much as us. Our property is downwind and downhill from the 4000 Seashore property. They stack their trash right next to our walkway leading to our front doors. At times, we've had as many as 17 bikes, 9 BBQ grills and/or 17 trash barrels on or over our property line. We had to build a wall to keep their trash off our property but that's just a band -aid. They stack the trash so high that it routinely falls over the wall. I'm 6'3" and have seen trash 2' over my head many times. Their area gets so full of trash that the only way for their tenants and the inevitable can collectors to access their trash zone is by using our walkway. The trash problem is compounded because they are using 4000 Seashore as a staging area for trash and junk from their other buildings. They park one of their work trucks there and are always unloading junk or arguing with each other 15' from our bedroom windows. They currently have 13 trash barrels there but are generating enough trash to fill 20 -25 so most of it is not contained by barrels. Even when one of the units are empty, the trash accumulates at an alarming rate. We have a serious fly and odor problem and often can't open our windows due to the stench. This is a health hazard to the community. The week of the 4a' of July, the occupancy of the building seemed to range from 20 to 40 younger people. The party went on night and day though -out the week and the whole neidghborhood was irate. Police action was required often during the week and the mayhem escalated on the 3` and 0. Mountains of trash were generated from the weeklong binge. When we asked Troy Tolman to get the trash off our property, he got belligerent, cussed at my wife and told us that we hadn't asked him nicely enough. Prior to that week, the winter season renters had 2 dogs that crapped on their concrete front porch, Disposal consisted of the tenants hosing the dog crap off the concrete into a mulch area. During the transition from winter to summer, I mentioned the dog crap to Troy. He shrugged and said there's only so much he can do. Within a few days, the first summer rent family arrived with 3 small children. The children played in that mulch for days but we didn't say anything because we didn't want to risk retaliation of the Tolman family. The next family had children playing in the mulch also. • They do not care how adversely they or their tenants affect the community or their neighbors • Are not properly managing their properties to standards expected by the community • They are creating and/or allowing health and safety hazards • Routinely push the limits of what they can get away with. Multiple citations have only produced temporary results. It seems that City Officials hands are tied because citations are their main tool. Are there any other tools available to help them control this behavior? Some suggestions that may help our immediate situation are: • Disallow moving of trash between buildings so certain buildings don't become dumping grounds • Force high trash generators to have multiple pick -ups using dumpsters (please not next to our house) • Force the Tolman's to keep their trash on the other side of the building at 4000 Seashore Pull their seasonal rental permit if they fail to comply m s Dear City Officials: Attached is supporting documentation regarding the residential trash problem at 4000 Seashore. I want to provide examples of what we have been dealing with continually for several years. It is truly disgusting and I hope you can help us resolve the issue. Decent, responsible property owners should not be forced to live next to such unsanitary conditions. Following are some suggestions: 1. They need to be made to get new trash cans. The ones they use are so smelly and disgusting that the stench and flies are abundant even when the cans are empty. 2. They need to move their trash cans to the side of their building where the trash will not disturb the neighbors. Maybe getting a restraining order stipulating that they need to keep trash a certain amount of feet from a neighbor's doorway. 3. Each building should remain responsible for the trash they generate. No more relocating trash to other buildings. 4. Tolman's should supply their renters with plenty of handle tie bags and state in their contract that trash is to be put out in the tied bags. 5. Hire an outside service to pick up trash mid week. 6. Hire a cleaning and landscaping company to clean & maintain the grounds around the buildings, since the Tolman's do not. When renters arrive and see the place is a dump, they treat it that way. 7. Hire a reputable, established property management company to manage their properties. Apparently they have more properties than they can responsibly manage on their own. 8. These suggestions are all reasonable and most property owners are currently doing them. If Tolman's will not agree to the above, then the only other option is to revoke their permit for summer rentals. Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated. We have to walk past this each time wp come and go from our house, �- a .,. -,ii„ k�A �. A I I ji, =ism ki 1 7 '.� �au� OMER= MU a M in -a See time /date stamp on previous photos These are Tolman bldgs across from 4000 Seashore. Notice not a speck of trash, it's all been moved next to our entry. ,sue :gh r I 4 Aw ;w a 0 'r OUR MOO 00:60 I sf -, I . : -s r IF arm � i 13 trash cans at this duplex are not enough. Trash is always overflowing and falling everywhere. I 071.071200 M O ME This is the morning after Monday's trash pick up. AfAV Ms. This is the entry way to our house in 2004. We got tired of cleaning their trash from our sidewalk so we put up the wall. June 16, 2006 Mr. Ridgeway City of Newport Beach Re: Owners of 4000 Seashore Newport Beach, CA 92663 The magnitude and carelessness of the way they deal with their trash is a health hazard that not only brings an enormous amount of flies to the area, but rodents as well. The rodents have been seen on their property several times. They go through their trash, and then the remains of what they didn't eat is left on our sidewalk and street. 4000 Seashore has become the eyesore of the neighborhood since the current owners Ken and Barbara Tolman purchased it, continually looking like a junk yard. They do not care about cleanliness and living in a healthy environment, however the rest of the neighborhood does. They have so much trash all the time that it flows into the alley and onto other residences. They dumpster dive, and bring "their finds" (trash others did not want) to store in the carport. Residents in the area had contacted the City of Newport Beach, which came by several times trying to get them to clean up their area. Ken and Barbara just curse the city officials, bad mouth and ignore them. We had asked them many times to keep their trash on their property because it blocked our tenants parking, however they paid no attention and we end up having to move their trash. For some reason the tenants do not use all the trash cans. They will have trash overflowing onto the ground, while there are 2 empty trash cans in the carport. We have spoke with them as well. The owners also bring trash from their other units to 4000 Seashore also. We put up a wall because their trash was continually ending up on our walk way leading into our home. When they saw the wall going up they contested it with the contractor stating that we were putting the wall up on their property. Our contractor told Barbara that we had a survey done. She said that our survey was wrong, and that she had one that showed the "real" property line. Our contractor told her to bring him the survey. After she stalled for several weeks our contractor realized she was lying and the wall project continued. They are mad at us for the wall because they wanted to turn their carport into an enclosed garage, and apparently needed to put that garage on our property. Now they pile their trash on and over our wall. At one point they ran into the end of it with their truck knocking down a section of it. They are very mean and nasty people, so we are very nice when asking them to keep their trash on their property, for fear of retaliation. They feel they can do whatever they want, and have total disregard for anyone else, as well as city Hiles. They also increase the amount of bathrooms and bedrooms in their properties without the proper approvals (many bootleg units). Turning a 2 bath, 4 bedroom duplex into a 5 bath, 7 bedroom mini hotel. This way they can pile as many rowdy renters as possible. So now you have trash being generated by six families from a residence originally created to house two families. However, we, the neighbors of their rentals, are the ones dealing with the brunt of the overabundance of trash. Every week their trash encroaches on neighbors, and all the residents have to drive or walk past their mini garbage dump. Their trash cans are a breeding ground for flies. The Tolman's move trash from their rentals to pile next to the neighbors property, because they don't want all the trash (and flies /rodents) to affect their ability to rent the properties. The renters are another issue, but horrible as well. At one point they had guys there that would pee off the balcony, but tenant quality is another problem. We have pictures to document the trash issues, and would be willing to get a neighborhood petition going if your office can somehow help us get them to act responsibly. They are very cheap, so maybe fines would be effective. Just this morning The Tolman's were going through their tenant's trash because they just moved out. The tenants put their garbage in the trash cans last night, and with my husband's assistance, piled it off our property so we can park. The Tolman's pulled all the trash apart, spread it out all over the area (alley, carport, our property) and kept items that they wanted, and put trash they did not want in a neighbors can. We asked Barbara to keep the trash off our property, she said she would. However, half an hour later, more trash was piled on our walkway and carport. This matter seriously needs to be addressed, and your assistance would be greatly appreciated. All the residents in the area are appalled at the way they keep their residence looking, and tired of dealing with their trash polluting the neighborhood and being a health hazard. Also, please advise of anyone else we can contact. Thank you for your cooperation. Karen Turansky Wk #: 949- 723 -6868 Cell #: 949 - 278 -4046 kuransky @sbcglobal.net ; VVAA a h _ This is a Tuesday. 1 day after the Monday trash pickup. 020 §2001 0 0 G 00 AM pi471Il7.'com: I Notice no other piles of trash anywhere else in the alley except at Tolman's r r r 1 ' qc�)I am See previous pics with time /date stamp. No trash at 4001 and 4003 because it's all next to our entry way. ..e', -•NT wpw-� L{W3 --Z�O A