Wednesday, November 7, 2007 

This photo from June shows South Lake Tahoe's Angora Fire in all its fury. Ben Furtado/Auburn Journal

Board OKs new fire protection ordinance

By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer

The ordinance calls for tax liens or even jail time if the county has to move in to clean out an overgrown property and the owner isn't able to pay for the work done.

That drew opposition from the Tahoe Sierra Board of REALTORS, which wants more discussion on an ordinance that could ultimately result in foreclosure and sale of a home for failure to pay for the cleanup.

Assurances were given by Supervisor Bruce Kranz, who represents the Tahoe area on the board, that very few, if any, property owners would reach the stage of having their property entered and cleaned up by the county or fire officials.

John Falk, the real estate board's government relations liaison, told supervisors that his group was seeking a rewrite.

"The whole concept as proposed has merit but the deep concerns we have revolve not around the carrot part but the stick part," Falk said.

Kranz has worked on the requirements since the June Angora Fire in an attempt to close a loophole that requires homeowners to protect their houses by reducing hazardous vegetation around a structure out to a distance of 100 feet but could be threatened by a neighboring, undeveloped parcel because no defensible space regulations apply there.

"I rarely disagree with you," Kranz told the real estate representative. "But unimproved properties aren't protected under California fire regulations. We've built in a ton of safeguards and appeals. This would be what happens if they've exhausted those."

The ordinance was approved on a 5-0 vote and will serve as a year-long pilot program that could spread to other areas of the county in future years.

Supervisors also agreed to set aside $250,000 to support the ordinance's inspection program and provide seed money for initial abatement work.

The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com, or post a comment at auburnjournal.com.