§ 34A-16. Administrative civil penalties.

In addition to any other remedies provided by County Code or State Law, there is hereby imposed the following civil penalty for each violation of this chapter:

(a)

Five hundred dollars ($500.00) per day from the day the seventy-two (72) hour Notice is posted on the property, and continuing for each day that the violation continues to exist; however, if a Notice of Nuisance Abatement Hearing is issued, the penalty shall increase to one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per day from the date the Notice of Nuisance Abatement Hearing is posted on the property, and shall continue to accrue at that rate for each day that the violation continues to exist, until the violation is abated by whatever means.

(b)

At the Nuisance Abatement Hearing, the Hearing Officer shall determine the total amount of Administrative Penalties that have accrued at the time of the hearing, and that amount shall be reflected in the decision and awarded to the County. If at the time of the hearing the nuisance has yet to be abated, the decision shall state that Administrative Penalties shall continue to accrue at one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per day until the nuisance is abated. The decision of the Hearing Officer shall be final and conclusive on the date the decision is deposited in the mail.

(c)

Administrative Penalties shall not be awarded if the property owner establishes all of the following:

(i)

That, at the time he or she acquired the property, a violation of this code already existed on the property;

(ii)

The property owner did not have actual or constructive notice of the existence of that violation; and

(iii)

Within thirty (30) days after the mailing of notice of the existence of that violation, the property owner initiates and pursues, with due diligence, good faith efforts, to meet the requirements of this Code.

(d)

In the event a tenant or property owner contacts a Code Enforcement Officer and demonstrates that all violations have been corrected in a timely manner prior to a hearing being conducted pursuant to this chapter, the Director of Development Services, or his or her designee, has the authority to waive or reduce the amount of penalties owed, and cancel the scheduled hearing, if in his or her opinion such a reduction and hearing cancellation is warranted.

(e)

Following the issuance of a Hearing Officer's decision, the Director of Development Services, or his or her designee, may compromise the amount of any administrative penalty imposed by the Hearing Officer. When determining whether to compromise any penalty amount, the Director, or his or her designee, shall take into consideration the nature, circumstances, and gravity of the violation(s), any prior history of violations, the degree of culpability, the financial burden to the person(s) upon whom the penalty has been imposed, the degree to which the proposed compromise will facilitate collection of the penalties without the need for further legal action, and any other matters justice may require. The compromise shall be subject to any terms and conditions prescribed by the Director, or his or her designee, which may include, without limitation, a condition requiring that the subject legal property and all responsible parties remain free of any additional violations for a specified period of time. Any person accepting a compromise penalty hereunder shall be required to execute a Compromise Agreement in a form approved by County Counsel.

(Ord. No. 4051, § 1, 2-26-13; Ord. No. 4073, § 4, 120-10-13; Ord. No. 4107, 1-26-16 )