The San Diego City Council’s Rules Committee on Wednesday gave its unanimous backing to a proposal to significantly increase maximum fines for municipal code violations.
Under the proposal, the top administrative civil penalty would jump from $2,500 to $10,000 per violation per day. Those fines currently max out at $250,000 at a given property or structure, but that figure would climb to $400,000.
The hikes were part of a package of two ordinances that the committee unanimously forwarded to the full City Council for final approval. The other would tighten regulations on so-called “mini-dorms” in neighborhoods around San Diego State University.
According to city staff, the $250,000-per-location maximum failed to deter operators of illegal marijuana dispensaries because they were so profitable, and code violation cases proliferated at such a rate that they taxed the resources of the city attorney’s office.
City officials said they also need higher fines available to combat storm water violations, illegal grading and demolition of potentially historical resources.
The penalties would also apply to property owners who remodel houses near SDSU in order to rent rooms to large numbers of students, a practice which has drawn the ire of area landlords.
“If you don’t want to pay a big, fat fine, then be a good neighbor, said Councilwoman Marti Emerald.
Tim Taylor, Emerald’s chief policy adviser, said family and dining rooms have been partitioned off to fit up to a dozen students in the same house.
The result for neighbors is increased noise, unruly behavior, trash and parking problems, Taylor said. He said code enforcement staff has worked on more than 200 cases recently involving over-occupied homes.
The mini-dorm issue has plagued the College Area for decades, but the problem has worsened in recent years with the growth of SDSU’s student population, coupled with hikes in on-campus housing fees. The city already has rules in place to govern off-campus residences in the area but has struggled to update the regulations.
Recommended changes to the municipal code include:
- Limiting the parking of cars on a property, with specific numbers based on parcel size.
- Changing the definition of a bedroom to make it harder for people to design a room like a den or study with the purpose of converting it later to a sleeping area.
- Reducing the number of bedrooms allowed in a house, depending on whether a property sits on more or less than 10,000 square feet.
- And limiting bedroom floor space to 60 percent of a home’s square footage.
Taylor said the a 2013 study found 20 percent of the average new home’s square footage is devoted to bedrooms.
Emerald said mini-dorms were the No. 1 issue of concern for residents when she came into office nearly eight years ago, and the recommendations were part of a “workable” plan.
Critics said it would force lower-income students out of neighborhoods around campus and worsen an already tight rental market.
— City News Service
