San Diego would further roll back efforts to keep city clean, orderly in mayor’s proposed budget

San Diego’s efforts to keep the city orderly, clean and healthy would take another step backward with a proposal to stop enforcing rules governing billboards, signs, adult businesses and yards loaded with junk.

The proposal, part of Mayor Todd Gloria’s plan to close a $146 million budget deficit with wide-ranging cuts, comes one year after the city stopped citing smaller code violations like yard parking and garage conversions.

City officials say they hope to get more voluntary compliance – despite the rollback on enforcement – because they are sharply increasing fines for many code violations.

City Council members say the mayor’s plan could significantly damage quality of life in many neighborhoods by adding a second layer of building inspector and zoning inspector cuts on top of last year’s layoffs.

“This is real-deal public safety,” Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said about the proposed cuts. “I know multiple neighborhoods across the city who depend on this enforcement to maintain their quality of life.”

Council members are also questioning whether it makes sense to lay off workers who generate revenue by issuing fines. The city’s civil penalty revenue fund typically takes in about $800,000 a year.

Gloria proposes to save about $1 million by cutting seven of the city’s 25 remaining inspector positions. The proposal comes one year after the city eliminated 14 inspector positions.

Last year’s cuts forced San Diego to stop enforcing what the city calls “priority 3” violations, which are considered relatively less important because they damage quality of life but don’t threaten public safety.

“It’s things that annoy you like your neighbor parking on their lawn or perhaps having their fences too high,” said Leslie Sennett, deputy director of the city’s Building and Land Use Enforcement Division.

Instead of conducting inspections and issuing citations in such cases, the city began sending letters last summer to people who complained about such violations.

The letters encourage the complaining party to either engage the violator or seek mediation. They also clarify that the case is closed due to budget issues and won’t be pursued by the city.

Gloria’s new proposal would affect “priority 2” violations, which are considered more urgent. The proposed cuts would eliminate enforcement of some priority 2 violations and significantly slow enforcement of others.

Violations where enforcement would stop include billboards, signs, building wraps, illegal storage and adult businesses. In particular, the city would no longer make sure no one is illegally living at massage businesses.

Violations where enforcement would slow significantly include abandoned houses, substandard housing, illegal grading, environmental destruction, damaging historic structures and enforcing rules on streeteries: restaurant extensions into street parking spots.

“It will just be much, much slower,” Elyse Lowe, head of the city’s Development Services Department, said about enforcement of most priority 2 violations under the mayor’s proposal.

Lowe said her department’s No. 1 priority would remain investigations of substandard housing.

Councilmember Vivian Moreno said the cuts should be reversed.

“I’m very concerned with this move,” she said, praising inspectors for keeping the city clean and orderly. “They do a whole lot.”

Elo-Rivera said the cuts, particularly less enforcement of abandoned houses, are likely to affect low-income neighborhoods more than wealthy ones – potentially damaging community pride there.

“The pride among residents and business owners in the communities most likely to be victimized by these negligent property owners is no different than in other parts of the city,” he said.

Moreno questioned whether it makes sense to cut workers who generate fine revenue, suggesting that it could create a bad cycle that continues to worsen.

“We’re cutting the staff that generates the revenue that funds enforcement and helps keep constituents safe,” she said.

City officials said the fine revenue has not traditionally been used specifically to fund enforcement. Sometimes, the fine revenue is transferred into the city’s general fund to cover expenses elsewhere in the city.

Officials said they are optimistic the higher fines, which the council unanimously approved Monday, could keep compliance rates high despite decreased enforcement.

Violations of the municipal code or the state building code would now cost $10,000 — up from previous amounts that ranged from $250 and $1,000. These fines hadn’t been updated since 2006. Fines would also rise for abandoned property penalties.

“They are intended to act as a deterrent to violators and encourage compliance,” said Heidi Vonblum, the city’s planning director.