REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Staff Presentation on Updates to the County Weed Abatement Program and Related Actions to Implement the Program Including, Adoption of a Resolution Declaring Weeds a Public Nuisance, and Setting March 25, 2025 for a Public Hearing to Receive Public Input Regarding Non-Compliant Parcels.
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Deliver and Enhance High Quality Efficient Service and Infrastructure
BACKGROUND
Since 1976, the City has partnered with Santa Clara County's Weed Abatement Program, a critical initiative to enhance community safety, business environments, and neighborhood aesthetics by mitigating the risk of fires. Through systematic vegetation and debris management, the program reduces fire hazards, promotes a healthier environment, enhances the overall visual appeal of neighborhoods and business districts, and contributes to a higher quality of life for residents and businesses. This collaboration aligns with the City's goal of delivering efficient, cost-effective services while upholding fiscal responsibility.
The Weed Abatement Program, managed by the Santa Clara County Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency (County), has enabled the City to leverage economies of scale, streamline operations, and maintain high service levels with minimal financial impact. During the public hearing on February 20, 2024, several property owners expressed their concerns with the program and Council requested staff to provide a report with an overview of the program, as well as answer several specific questions. Council also provided several suggested changes for improvement (Attachment 1).
DISCUSSION
Weed Abatement Program Update
Following the concerns raised during the February 20, 2024 City Council meeting, the Fire Department engaged with the County Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate ways to improve the County Weed Abatement Program.
Below is a summary of the Weed Abatement Program, responses to questions raised by the Council, changes that the Fire Department, Code Enforcement and County have made to the program, and their associated fiscal impacts, if any. The nine items summarized below are provided as informational updates. An option to change the process to delegate authority to the City Manager (or his/her designee) is discussed in Item 9. However, such a delegation would need to be agendized separately and could not take effect until 2026. Lastly, recommended actions to commence the 2025 County Weed Abatement Program in the City, with changes noted in this report, are provided at the end of this report.
Item 1: Overview of the County Weed Abatement Program
Council Recommendation/Inquiry: Provide an overview of the County Weed Abatement Program.
Staff Response: The County Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency Weed Abatement Program Manager will present an overview of the County program via PowerPoint (PPT) presentation, including the standards, process, notifications, fees and frequently asked questions (Attachment 2). The Fire Department will present a summary via PPT of the changes made to the program in the City to address the concerns raised at the Council meeting on February 20, 2024, including the topics below.
Item 2: Report on vegetation fires in the City of Santa Clara
Council Recommendation/Inquiry: How many vegetation fires occur in the City of Santa Clara?
Staff Response: According to the chart below, there have been 230 vegetation fires in the last five years (2020 - 2024), averaging 46 annually (Attachment 3).
|
Vegetation Fires in the City of Santa Clara 2020 - 2024 |
|
Incident Type |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
Annual Average |
|
140 - Natural vegetation fire, other |
12 |
10 |
9 |
6 |
16 |
53 |
11 |
|
141 - Forest, woods, or wildland fire |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
|
142 - Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire |
23 |
22 |
35 |
34 |
21 |
135 |
27 |
|
143 - Grass fire |
6 |
8 |
8 |
7 |
9 |
38 |
8 |
|
Total |
42 |
41 |
52 |
48 |
47 |
230 |
46 |
Item 3: Report on survey of cities that do not participate in the County Weed Program
Council Recommendation/Inquiry: Which cities do not participate in the County program and what do they do instead?
Staff Response: Three cities in Santa Clara County do not participate in the County Weed Program: Saratoga, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale. A survey of these three cities was conducted, and the answers are included in an attached report (Attachment 4).
Below is a summary of the survey:
• Saratoga, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale are the three cities that do not participate in the County Weed Program. Saratoga did not respond to many of the questions in the survey, but the other two cities did.
• None of the cities have an official weed abatement program. Mountain View and Sunnyvale do not have a budget for a weed abatement program.
• None of these cities have staff explicitly assigned for weed abatement. Any inspections needed are conducted by code enforcement.
• Any inspections conducted address fire hazards, as well as community aesthetics.
• If abatement is necessary, property owners are notified, and an abatement hearing is conducted. Medical exceptions can be requested and extensions on abatement will be allowed.
• Any abatement needed is conducted by an outside contractor (Tucker Construction) and charged to the property owner.
• Indigenous grasses are included in the definition of "weeds."
• Mountain View and Sunnyvale provide periodic education to the public about the importance of weed control.
• Saratoga recently left the County program to have more local control. Mountain View and Sunnyvale considered joining the County program but were told that they did not have enough properties that required abatement and would need 30-50 properties annually with chronic weed issues to join the County program.
Item 4: New Investigation/Inspection Start Date for the City of Santa Clara
Council Recommendation/Inquiry: Can the start date for weed inspections in the City of Santa Clara be pushed back later to coincide with the City’s Clean Up Campaign?
Staff Response: The County has agreed to move the City of Santa Clara's investigation/inspection start date from March 1 to April 15 to align more closely with the City's Annual Clean-up Campaign.
Item 5: Timeline of Weed Program Schedule and Fees Associated with Non-Compliance
Council Recommendation/Inquiry: What is the timeline and associated fees for the Weed Program inspections?
Staff Response: The County Weed Program investigation/inspection season in Santa Clara will run from April 15 - October 31 each year. Properties are brought to the attention of the County program by complaints filed or by inspectors who visually observe non-compliant properties when investigating other properties. The first visit to the property (Year 1) is considered an investigation, and no fees are assessed for this visit. After a property is investigated, it is added to the proposed Commencement List for the following year. Property owners are notified that they are non-compliant and added to the County list. After the Council meeting in January or February (Year 2) when weeds are declared a nuisance, “Notice to Destroy Weeds” letters are sent to the property owners advising them that they will be included on the Commencement List, providing the date for the public hearing when they may come to contest their inclusion on the list.
Once included on the list, County inspectors will inspect properties remaining on the Commencement List starting on April 15th. Even if a property is considered compliant upon this first inspection, an inspection fee will be charged for the next three years if the property remains on the Commencement List. Additional fees will be incurred if the property is deemed non-compliant at the first inspection and abatement is necessary (Attachment 5).
Item 6: Increase Weed Program Communication to the Public
Council Recommendation/Inquiry: Communicate to the public about upcoming weed inspections and provide ways to request assistance, if needed.
Staff Response: The Fire Department has implemented new lines of communication including a new email account for City of Santa Clara property owners to submit questions and objections relating to the weed abatement program. The Fire Department has updated the page on its website with information about the County Weed Abatement Program and the link to the City’s online request portal to report overgrown vegetation. Additionally, the Fire Department will announce the importance of weed maintenance for fire safety and the visual appeal of neighborhoods on social media and is working with the City’s DigiComms Team to provide additional notice to City of Santa Clara residents that the County weed inspections will begin on April 15.
Item 7: Presentation of the 2025 Commencement List
Council Recommendation/Inquiry: What properties are included on the City of Santa Clara Commencement List?
Staff Response: The 2025 Commencement Report (Attachment 6) for the City of Santa Clara has 58 new properties. Seventeen (17) properties that were on the 2024 are no longer on the 2025 list. The Fire Department has sent letters to the owners of the 58 newly added properties with contact information for both the County and the Fire Department, should they have questions or objections.
Item 8: Warning Period
Council Recommendation/Inquiry: Is there a warning period for property owners being added to the County Commencement List?
Staff Response: A warning period of 6-10 months exists within the current County Weed Abatement Program schedule. This warning period begins when the property is investigated in Year 1 and ends after the public hearing in Year 2. For example, properties investigated between April - August 2024 are not officially added to the Commencement List until after the public hearing in March 2025.
If the property is determined non-compliant during the Year 1 investigation, the property owner is notified in that year that the property will be added to the County Commencement List for the following year. In addition, property owners are sent a “Notice to Destroy Weeds” letter before the public hearing in Year 2, following the initial investigation (February/March timeframe).
Item 9: Managing Objections from Property Owners
Council Recommendation/Inquiry: How can the City better manage the objections of property owners added to the Commencement List?
Staff Response: Objections from property owners may be sent directly to the County. The County receives requests for extensions to the abatement timeline and may grant extensions on a case-by-case basis, including for medical reasons. The County also reaches out to the Fire Department with requests from property owners for abatement assistance. The Santa Clara Firefighters Foundation “Senior Assist Program” has provided yard maintenance assistance to Santa Clara residents through these referrals.
The City’s Code Enforcement Division responded to 88 complaints of overgrown weeds in 2024. Code Enforcement inspectors visited the properties and, if determined to not be compliant, delivered property owners a warning. Upon reinspection, if the property is non-compliant three times in a 36-month period, the owner is cited and referred to the County Weed Abatement Program. In 2024 only three of the 88 properties inspected were referred to the County.
The Fire Department has identified several new opportunities for property owners to ask questions and state objections before the public hearing:
• After completing all the inspections, the County has agreed to send the City the list of all the new properties added to next year's Commencement List in August (previously provided in December). The Department will then send a letter to all the new property owners on that list including contact information for any inquiries or objections. The Fire Department received the list of new properties in December 2024, and the letters were sent in January 2025. Moving forward, these letters will be sent in September.
• The County has agreed to the Fire Department’s request to add City contact information in the Notice to Destroy Weeds letter that the County sends to City of Santa Clara property owners before the public hearing. This will begin in the 2026 inspection year.
• Once the City receives the County Commencement List, City inspectors will be sent to the properties to determine whether the property owners were able to become compliant. After the visits to the properties, a recommendation will be provided to the City Council before the public hearing with any updated conditions or extenuating circumstances (including weed height) reported by City inspectors or by the property owners for consideration for removal from the Commencement List. While the County cannot change the 6" maximum height allowed for weeds for consistency purposes, if the City decided to make an exception in weed height, in some cases, this could be accomplished during the City inspector's visits to the properties.
• Potential Future Process Change (Delegation to Staff): To further streamline the process, the City Council could consider modifying the Santa Clara City Code, Title 8 Health & Safety, Chapter 8.15 Weeds, to delegate the authority to the City Manager (or his/her designee) to manage the objections of property owners being added to the weed Commencement List and determine whether the objections will be allowed or overruled. This may require an amendment to the existing contract the City has with the County (Attachment 7). Should the City Council desire to formally consider delegation of authority for Commencement List determinations, direction to staff to prepare the necessary documents can be provided at the February 25 meeting. The delegation could not occur until the 2026 Weed Abatement Program.
Proposed City Council Actions
As part of this Report, the Fire Department recommends that the City Council continue with the Santa Clara County 2025 Weed Abatement Program, with the forementioned modifications, for the forthcoming season. The first formal step in this process, in accordance with Section 8.15 of the City Code, is for the City Council to adopt the Resolution (Attachment 8) declaring weeds to be a public nuisance. The next step is to hold a noticed public hearing to hear public input regarding the proposed destruction and/or removal of weeds from non-compliant lots or parcels of land contained within the County Commencement Report. To implement this next step, the Fire Department is also recommending that the City Council authorize the posting of a Notice of Public Hearing (Attachment 9) scheduled for March 25, 2025.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Staff recommends that the City Council determine that the actions being considered are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to section 15308 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations as the Weed Abatement Program is authorized by both state and local ordinance, to assure the maintenance, restoration, enhancement, or protection of the environment.
FISCAL IMPACT
The current County program has minimal impact on the City's General Fund. The program is funded entirely through fees charged to non-compliant property owners. These fees cover all County program costs, including inspections, administrative processing, and abatement services, ensuring the program remains self-sustaining under the County's cost-recovery model. The current administrative impact for the City is limited to staff time spent preparing agenda items, addressing community inquiries, and supporting Council-related actions. With the programmatic changes implemented, more staff time may be required due to the increased services performed by the Fire Department and Code Enforcement for City of Santa Clara property owners added to the County program. Further analysis of increased staff time will need to be conducted to determine the fiscal impact, if any.
The Council can remove properties from the Commencement List and the associated fees incurred. However, if the County program does not fully recover its costs, the remaining amount needed for full cost recovery will be paid by the jurisdictions in the program based on the percentage of the number of properties in each jurisdiction relative to the total number of properties in the County program. If Council removes too many properties from the Commencement List, rendering the program financially unviable in Santa Clara, the County may exercise its right to cancel the agreement.
The partnership with the County program enables the City to leverage the County’s infrastructure and operational efficiencies, eliminating the need for additional costs associated with independently managing a compliance program. By relying on the County’s expertise, the City effectively minimizes financial and operational demands while maintaining community safety. However, any significant program changes, such as transitioning to a self-managed model, would necessitate a comprehensive evaluation to ensure long-term fiscal and operational viability.
COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the Finance Department, City Attorney’s Office, and City Manager’s Office.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board outside the City Hall Council Chambers. A notice will be published in the Santa Clara Weekly announcing the public hearing date ten days before the hearing. A complete agenda packet is available on the City’s website and in the City Clerk’s Office at least 72 hours before a Regular Meeting and 24 hours before a Special Meeting. A hard copy of any agenda report may be requested by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at (408) 615-2220, email clerk@santaclaraca.gov or at the public information desk at any City of Santa Clara public library. Property owners who were investigated by the County in 2024 and added to the 2025 County Commencement List were notified by a letter from the Fire Department before this meeting. All property owners on the 2025 County Commencement List will be notified of the date of the public hearing by a letter from the County program after the resolution declaring weeds a public nuisance is adopted.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1. Note and file the informational update regarding the County Weed Abatement Program and continue with the program with the Fire Department additions;
2. Determine whether the proposed actions are exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15308 (Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of the Environment) of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations;
3. Adopt a Resolution declaring weeds to be a public nuisance and setting a hearing date for the City Council to hear public input regarding the proposed destruction of removal of weeds (Attachment 8); and
4. Set March 25, 2025, as the date for the required Public Hearing.
Staff
Reviewed by: Ruben Torres, Fire Chief
Approved by: Jovan Grogan, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Weed Program Questions & Answers for Council Mtg 2-20-2024
2. Weed Abatement County of Santa Clara FAQ
3. Map of Vegetation Fires and New Properties on the 2025 County Commencement List
4. Survey of Cities Not in the County Program - 05.18.24
5. County Weed Program Timeline and Fees
6. 2025 Santa Clara Commencement Report
7. SCC Weed Abatement Agreement 04-2022
8. Resolution Declaring Weeds a Nuisance - 2-25-2025 - DRAFT
9. Notice to Destroy Weeds Public Notice - 3-25-2025 - DRAFT