HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023/03/15- Special Meeting Workshop Agenda PacketAMENDED AGENDA
(CHANGED MEETING TIME FROM 3PM TO 4PM
REVISED ON 3/14/2023 AT 8:00AM)
CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA
SPECIAL MEETING WORKSHOP
CITY COUNCIL/FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT AGENDA
March 15, 2023 – 4:00 PM
City Hall | TriCommunities Conference Room
10500 Civic Center Drive.
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
A. CALL TO ORDER
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call: Mayor Michael
Mayor Pro Tem Kennedy
Council Members Hutchison, Scott and Stickler
B. PUBLIC COMMMUNICATIONS
This is the time and place for the general public to address the City Council on any item listed on the
agenda. State law prohibits the City Council from addressing any issue not previously included on the
Agenda. The City Council may receive testimony and set the matter for a subsequent meeting. Comments
are to be limited to five minutes per individual or less, as deemed necessary by the Mayor,
depending upon the number of individuals desiring to speak.
C. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
C1.Presentation of Assembly Bill 38 and Wildland Defensible Space Inspections. (VERBAL REPORT)
(CITY/FIRE)
D. ADJOURNMENT
CERTIFICATION
I, Linda A. Troyan, MMC, City Clerk Services Director of the City of Rancho Cucamonga, or my designee, hereby certify under
penalty of perjury that a true, accurate copy of the foregoing agenda was posted on at least twentyfour (24) hours prior to the
meeting per Government Code 54954.2 at City Hall: 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California; and on the City's
website.
LINDA A. TROYAN, MMC
CITY CLERK SERVICES DIRECTOR
If you need special assistance or accommodations to participate in this meeting, please contact the City Clerk's Office at (909)
4772700. Notification of 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure
accessibility. Listening devices are available for the hearing impaired.
CITY COUNCIL VISION STATEMENT
“Our Vision is to build on our success as a world class community, to create an equitable, sustainable, and vibrant
city, rich in opportunity for all to thrive.”
Page 1
AB 38
Wildland Defensible Space Inspections
Photo Credit: International Code Council
Fire Board Study Session –March 15, 2023
AB 38 –Session and Title
•Assembly Bill 38 from the 2019-2020
Legislative Session
•Titled: Fire Safety, Low-Cost Retrofits,
Regional Capacity Review, Wildfire
Mitigation
AB 38 –Regional Capacity
Requires Natural Resources Agency to
review the regional capacity of each
county that contains a very high fire
hazard severity zone to improve forest
health, fire resilience, and safety.
AB 38 –Low -Cost Retrofits
Require the seller of any real property located in
a high or very high fire hazard severity zone to
disclose to the buyer information relating to fire
hardening improvements on the property and a
list of specified features that may make the
home vulnerable to wildfire and flying embers of
which the seller is aware.
AB 38 –Wildfire Mitigation
Require a seller of real property located in a high
or very high fire hazard severity zone to provide
documentation to the buyer that the real
property is in compliance with the wildfire
protection measures contained in the Public
Resources Code or a local vegetation
management ordinance.
AB 38 –Analysis
Cal Fire Information Bulletin 21-007
Issued September 20, 2021
AB 38 changes to the Civil Code requires a seller of real property
located in a High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) within
the State Responsibility Area (SRA) or Local Responsibility Area (LRA),
to provide the buyer with documentation stating the property is in
compliance with the requirements of Public Resources Code (PRC)
Section 4291 for properties within the SRA or local vegetation
management ordinances for properties within jurisdictions (SRA or
LRA) that have enacted an ordinance requiring an owner to achieve
compliance with PRC 4291 or Government Code 51182.
AB 38 –Analysis
•Neither the City nor the Fire District has an ordinance that
requires compliance with PRC, Government Code, or local
defensible space standards.
•AB 38 does not compel a city or fire agency to adopt an ordinance.
•AB 38 does not impose a mandate on a fire agency to conduct an
inspection.
•If an inspection is done, in accordance with an ordinance or
voluntarily, a report is required to be provided to the buyer.
AB 38 –Analysis
•If compliance with defensible space landscaping requirements is
not provided at close of escrow, buyer has one year to achieve
compliance.
•Achieving compliance has created conflict with the real estate
transaction.
•Without an ordinance, enforcing compliance at the end of the
one-year period may not be possible.
•The legislation seems to have been intended for rural
communities and counties where community-wide landscaping
standards can be imposed and enforced.
AB 38 –Current Procedure
The Fire District is currently responding to
inspection requests received through Cal Fire’s
website for properties in Rancho Cucamonga,
doing inspections, creating reports, and
allowing buyers up to one year to provide
defensible space landscaping.
AB 38 -Options
Option 1: Continue what we are doing –Do an
inspection, create a report, provide the report to the
buyer, let the buyer and seller make an agreement that
the buyer has 12 months to make the landscaping
compliant with state and local defensible space
requirements. We follow up in 12 months with little if
any ability to enforce. The issue with cost of compliance
remains.
AB 38 -Options
Option 2: Modify what we are doing –Do an inspection,
create a report, provide the report to the buyer, and
inform the buyer and seller that we will not enforce
landscape modifications. The report becomes a wildfire
risk assessment and awareness. This leaves open the
question whether the buyer is still obligated by AB 38 to
make the modifications even though there is not an
ordinance. The issue with cost of compliance remains.
AB 38 -Options
Option 3: Change what we are doing –When an inspection request is
received, inform the parties that neither the City nor the Fire District
has an ordinance and therefore an inspection is not required. Issue a
letter using the Government and Civil codes to explain and justify not
doing an inspection. Without an inspection, a report is not
generated. If there isn’t a report, an obligation on the buyer is not
created. The question of cost of compliance never becomes an issue.
In addition to the letter, provide the buyer with Ready, Set, Go! and
Firewise Communities literature, which has already been approved
by the Board, to increase the buyer’s wildfire safety awareness.
AB 38 -Recommendation
Option 3