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Home My WebLink About2023-01-19 Email (2)_Redacted1 Mezzapesa, John From: Sent:Thursday, January 19, 2023 12:25 PM To:Loew, Michael Cc:Mezzapesa, John; ; Codron, Michael Subject:Re: Unwarranted Code Enforcement Fees Mike, Thank you for the prompt response. I believe this remedy is favorable for saving us all a lot of time. Please make the check out to me and send it to my address at: I’ll keep an eye out for a check of $1694.80 to come in the mail in 2‐4 weeks. Thank you gentlemen very much! On Jan 19, 2023, at 12:19 PM, Loew, Michael <Mloew@slocity.org> wrote: The stop work order is what should have been left with you when our Code Enforcement Officer initially visited the project location. I was able to confirm with him that this notice was NOT left on site. After being able to confirm that you did not receive two written notices, I am authorizing the refund of the $412.51 Code Enforcement Fee. I also reviewed the fees applied to the permit with our front counter staff and verified that the “Building Plan Rev - Residential – Minor” fee for $213.29 is the fee applied for the planning department review. This fee was not applied in error, nor is it a singular fee that represents the “permit fee.” The overall permit fee is the total amount paid to the City for the permit to be issued. Without code enforcement fees or the special investigation fee, your total permit fee is $3,139.17. It is not our standard practice to double this fee, as we do not intend for it to be punitive. Rather, our standard practice is to only double the building inspection fee, which amounts to $2012.43. After reviewing the project and case notes, I agree with your concern that the $2012.43 exceeds the cost of enforcement required for this case, and I am authorizing the reduction of this fee to match the plan check fee instead, which is $730.14. This will result in an additional refund of $1,282.29, for a total refund of $1,694.80. We process refunds through our Finance Department, which usually take between 2 and 4 weeks. They will need the name of the payee for whom you wish to have on the check, and the address for which the check should be sent to. I will get this refund processed as soon as you can provide me with this information. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, please reach out if you need anything else. Mike Loew Deputy Building Official 2 <image001.png> Community Development E Mloew@slocity.org T 805.781.7157 slocity.org <image002.png><image003.png><image004.png> Stay connected with the City by signing up for e-notifications From: Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2023 10:38 AM To: Mezzapesa, John <JMezzape@slocity.org> Cc: ; Loew, Michael <Mloew@slocity.org>; Codron, Michael <mcodron@slocity.org> Subject: Re: Unwarranted Code Enforcement Fees Hello Mr. Mezzapesa, Thank you for that added information. I do have follow‐on questions: 1) For the Code Enforcement Fee, we were never provided a “Stop Work Notice”. Please check your records and let me know if you you ever mailed something out because we have never received any notification like this and this is striking me as new information. I also called Ferreira Inc to see if our contractor received something on our behalf and they tell me they have not. If this is true and you never notified us of a stop work order but it was initiated in your system, that brings up multiple issues.  Why were we not informed?  Who was in charge of informing us and why didn’t they do their job?  Why does the city act on assumption in leveling fees without verifying they are warranted?  I don’t believe this fee can be applied if we were not informed. What you guys do internally we can not guess at. 2) For the Special Investigation Fee, the code states that it is equal to 100% of the normally established permit fee. In this case, according to your 2022‐2023 Master Fee Schedule on page 5 (also what I paid on my receipt), the fee for a Building Plan Rev ‐ Residential ‐ Minor is $213.29. So, why are we being charged over 10 times that amount? This seems in error. 3) As mentioned, we are new to the city and recently bought our property. So, we are not well versed in municipal code and we had no idea that we couldn’t start like for like remodeling using a licensed contractor. You mentioned that the Deputy Building Official does not support waiving or reducing our fees. I would like to understand more clarity on why this is? As mentioned, we received an unexpected visit from code enforcement and immediately took action to correct the discrepancy based on just Nick’s verbal warning; well before we received the single and only notification from the City (being our courtesy warning). 4) What kind of a courtesy warning is a warning if you immediately tack on any fees? That doesn’t seem to fit the definition of a warning. Are there some mistakes in your correspondence that you would like to clear up? Thank you for the continued efforts to clear up this issue. As I mentioned, this is a lot of money to us! Thank you. Best 3 On Jan 19, 2023, at 9:39 AM, Mezzapesa, John <JMezzape@slocity.org> wrote: Hello I can understand your concern regarding the additional fees included with your permit. The special investigation fee is established by the CA Building Code in which we amend to state the following…. <image001.png> The above code is specific in describing the cases in which the building official has the authority to waive all or a portion of the special investigation fee. I have spoken with the Deputy Building Official and there does not seem to be support for the waiving or reduction in fees. The “Code Enforcement Fee” was originally adopted by City Council in 2004. Since adoption, this fee has been increased each year as part of the Master Fee Schedule increases. The current amount approved by council is about $412. <image007.png> As defined in the fee description, this fee is applied with two written notices to correct a code violation have been issued. In your case, a “Stop Work Notice” and a “Notice to Correct/Notice of Violation” were issued as a result of the unpermitted construction at your property. Both fees are used as a cost recovery mechanism for the inevitable increased time and efforts invested by Code Enforcement, Building Inspection and Plan Review staff in the management of a project that has already started without the benefit of a permit. The fact that you complied after the issuance of a Notice of Violation is not evidence enough to consider removal of the above discussed fees. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, John Mezzapesa Code Enforcement Supervisor <image003.png> Community Development Building and Safety 919 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3668 E jmezzapesa@slocity.org T 805.781.7179 From: Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2023 2:20 PM To: Codron, Michael <mcodron@slocity.org> Cc: Subject: Fwd: Unwarranted Code Enforcement Fees 5 concerning unpermitted construction. However, we immediately complied and ceased work well before the 11/28/2022 deadline indicated in the warning letter. We have never received further correspondence from the city and it was our understanding that the issue has been resolved. So, it appears to me that a mistake has been made in charging us additional fees associated with Code Enforcement in order to obtain our building permit. How should we resolve this matter? Can I either come to the counter for a refund or can we be credited $2424.94 towards a remodeling building permit for our front house (667 Howard St) which my construction team (Ferreira Inc) plans on submitting soon? Thank you for your time with this matter. Best, <image002.jpg> Begin forwarded message: From: "Buckley, Nick" <nbuckley@slocity.org> Subject: RE: Code Enforcement Fee Questions Date: January 12, 2023 at 8:59:34 AM PST To: Cc: Greetings This email is a follow up to our phone conversation earlier where we discussed permit fees as well as the notice of violation. If you would like to discuss our noticing process further I would suggest contacting the Code 7 soon. However, to my surprise, there were quite a bit more fees associate with the permit than I was expecting. Specifically, I was charged $412.51 for a Code Enforcement Fee and $2,012.43 for a Special Investigation Fee. I am hoping you can provide me some more clarity on these. I have the following questions associated with these fees: 1. My wife and I only received the courtesy warning prior to issuance of administrative citation (Code Case #: CODE‐000500‐2022, dated Oct 28, 2022). We immediately stopped construction on the ADU in accordance with the letter. Why are either of these fines being assessed if we only received a warning and immediately complied? 2. On the City’s Comprehensive Fee Schedule (fiscal year 2022‐2023), I see the Code Enforcement Fee on page 44 for $412.51. So, if this fee is in fact warranted, I understand how the amount was determined. However, I do not see a fee or value for a $2012.43 Special Investigation Fee anywhere within the document. If this fee is warranted, can you please explain how that value was determined? 3. Even though I didn’t understand all the fees yesterday and some may be incorrect, I paid them so that the permit approval could proceed without delay. Can any incorrectly assessed fees be credited towards a permit application for the front home (667 Howard St) that my construction team will be turning in very soon? Or, can I come back to the counter for a refund? Thank you in advance for your time to help us understand this matter and clear up any discrepancies. Best,