Council Votes to Overhaul Slumlord Law

THOUSAND OAKS — Hoping to send a message that slumlords will not be tolerated in this image-conscious town, the City Council has authorized the creation of an ordinance that could impose large fines and even jail time.

Council members voted unanimously to approve the drafting of a comprehensive slumlord ordinance at the request of Councilman Andy Fox, who was responding to last month’s discovery of an overcrowded shantytown just blocks from Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

But in classic Thousand Oaks fashion, the debate was marred by squabbling between Fox and Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, who unsuccessfully fought to include an overcrowding ordinance that she introduced in 1992.

Fox refused, arguing that a similar overcrowding ordinance in San Diego was not upheld by the courts, so including it in the Thousand Oaks law could jeopardize the city’s ability to prosecute slumlords.

He intimated that Zeanah was trying to steal his thunder. “I can see what’s happening here,” Fox said.

Zeanah said she did not see any difference between the existing ordinance and Fox’s proposal.

“If the intent is to have an overcrowding ordinance that works, I’m all for it, but I’m not hearing any differences,” Zeanah said.

The council’s decision Tuesday directs City Atty. Mark Sellers and other city officials to combine all of Thousand Oaks’ current laws dealing with overcrowding and repeated health and safety code violations into one slumlord ordinance.

The ordinance will also contain new, still undetermined measures designed to punish slumlords as much as possible.

It will return to the City Council later this year.

Thousand Oaks’ current approach to dealing with delinquent property owners is essentially to seek improvements at the property as quickly as possible. Officials seek fines and criminal charges only as a last resort.

Fox said a more punitive policy is in order.

“The city’s view is, get compliance and everybody’s happy,” Fox said. “In my view, that is not acceptable.”

Councilwoman Linda Parks agreed but said Fox’s proposal lacked specifics.

“My concern is that there’s not much of a hammer here,” Parks said.

Responding to neighbors’ complaints, Thousand Oaks code-enforcement officers and Ventura County sheriff’s deputies descended on a property at the corner of Royal Oaks and Sunset drives last month, finding about 50 immigrants living in small houses, garages, shacks and sheds. City officials have vowed to seek the maximum punishment against the owners, Joy and Al Silver of Westlake Village.

“It’s our intent to be as punitive as we can,” said Community Development Director Phil Gatch, who oversees the city’s code-enforcement officers.

Most of the residents of the makeshift village were living in substandard conditions, exposed to numerous health and safety hazards such as flimsy wiring and inadequate plumbing. The majority were forced to evacuate their homes.

“It was a very unfortunate situation for the people that were living there, but it’s something that we had to do,” Parks said.

Zeanah questioned staffers about their knowledge of the virtual shantytown, asking when the city learned about the problem and if staff members realized its severity beforehand.

City officials said they learned of the possible overcrowding about 30 days before conducting the raid but that they didn’t think it was as bad as it turned out to be.

Zeanah made a motion to authorize code officers to take a more aggressive approach to overcrowding, actually searching it out instead of responding to citizens’ complaints, as the city’s current policy dictates.

But other council members said that could border on illegal search and seizure.

“I’m not very interested in having Big Brother out there inspecting every property,” Mayor Judy Lazar said.