Officers dispute criticism of efforts to bring De Vaul Ranch, Oceanside Inn and Roandoak of God into compliance
By Bob Cuddy | bcuddy@thetribunenews.com
County code enforcement officers have dawdled in their enforcement efforts at Dan De Vaul’s ranch and the Roandoak of God commune, according to a newly released report from the civil grand jury.
Describing the code enforcement division’s approach as “dilatory,” the grand jury wrote that enforcement against both places was “delayed beyond a reasonable time frame.”
The county’s “willingness … to act in a timely fashion was questionable,” the grand jury wrote.
Code enforcement officers reacted angrily.
“We have a formal response already sent to them,” Code Enforcement Officer Art Trinidade said in an e-mail to The Tribune. “They hand-picked three cases out of the thousands we have in order to fit their pre-conceived agenda. What a waste of time and money,” he wrote.
“Our opinion, bolstered by actual facts, (is) quite the opposite of their conclusions,” Trinidade said.
He did not provide a copy of the county’s response to the grand jury.
Increased oversight
The grand jury recommended “increased review and oversight” of the code enforcement division “to ensure prompt and consistent attention to difficult” cases.
It also recommended including homeless shelters, group homes and residential recovery facilities in county land-use regulations.
The 19-member county civil grand jury, composed of citizen volunteers, investigates complaints about county government. Its recommendations are not binding, but the departments it investigates must file a formal response with Superior Court.
The current grand jury ended its term Tuesday, releasing eight reports simultaneously.
Grand jurors noted that county code enforcement’s “dedicated and professional staff” investigates hundreds of complaints yearly, and concludes most of them “in a fair and timely fashion.”
But some become tangled, high-profile cases, and the grand jury looked at three of those that it declared “unique … cases that have festered over time.”
The grand jury did not name any of the three, but the circumstances of each report made clear which sites it was referencing:
• Dan De Vaul’s controversial 72-acre ranch just west of the San Luis Obispo city limits.
• Roandoak of God, a Morro Bay commune at the end of Chorro Creek Road that has existed for more than three decades, changing hands several times.
• The Oceanside Inn in San Simeon, home to dozens of maids, cooks and other workers who undergird the North Coast tourist industry.
Oceanside Inn
In the Oceanside Inn case, the county Planning Commission approved a plan last week that would convert two-thirds of the 54-plus hotel rooms to apartments, so long as the San Simeon Community Services District agrees that there is enough water.
The grand jury investigation was completed before that decision. In it, grand jurors said the community services district asked the county for help with “problems of petty crime, trash, noise, parking, and … overcrowding.”
Although code enforcement officers acknowledged the problems, the district was dissatisfied. The grand jury said a code enforcement officer, whom it did not identify, said, “We are here to solve problems, not throw people out of their homes.”
The grand jury made no recommendations specific to the Oceanside Inn, and alluded to the Planning Commission hearing.
Roandoak of God
The grand jury said the residence, which rents rooms and is tax-exempt because it is a “religious/welfare” operation, “has for many years failed to comply with numerous county building and safety codes.”
Among them are unpermitted property usage, septic systems, leach fields, as well as electrical code violations, the grand jury wrote.
The grand jury discovered expired records and unenforced plans, permits and inspection reports dating back to 1973. It said documents were lost or misplaced, and the 8,000-square-foot living structure had never received a final building clearance.
Although the county has paid “inadequate attention” to Roandoak’s code violations, it is now seeking to bring it up to code, the grand jury noted.
De Vaul Ranch
In its final investigation, the grand jury took on the De Vaul case, which has drawn the attention of county code enforcers for years. Code enforcement was at the ranch on Los Osos Valley Road on Wednesday removing vehicles under a county abatement order.
Grand jurors said they heard charges, under oath, of “harassment and callousness toward the homeless,” as well as hypocrisy against the county for enforcing codes on the property while simultaneously using it as “a facility for the treatment of difficult persons.”
They also interviewed neighbors, who testified “vehemently” about “a lack of diligence” by code enforcement officers that left them with “a chronic blight condition” and the homeless to whom De Vaul provides shelter with unsafe living conditions.
Noting the abatement order and ongoing litigation, the grand jury proclaimed the situation “long-running, time-consuming, expensive and frustrating … for all.”
* Read the Grand Jury's report about county code enforcement
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/771046.html
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