Colton holds weed abatement public hearing at city council meeting

On Tuesday, March 19th, Colton held a weed abatement public hearing at its biweekly council meeting.

In a unanimous decision, city council approved resolution number R-14-19 declaring weeds, rubbish and trash a public nuisance and directing Fire Chief Tim McHargue to give notice and provide for the abatement.

“As allowed by the government code, each year the city conducts a comprehensive weed abatement program to address the annual growth of weeds and the accumulation of trash and debris on the vacant lots located within the city. By means of the declaration by resolution of a public nuisance, notification by mail and the public hearing, the city is authorized to abate the weeds,” said City Manager Bill Smith.

According to the city’s meeting agenda, twice a year, in the spring and again in the fall, a list and mailing labels of all unimproved parcels within the city is obtained from Parcel Quest. Notices conforming to the Government Code are sent to approximately 1,600 parcels identified as unimproved within the city, approximately 400 of which are actual qualified parcels for the program.

“The notices were mailed out by our fire marshal about a week-and-a-half ago. The due date to complete weed abatement is on June 1st, 2019. If a property owner does not abate the weeds themselves we will send out a contractor and we will bill the property owner,” said McHargue.

In recent years, owner compliance has increased and last fall the city received an approximate 80 percent owner initiated compliance rate.

“Total contractor fees for the 2019 Weed Abatement Program are estimated at approximately $35,000. Additional associated operating costs are estimated at $2,000 and include items such as mailings and like incidental costs,” concluded Smith.

No public comments from citizens were made during the hearing.

For more information, visit http://www.ci.colton.ca.us.