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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-29-2024 - HEX Decision - Appendix A -- October 22 2024 Renton Code Compliance Appendix A -- October 22 2024 Renton Code Compli... (Completed 11/02/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 1 of 7 Appendix A October 22, 2024 Hearing Transcript Yadav Code Enforcement -- CODE24-000598 Note: This is a computer-generated transcript provided for informational purposes only. The reader should not take this document as 100% accurate or take offense at errors created by the limitations of the programming in transcribing speech. A recording of the hearing is available at the City of Renton Community and Economic Development Department should anyone need an accurate rendition of the hearing testimony. Examiner Olbrechts: (00:24): Alright, it's October 22nd, 2024, 10:00 AM in Fallbrook's Hearing Examiner for the City of Renton. We have a hearing this morning on a code compliance appeal case number 24 dash 0 0 0 5 9 8. Looks like we have the appellant with us today, Mr. Yaddo. And who's going to be representing the city on this one? Arborist Golzarian: (00:46): It'll be myself, Eric, and then Gabrielle inspecting our you. Examiner Olbrechts: (00:51): Okay. Alright. Well I guess we have all the necessary participants. So let's deal. First things first are the exhibits that the city has the burden of proof in this case. So they have to produce evidence that shows that the violations alleged in the notice of violation have actually occurred. Mr. Yado, are you contesting that? Are you disputing the fact that you cut the trees? Does the city need to prove that? Appellant Yadav: (01:15): No, no. I can. I did it. I'm not lying it, I was taking care of the area over there. I was doing all the maintenance and everything over there. I did not know last few years I was all the gathering and stuff, I was taking care of it and I just trim it. That's all I have to say. I did it not denying. Yeah. Examiner Olbrechts: (01:35): Okay. Appellant Yadav: (01:35): And one of the three was already dying before even I dreamed that one. It was already dead. I remove it, but yeah. Examiner Olbrechts: (01:43): Okay. Well, let me put you in under oath as I will all the other participants, Mr. Y, I'll just raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm to tell the truth, nothing but the truth in this proceeding? Speaker 4 (01:53): Yes, I do. Appendix A -- October 22 2024 Renton Code Compli... (Completed 11/02/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 2 of 7 Examiner Olbrechts: (01:54): Okay. And you're saying you did cut the trees as alleged in the notice of violation? From what I recall, that's a total of three trees. Is that correct? That you topped? Appellant Yadav: (02:04): Yes, I did. Examiner Olbrechts: (02:05): One Appellant Yadav: (02:05): Of them is already dead, but I did not remove it, but I did top it. Yeah, Examiner Olbrechts: (02:10): I did. Okay. So what was the purpose of your appeal then? Are you saying you shouldn't pay the fines because you didn't know that was a violation or what's the Appellant Yadav: (02:20): That's what I'm asking it. If you can reduce the fine, some of the fine and that tree, I will put the new one in there. As long as I know what kind of tree was that, I can plant the new one in there. Okay. Examiner Olbrechts: (02:30): Okay. Alright, well let me get the exhibits in the record too, just so we have a complete administrative record here. And Mr. Yado, did you get a copy of the, I'm going to flash these on the screen here, see if I can find it. Yeah. Did you get a copy of the city's agenda packet, which was composed of, pardon? Speaker 4 (02:50): Yes, yes Examiner Olbrechts: (02:50): I did. So there were a total of three exhibits. The code compliance narrative, the notice of violation, and that's right. Okay. Alright. So I'll admit those into the record. Well, let me ask the city what they, Mr. Ya just, and Mr. Yado, why are you requesting reduction in fine? Is it because you didn't know that what you did was illegal? Appellant Yadav: (03:08): I didn't know. Yeah. And last few years I was taking care of the area. There's a bus stop, people throw lots of trash over there. I was maintaining everything over there. And yeah, I won't go anymore on that area anymore. I won't touch anything over there. Examiner Olbrechts: (03:22): Why did you find it necessary to top the trees? Appellant Yadav: (03:25): Appendix A -- October 22 2024 Renton Code Compli... (Completed 11/02/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 3 of 7 I didn't know I was taking care of four or five years and there were some of that on branches that's going on the side of the road. So I just Examiner Olbrechts: (03:33): Oh, you did it to clear for the cars and just to make it look better. Okay. Alright. Well, let me ask the city, how do you feel? What's your position on the fines and how much they should be? Arborist Golzarian: (03:46): Yeah, hello. So I'm Gabrielle Azar. Examiner Olbrechts: (03:48): I, okay, Gabrielle, let me swear in. Just raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm and tell the truth nothing but the truth in this proceeding? Arborist Golzarian: (03:54): I do. Examiner Olbrechts: (03:54): Okay, great. Go ahead. Arborist Golzarian: (03:56): Okay, so this is a high priority corridor. So I monitor it often, and these trees are relatively new. They were in good shape except the tree number one tree asset id 3 88 3 6. It wasn't declined, but it wasn't dead yet. But it was something that I was monitoring. Part of my duties as the inspecting arborists is to make sure that trees are not growing into the side of the road. And if they are, it's my responsibility to take care of them. The tree, those trees were not posing a hazard or any sort of site line obstruction to that road, therefore I had not pruned them yet. According to Renton municipal code four dash six dash 0 6 0, which is street standards maintenance responsibilities, unless otherwise agreed upon by the city of Renton, maintenance of landscaping within planting strip areas, including but not limited elements such as round cover turf, softscape, and hardscape is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner. (04:58): Maintenance for street trees within the public right of way shall be the responsibility of the city. So that being said, in the city of Renton, to summarize all responsibility for the right of way, including the street and all of the vegetation, excluding trees, is the responsibility of the abutting property owners. So it was correct to do the maintenance in that right of way, but it is incorrect to do anything regarding the tree. That's something that they can submit a rent and response request, and then the city inspecting arborist myself will come out and handle that. We are working constantly on trying to get that information out there, but above all, it is the resident's responsibility to read the code and be aware of what the rules are regarding all rules inside the city, whether business or just living inside. I feel like the fines are fair. We're going to leave. We've said that we would leave the two trees in there because they can potentially grow. They're young enough that they might be able to withstand the topping that happened and still have decent structure, but the fine of $750 per tree, so a total of $2,250 in total I think is totally fair considering how much money and time has gone into planting the trees. Examiner Olbrechts: (06:20): Appendix A -- October 22 2024 Renton Code Compli... (Completed 11/02/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 4 of 7 So how are the fines computed? I looked at the code, it made reference to some kind of an appraisal document for trees. Is that how that was done or where did that come from? Arborist Golzarian: (06:30): So the urban forester, Ian Gray, who's not here today, uses a appraisal document that Purdue has put out where it takes into consideration the condition of the tree, its age, its size, it's bigger, and how much money that tree was putting out for the community, whether that's, some of those benefits are carbon sequestration, oxygen production shade, and air purification as well. So those trees are providing value to the city and we see tree topping as diminishing the return of that asset to the community. Just like it would be bad for someone to take their car and go down a stop sign and cost time and money to put that stop sign back up, if that makes sense. There's where these fines come from. Examiner Olbrechts: (07:23): Okay. Okay. Let me, and just the notice of violation is a bit, it's got some contradictory information on there. I'm going to try to share my screen here if I can. Let's see. Oh, here it is. Okay. I mean, the first page of the notice of violation says, where's that? Yeah, any such person shall be assessed a monetary penalty of up to $250 per violation and you're just alleging one violation yet charging 2000. And it doesn't sound like you base the fines on the civil infraction. The first page of the notice says, I'm just kind of curious why there's that, what appears to be conflicting language in the notice of violation itself? Arborist Golzarian: (08:21): That's because technically it's three violations, three trees were to. Examiner Olbrechts: (08:25): Okay. Okay. So whenever you have, because you said the violation was based on the tree appraisal guidelines, and yet, are you basically using the tree appraisal guidelines and then putting a maximum of two 50 on that? Is that how it's done? Arborist Golzarian: (08:42): The tree appraisal guide is something that is used in the planning and development section of the code. It's often used for developments when we're figuring how many trees are being removed and then how many trees are going to be reinstalled. And then the two 50 is a soft point that we put in instances like this. So we could technically charge more. Speaker 4 (09:07): Oh, Arborist Golzarian: (09:08): Okay. But we recognize that. I recognize that the person probably did not understand the code. So we're giving a lighter, Examiner Olbrechts: (09:16): The Arborist Golzarian: (09:16): Appendix A -- October 22 2024 Renton Code Compli... (Completed 11/02/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 5 of 7 Violation, we're not charged because the code is technically geared, like I said, towards permanent and development. So we would charge a lot in that. But because this is a private business owner, we're doing the lighter of this. Examiner Olbrechts: (09:28): Okay, gotcha. And when did this law come into effect? We haven't had too many tree cases. I think maybe a couple. I mean, I saw that the code, oh, sorry, go ahead. Arborist Golzarian: (09:40): This code has been in place for a long time. We're actually currently working on revamping it as well because we are finding that there are more instances of tree removal, tree topping and what have you. So odds are likely that we're going to see more and more of these cases as we take these more seriously because we're losing so much of our canopy coverage. But these codes have been in place for a long time. You are just going to be seeing more cases going forward. Examiner Olbrechts: (10:05): Oh, okay. Is it 2019, is that when it was first to adopt? Because I saw there were references in the online code to ordinances related to this as being adopted in 2019. Is that when that was first put into effect? Arborist Golzarian: (10:20): I don't recall. Examiner Olbrechts: (10:21): Pardon? Arborist Golzarian: (10:23): I don't know myself. Examiner Olbrechts: (10:24): Oh, okay. Okay. Alright. Anything else from the city side? Arborist Golzarian: (10:28): That's Speaker 4 (10:28): Everything. Examiner Olbrechts: (10:28): Okay. And I was kind of curious, I mean, how many times have people been cited for doing the unauthorized tree cutting of city tree trees in the last few years? Has that happened several times or? Arborist Golzarian: (10:41): Yes. My record for, I've been with the city for about three years and I've probably filed about 43 cases. Appendix A -- October 22 2024 Renton Code Compli... (Completed 11/02/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 6 of 7 Examiner Olbrechts: (10:49): Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, because one of the considerations I have is if it's something that's relatively unknown and not many people have been cited, then there's more cause to say for an appel to say, I didn't know about this. It sounds like you city's been pretty active in enforcing this though in the last few years. You want to tell me. Arborist Golzarian: (11:10): I would also like to make it known, the Urban Forestry program has done a lot as far as putting out brochures, attending farmer's markets, doing programs with the neighborhood program where we do outreach. So as far as a department of two people for a city of this magnitude, we do a lot of work to do outreach. We recognize that it might seem unfair to go after businesses and residents who claim ignorance of the law, but there are so many other things that people don't know that they can still get fined. For example, stormwater infractions or not setting up proper sediment barriers. When you're installing a garage, you have to have those barriers because they don't go into the storm drain, but still an egregious mistake, therefore. Examiner Olbrechts: (11:51): Okay. And will the topping of the trees that was done for this case, will that cause irreparable damage to the trees? I know if you do it wrong, it might, might. Arborist Golzarian: (12:01): The location is considered a pavement island, so those trees are surrounded by heat latent sources. It's possible that the trees could die from the topping, but I feel like charging the fine is going to be cheaper than having the trees removed, improving the landscaping strip and then replanting the trees and then committing to watering them. So this is still cheaper to pay the fine than it is to do the whole planting, replanting and maintenance of the lost infrastructure. Examiner Olbrechts: (12:36): Okay, great. Alright, Mr. Yadav, any final comments? Appellant Yadav: (12:41): Yes, I told you, I mean, yes, I did it. I didn't know that. I didn't know about the law. I was taking care last four or five years. I was the one who planted those trees that time. I'm sorry, I did it. So that's all. But one of the trees already was dead and I did pop out that one, so Examiner Olbrechts: (13:01): I can Appellant Yadav: (13:02): Put the new one in there. Examiner Olbrechts: (13:03): Okay. Okay, great. Understood. Alright. Okay. Well, yeah, I think since I've been with Renton since 2011 or something, this is maybe just the second or third tree case I've had, maybe the first one that dealt with cutting street trees. I mean, I hate to see businesses get these big fines. I also understand the city's Appendix A -- October 22 2024 Renton Code Compli... (Completed 11/02/24) Transcript by Rev.com Page 7 of 7 need to protect and preserve these trees. They're a big factor in quality of life for the city of retina as they are in any community. So I'm going to need some, just a little time to think about this one and see what I can do. And like I said, I'll issuing a written decision in a couple of weeks. So I think that's about it. So thank you Mr. Yadda, for being cooperative and being upfront. And that's an important consideration in these cases and I appreciate the city's of course, diligence in taking care of the city's tree scape. So anyway, like I said, I'll get that decision out in the next couple of weeks and I thank y'all for participating where you are adjourned.