AGENCY DEFIES BAN ON BRUSH.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

While homeowners fume over brush clearance rules and fees, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and some other public agencies with property in high-risk areas have openly defied Los Angeles Fire Department officials and insisted upon setting their own priorities.

Throughout Los Angeles, including the San Fernando Valley, thousands of homeowners face a $13 inspection fee and stiff penalties if they fail to clear foliage and cut grass down to a stubble. But officials at state agencies are setting their own brush-clearance priorities and say they can't guarantee all the work will get done.

``The Fire Department, as well as any agency, private or public, has to make its priorities, and not everything gets done by everybody all the time,'' Belinda Faustinos, deputy director of the conservancy, said Wednesday.

The city brush-clearance program ignited a firestorm of criticism last month when a sternly worded warning letter about the $13 fee and other potential costs was sent out to owners of about 180,000 properties - some in hillside areas, but others in landscaped flatland neighborhoods where homeowners are incredulous at the order and say there has never been a brush fire.

While many homeowners are fuming over the inspection fee, officials in state agencies say they are not bound by the city's rules or required to pay for the Fire Department's inspections and reinspections.

City officials have been frustrated by state agencies' refusal to comply with city standards.

``We have a dialogue with the conservancy,'' said Fire Capt. Paul Quagliata, head of the Brush Clearance Unit. ``We're getting an extreme amount of resistance from them. We're getting very poor cooperation. It's virtually nonexistent.

``They have said they have no intention of doing what we want them to do because they don't have the people or the money.''

Chief Assistant City Attorney Pete Echeverria said the city's hands are probably tied. ``It appears as if they would have sovereignty and would not have to comply. But we have not done any in-depth research into it.''

Morally obligated?

Councilwoman Laura Chick claimed conservancy officials should be ``ashamed of themselves'' for ignoring standards that she said put public safety first, even if the city cannot force a state agency to comply.

``I understand the legalities, and I understand the limitations in our abilities, but that doesn't change the very real risk to Los Angeles residents,'' said Chick, chairwoman of the council's Public Safety Committee and a supporter of the brush-clearance crackdown.

``I don't see how the conservancy should be looking to acquire more property when it can't manage its existing property to reduce the risk to nearby residents.''

The issue of public agencies' compliance became a thorny topic during the council's deliberations last fall. Despite some members' misgivings, the council voted to spend $82,500 to help the conservancy remove foliage, saying public safety outweighed the cost.

Chick, however, said she would oppose such a subsidy for the conservancy this year.

Faustinos said the conservancy is working on a half dozen of the 72 parcels on which the Fire Department wants brush-clearance work done, including land in Laurel Canyon and the nearby Parma property.

Identify high risk

She said conservancy officials hope to get all 72 parcels cleared, but cannot guarantee that will be done and have identified areas where fire hazard is highest.

She said the conservancy is following state law requiring brush clearance within 100 feet of structures, rather than clearing for 200 feet under city rules.

The conservancy has $250,000 for brush clearance. If its own crews can get the work done or borrow workers from the state Department of Forestry, all of the 72 parcels could be cleared, she said.

At commercial rates, it would cost $700,000 to clear all the conservancy land, Fire Department say, but acknowledge the conservancy might be able to get it done for less.

``We've been, I think, very aggressive about making sure we do have enough funding to maintain our property,'' Faustinos said. ``However, we recognize we don't have enough.''

On the conservancy's priority list, she said, parcels that are not irrigated, driest and closest to homes are at the top of the list for clearance.

But Quagliata said Fire Department officials selected all 72 sites precisely because clearance of them is important to public safety. ``If you have vegetation that interfaces with people's homes, then to me, all of those are a priority.''

Faustinos said the conservancy is only one of a number of state park or resource agencies that face similar dilemmas trying to balance budgets and protection of wildlife habitat with local brush clearance rules.

``I think that we are concerned about making sure there is adequate public safety, and that also has to consider protection of natural resources, which is clearly where our mandate is,'' Faustinos said.

Notices to be issued

Quagliata said the Fire Department will soon issue clearance notices on several thousand properties owned by city, county, state or federal government agencies.

He said the city's Department of Water and Power and the city's General Services Agency, both of which lagged in clearing their properties last year, are paying the Fire Department to handle brush clearance this year.

The General Services Agency has 200 properties while the DWP has 50 to 60 large properties that are overgrown, Quagliata said.

Other local agencies affected by the brush clearance ordinance include the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The city has not yet issued notices to them.

Michael Miles, district division maintenance chief for the Department of Transportation, said Caltrans clears brush within eight feet of the shoulder of state roadways but could not legally go farther. ``We are forbidden by streets and highways codes from going outside of our right of way,'' he said.

This year Caltrans has spent $1.6 million on brush control in the division, including has $325,000 to clear brush from road shoulders along 468 miles of roads in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. He said 3,077 acres were mowed and 2,800 acres sprayed for weeds, while 15,080 trees were trimmed.