CITY'S BRUSH INSPECTION FEE UNDER FIRE BY ITS CREATOR.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

Councilman Hal Bernson is calling for the city to scrap a $13 brush clearance inspection fee, saying the assessment ordinance, which he helped pass in January, penalizes responsible property owners along with those who ignore flammable vegetation.

``If it's all cleared and inspectors come around, there's no reason why they should have to pay if they complied with the law,'' Bernson said.

The council voted Wednesday to suspend the fee, deciding that the fire department's notification letters confused and alarmed property owners. The council asked the fire department to revise the letters to clearly spell out the brush clearance program and the reasons for the inspection fees.

Fire Chief William Bamattre said the fee is necessary to reduce brush fire risk but pledged to reissue the letter.

Bernson wants to scrap the fee entirely and instead fund fire inspections through higher penalties to those who fail to clear their yards of brush.

``The city is coming to all of us good guys and saying, OK, you have to pay the $13 fee, instead of going to the bad guys and saying, OK, we're going to nail you for $1,000,'' said homeowner Al Brill. The fee, he said, shouldn't apply to his suburban neighborhood of well-kept gardens in the flatlands of Sylmar.

Bernson said the council passed the ordinance on the understanding it would target those who violate brush clearance laws, but instead learned it would apply to 50,000 to 60,000 of his constituents.

``We were thinking in terms of going after the people who did not comply,'' he said. ``We didn't realize that everyone in the fire district was going to get this.''

The ordinance states that the fee would apply to all 180,000 properties in the Mountain Fire District and Buffer Zones. The City Clerk confirmed that the council, with Bernson present, approved it unanimously Jan. 22.

On Thursday, though, Bernson said the ordinance was unfairly assessed to responsible property owners, including those who don't live near hillsides or scrub zones, and that the notification letter looked ``like a subpoena.''

Bernson said he discussed his concerns with Fire Chief William Bamattre, and asked him to come up with a new structure for funding the inspections.

Bamattre said he would issue letters notifying owners of the fee suspension and would rewrite the original letter. ``I think the issue is we just did a poor job of explaining the $13 fee,'' he said.

He said, however, that the fees are necessary to pay for six additional inspectors to examine properties before the brush fire season starts.

Last year the department struggled to get homeowners to comply with brush clearance laws, and thousands of properties remained overgrown well into the fire season. This year, after a dry winter, the fire risk will be even worse, Bamattre warned.

By basing fees solely on penalties, he said, the department would lose revenue for inspections as it increases compliance, he said.

``The more success you enjoy, the less fees come in to recover your cost,'' he said.

Bamattre said the department would review the boundaries of the fire and buffer zones.

``Some of those areas were drawn years ago,'' said Fire Marshall Jimmy Hill. ``Since then there has been more development, so the buffer zone may have been moved back.''