CITY PONDERS OVERCROWDED HOME DISPUTE TASK FORCE TO TACKLE POINT.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE

Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Most code-enforcement complaints to the city of Santa Clarita come from Newhall and Canyon Country, where residents grumble about seriously overcrowded houses, a study has found.

City code enforcers are prowling for blight as a multijurisdictional task force prepares to convene and address overcrowding.

"We want to work with people to maintain the quality of life that people in Santa Clarita expect," said David Peterson, supervisor of the city's Community Preservation Division. "This is part of keeping the city great."

Code officers deployed to banish unsightly piles of junk and trash, overgrown yards, illegal add-ons and graffiti handled 1,726 cases in 2006.

The share of complaints by community in 2006 were:

32 percent in Newhall;

30 percent in Canyon Country;

19 percent in Saugus;

16 percent in Valencia.

3 percent in Sand Canyon.

About one-third of violations were because of poor maintenance, 12 percent were illegal signs, and about 8 percent were illegal garage conversions.

Peterson said numbers can be deceiving because some communities are larger than others. He is devising a method that will yield something akin to per-capita figures.

Santa Clarita Councilman Bob Kellar said he has fielded numerous complaints about overcrowding in recent years, but he said the city is hamstrung to intervene. The former Los Angeles police officer called for the task force to "find a lawful solution" to protect residents.

"We need to act when you have 20 people living in a residence ... you can imagine parking on the streets and lawns ... complete disregard for the aesthetics of the communities," he said.

City staff members and county fire, sheriff's and health department officials will make up the multijurisdictional task force.

In Canyon Country, where residents have complained about overcrowded homes for years, an initial effort at code enforcement is already planned, Peterson said.

Code-enforcement officers will be deployed in Canyon Country for about a year, surveying residential areas east of Whites Canyon Road, north of Soledad Canyon Road, up to Nadal Street and east to about Eaglecrest Avenue.

The first phase will start around Stillmore Street, and the next will be on the west side of Whites.

Two notification letters will be sent to violators before they are cited. Peterson said the city will work with people who have special needs, and city grants are available for some who qualify for help.

Sprucing up the neighborhood could hardly be faulted, but one man wonders if it could go too far.

"We're trying to decide and discuss what the fine line is ... of what the city's role is in maintaining safety, reasonable standards -- and becoming the Canyon Country homeowners' association," said Alan Ferdman, chairman of the Canyon Country advisory committee. "We think there's a certain level of enforcement that should take place, but we don't want it to go so far as living under a homeowners' association, which, if we would have wanted to, we would have moved in somewhere else."

Canyon Country is not a monolithic area, he noted, with much diversity in the ages of its homes. Many older homes were built under the county's authority, before the city formed in 1987. Ferdman questions the fairness of subjecting older areas to city laws passed since 2000 and will meet with city officials May1 to discuss how "we can decide" which ordinances should or should not apply to older neighborhoods.

Rules on setbacks have changed in recent years.

"When someone wants to improve their property, they have to deal with the letter of the ordinance, and we want to address complying with the spirit," he said.

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