MOORPARK : City Orders Upgrade of Chimney Covers

Moorpark officials will notify a local housing developer that decorative chimney covers on at least 300 homes must be upgraded to meet safety standards. Urban West Communities Inc. will have only a few days to apply for a permit to begin work on homes in the Mountain Meadows area, said Patrick Richards, the city’s director of community development.

Urban West has been repeatedly told about the requirement, City Council members said Wednesday. But officials agreed to formally notify the developer after a local homeowners association said Urban West had not begun upgrading the covers despite more than a year of controversy.

“They can no longer allege miscommunication,” Councilman Scott Montgomery said. “What the city is requiring is that they will be brought to current codes and we will accept nothing less.”

Four house fires in Moorpark last winter were blamed on decorative chimney covers that some tract developers installed without the approval of chimney manufacturers.

The covers, or shrouds, can force heat and soot back into the chimneys, drying out their outer wood frames and making them more flammable over time, officials have said.

Tom Zanic, a spokesman for Urban West, said Thursday that the company was unaware that the city required a permit and this week had begun upgrading the covers to a different type. The city, however, now only permits the cover approved for safety, Montgomery said.

“The homeowners are very anxious to see this problem resolved,” said Patti Smith, president of the Mountain Meadows Neighborhood Council. About 300 homes in that neighborhood still have a type of cover that has caused fires, she said. “We want our fireplaces to be operable.”