Disputing City to Cost Residents
Property owners who have disputes with the Los Alamitos over nuisances such as abandoned cars on their land must pay for arbitration hearings under a city ordinance approved this week.
“The cost could go into thousands of dollars and the city wouldn’t want to bear that,” said Community Development Director Elizabeth A. Binsack.
An arbitration hearing is held when a property owner refuses a city notice to remove a nuisance, or when an owner disagrees that a problem exists.
The city manager acts as hearing officer, but also may hire an outside arbitrator.
“The concern was how to recover the costs when we use an outside service,” said City Manager Robert C. Dunek. One such company, Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, an Orange-based group of retired judges, charges about $300 an hour.
The ordinance adopted Monday allows the hearing officer to place a lien on the property.
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