SANTA ANA : French Park Rentals Set for Upgrading

The City Council has picked French Park as the next neighborhood to be improved under a community program that targets rental properties.

The Proactive Rental Enforcement Program, which began last year, is run by the Planning and Building Agency.

Under the program, inspectors survey every apartment in the designated area and require tenants and landlords to fix potentially hazardous problems such as faulty wiring and inadequate plumbing. Areas are chosen based on the number of code violation complaints as well as the number of calls for police and fire service.

French Park includes the area bounded by Washington Avenue to the north, Civic Center Drive to the south, Main Street to the west and Poinsettia Street to the east. The neighborhood contains 124 rental properties with a total of 572 dwelling units, according to a report by Robyn Uptegraff, executive director of the Planning and Building Agency.

The area generates an above-average level of calls for police and fire service, she said. Also, in the last five years, residents living there have filed 344 complaints of potential code violations, many citing overcrowding, poor maintenance and sanitation problems.