Stricter Fire Code Gets Nod

The first fire safety regulations to result from the recent wildfires won preliminary approval Tuesday from the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, but some residents said the requirements would make rebuilding their homes too expensive.

If adopted at a future meeting, the new standards for the county’s foothill and mountain areas would require new homes to have double-paned windows, nonflammable roofing and fire-resistant materials for walls and decks, among other things.

In fire-ravaged areas where narrow dirt roads prevented fire engines from turning around and woefully deficient water systems made firefighting even more onerous, the proposal calls for the creation of a tax district to pay for upgrades.

But about half a dozen mountain residents told supervisors that the costs of meeting the new standards might prevent them from rebuilding.

Margo Burns, whose 1,300-square-foot home in the Waterman Canyon area was destroyed, urged the board to reduce or waive building permit fees. “Don’t charge me for everything because I don’t have it,” she said.

Steven Haugland, who lost a 200-square-foot cabin in Cedar Glen, said that his cabin never had a water connection and that the cost of extending a water line half a mile to his property would be exorbitant.

The supervisors said the county would consider waiving some fees for property owners who can’t afford the rebuilding costs.

“Our goal is to get people to rebuild fast and rebuild safe homes,” said Chairman Dennis Hansberger. “We don’t want it to be prohibitive.”

The board instructed staff to draft an ordinance allowing planning officials to waive permit fees for property owners who can prove that the fees -- on top of the added construction costs -- would create a financial hardship.

Waivers would apply only to principal homes that were burned, not vacation cabins, Hansberger said. He and other supervisors said they don’t want to waive permit fees across the board because they are covered under many homeowner insurance policies. “I don’t want to be in the position of bailing out the insurance companies,” Hansberger said.

The recommendations were developed by a 15-member task force that began work before the October and November fires were extinguished. The new standards will apply only to homes that will be rebuilt or undergo major repairs.

In San Bernardino County, fires consumed nearly 151,000 acres, 659 homes and 11 commercial buildings. An additional 208 homes and one business were damaged. The hardest hit areas were Cedar Glen, a blue-collar mountain community east of Lake Arrowhead, and Del Rosa, a foothill neighborhood that stretches into the city of San Bernardino.

One mountain resident pointed out that the vast majority of the county’s forested mountain areas are still vulnerable to fire due to a four-year drought and a bark beetle infestation that has killed nearly a million trees.

Keith Lee, a county associate administrative officer, said after the meeting that the new guidelines are only one piece of a larger county effort to reduce the risk of fire in the mountains.

“With about 15% of the mountain burned, that leaves 85% of the mountain still infested with the bark beetle,” he said.

Long before the fires started, county officials began requiring homeowners to remove dead or dying trees. So far, the county has issued about 6,000 notices, warning residents to fell the trees that could fuel another blaze. But with removal costs of about $1,000 a tree, many residents say they are hard-pressed to comply.

Several residents and building contractors peppered the board with questions Tuesday about how the new requirements would affect property taxes. County officials noted that homeowners who rebuild will not have to pay “impact fees” to fund schools and water and sewer systems, as new homeowners normally must, but they may pay higher taxes based on the increased value of a rebuilt home.

The supervisors also instructed county officials to study the creation of a special tax assessment district to pay for road and water improvements in Cedar Glen, Del Rosa and other areas.

But county officials pointed out one possible impediment: Much of Cedar Glen is served by Arrowhead Manor Water Co., a private enterprise that was placed in receivership in May after the death of its owner. The company also has been cited by the state Department of Public Health for failing to respond to customer complaints and ordered to make upgrades.

Kathleen Johnson, widow of the company’s owner, Lance Johnson, told supervisors that she wants to cooperate with the county to improve the water system but she has been hampered by delays and restrictions imposed by the probate court.