Appalling
– the word used by a county land use aide – was the right term
for the alarming number of unpermitted buildings in the Croy
wildfire area. Of 100 structures affected by last September’s
3,000-acre Croy blaze, only one has a county permit.
Appalling – the word used by a county land use aide – was the right term for the alarming number of unpermitted buildings in the Croy wildfire area. Of 100 structures affected by last September’s 3,000-acre Croy blaze, only one has a county permit.
The situation is an abject lesson in why ignoring problems makes them worse, not better. For years, Santa Clara County has turned a blind eye to unpermitted structures built not just along Croy Road, but throughout unincorporated parts of the county.
Residents complain that it’s too costly and cumbersome to obtain permits and say the county has unreasonably high standards that are unrealistic for the rugged, rural terrain found in unincorporated regions. The county says it has real costs associated with issuing permits and inspecting buildings to make sure they meet vital safety codes, and that roads near structures must be built to allow emergency vehicles to traverse them.
After decades of ignoring the unpermitted structures problem, it has grown to the point where hundreds of people live in unpermitted dwellings in the area of the Croy wildfire – and untold thousands probably live in unpermitted dwellings throughout the rest of unincorporated Santa Clara County.
It’s now quite a dilemma. The county, in the wake of the Croy fire, which was blamed on an unpermitted solar power system, is under pressure to get the buildings in the area up to code ahead of this year’s rapidly approaching fire season. While fighting the Croy blaze, firefighters working in smoky conditions literally tripped over unpermitted structures that they didn’t know existed.
It’s unreasonable to ask firefighters to put their lives on the line fighting blazes when unpermitted buildings make their job more dangerous than it needs to be.
It’s unreasonable to ask taxpayers to pay a $9 million firefighting bill for a blaze that might have been prevented had the solar power system’s owner had it permitted and inspected to make sure it was installed and operating properly.
But instead of finding ways to compromise on this difficult problem, it looks like everyone is digging in for more of the same.
“I’ve dealt with the county steadily over the past 20 years, and what I can tell you now is that there is a broad bias against people who choose to live in the hills,” Croy Road resident Roy Guist, whose unpermitted home sustained $750,000 in damage in the wildfire, told reporter Zeb Carabello.
As for the county, officials say they plan no changes to the current “blind eye” policy of dealing with unpermitted buildings only when they are reported to them.
“We would like to keep a closer tab on the unpermitted homes, but we simply don’t have the manpower,” County Supervisor Don Gage’s land-use aide Rachael Gibson said. “This is a regrettable situation, but it will have to be dealt with ‘sometime.’ ”
When?
The Croy fire was a smoky, smoldering wake-up call. Croy residents were lucky last September – no lives were lost. The next fire – whether it erupts in the Croy Road area or along Summit Road outside Los Gatos or any other unincorporated region in this vast county – might not show that mercy.
The county needs to take a fresh look at its codes to find ways to make the hillside homes safe and the Croy area accessible to emergency equipment in a manner that is affordable to residents. Residents must understand and accept their responsibility to the entire community – their neighbors, firefighters and taxpayers – to get their dwellings in compliance.
Solutions found for the Croy area residents will likely be useful in solving the problems of unpermitted structures throughout unincorporated Santa Clara County.
It’s not possible to prevent every fire or accident, but codes, inspections and permits are important tools to reduce the number of access, wiring, plumbing and structural problems that can cause stunning expense, grave injury and, worst of all, loss of life.
County officials and those who choose to live in unincorporated regions must find a way to solve the dilemma of unpermitted structures – now – because sometime, failure to do so might prove fatal.
