Lake Elsinore grapples with fading landscapes

By: AARON CLAVERIE - Staff Writer
Murrieta also may regulate maintenance of dying yards of foreclosed homes | Friday, January 4, 2008 10:57 PM PST ∞

LAKE ELSINORE -- The scope of the city's weed abatement ordinance could be expanded to address the dying lawns and shabby landscaping left behind by the former owners of foreclosed homes, Lake Elsinore Mayor Daryl Hickman said.

The issue is pressing, Hickman said recently, because the housing crunch that has left neighborhoods blighted with brown lawns and foreclosure signs shows no sign of abating soon.

"I'm not going to let our neighborhoods go to hell," he said.

Murrieta also is looking at the problem of neglected yards, which can affect the values of neighboring homes. Mayor Rick Gibbs said the city is working on an ordinance that would require the owners of foreclosed properties, usually banks, to contract with property management companies that would maintain the landscaping.

That proposed ordinance will be discussed by the council in the coming weeks, Gibbs said. A similar ordinance was passed in Chula Vista in October.

In Lake Elsinore, the city's weed abatement ordinance enables it to place a tax lien on a property if the landscaping falls into disarray. City crews handle the physical cleanup and Lake Elsinore is compensated for the work when the tax lien is paid.

This city's legal team is checking to see if a similar ordinance could be written to deal with the landscaping on foreclosed properties taken over by lenders, Hickman said.

Besides the visual blight, lower property values affect the city's property tax receipts.

"It's affecting our cash flow," he said.

A home's value could fall by as much as 10 percent if it is sitting next to a foreclosed house, said Doug Leeper, Chula Vista's code enforcement manager.

Leeper, citing federal statistics, said that if two to three houses are foreclosed on a block, they could negatively affect a nearby home by about 5 percent.

Because a city's property tax receipts rise and fall based on the assessed values of homes, any decline in values would be matched by a corresponding decline in tax receipts.

Talking about Hickman's proposal, Leeper said it could work because banks and lenders generally don't want to assume legal responsibility for a foreclosed property.

"They'll let (the city) do it and pay the lien. It's not money up front and a (city lien) may be cheaper than a property management firm," he said.

Lake Elsinore Councilwoman Genie Kelley said the problems associated with foreclosed houses literally hit close to home. Three properties on her street have been foreclosed, she said.

Her homeowners association, dipping into its own funds, has tried to deal with the problem by keeping the lawns of the foreclosed properties cut short and spraying them with a green food-coloring substance.

Unless you're looking for the sprayed lawns, the eye doesn't pick up the difference when you're driving by, Kelley said.

As for what the city should do about the problem, Kelley said she doesn't believe the city will be able to shoulder the economic burden of maintaining the properties.

There's also the issue of how much time the staff can or should devote to maintaining private residences. Any manpower hours spent on that sort of project means less time devoted to parks or other public areas, she said.

Gibbs said Murrieta's code enforcement officers, who were recently put through a six-hour training course by Leeper, will be ready to go if the council passes the ordinance.

The key is getting buy-in from real estate professionals and the banks and lenders that own the properties, Gibbs said. To that end, he invited Gene Wunderlich, president of the Southwest Riverside County Association of Realtors, to speak at an upcoming council meeting.

Wunderlich said it's important for all parties involved to work together because blight caused by foreclosed properties is a concern for everybody.

Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or e-mail aclaverie@californian.com.