§ 14-6.416. Appeal procedure.

(a)

Any owner or other person in possession of the property may appeal to the board within the number of days specified in the notice and order to abate. The appeal shall be submitted in writing, specify the grounds upon which the appeal is taken, contain the name, address and telephone number of the appellant, and be filed with the clerk of the board.

(b)

An appeal filed with the clerk of the board must be accompanied by an appeal fee. The amount of the appeal fee will be determined periodically by the board based upon the costs incurred by the county in processing appeals pursuant to this article. The calculation will include all costs of the county abatement officer, the clerk of the board, and any other county department that is involved in the processing of appeals, but will exclude actual costs for any work of abatement. If the appellant claims an economic hardship in paying the appeal fee, the appellant may submit an application for waiver of the appeal fee on forms provided by the clerk of the board for that purpose. The forms will be substantially similar to those required of litigants initiating court proceedings in forma pauperis pursuant to Section 68511.3 of the Government Code. The forms shall be executed under penalty of perjury and contain a declaration as to the truthfulness and correctness of the information contained in the forms. The clerk of the board may grant the appellant up to three business days beyond the expiration of the appeal period to complete and submit the fee waiver forms, provided the appeal was timely filed. The appeal fee will be waived upon the timely submittal of the completed fee waiver forms.

(c)

Failure to submit the completed fee waiver forms or pay the appeal fee in a timely manner shall cause the appeal request to be automatically denied. Enforcement of the order to abate may then proceed as if no appeal request had been submitted.

(d)

Upon the filing of a timely and complete appeal, including payment of the appeal fee or submission of completed fee waiver forms, the clerk of the board will set the matter for hearing before the board. The clerk of the board will notify the parties in writing of the date and location of the hearing at least ten days prior to the hearing date. Further abatement action shall be stayed until the appeal is acted upon.

(e)

If the appeal fee is paid and the board finds there is no public nuisance, the appeal fee shall be refunded to the appellant without the payment of any interest that could have accrued.

(f)

The failure to file a timely and complete appeal of a notice and order to abate shall be deemed to be a failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

(Ords. 2007-18 § 5, 88-88 § 2).