Landlords OK Santa Ana’s Plan on Safety, Code Checks : Housing: Compromise would allow inspection of apartments in specific areas only. A surcharge on units would finance plan.

SANTA ANA — After several weeks of negotiations with city officials, apartment owners have given tentative approval to a city plan that would require health and safety code inspections of rental properties in designated areas.

Under the compromise, all of the city’s 35,000 rental properties would be assessed a $17.50-per-unit annual business tax surcharge to pay for a beefed-up inspection team that would sweep specific target areas in search of state and city code violations. A seven-member advisory committee, including city staff and apartment owners, would determine the areas to be inspected and review the program’s performance.

The City Council is scheduled to consider the plan at its Monday meeting.

The $612,000 program would employ nine new staff members, including a permit processor, program coordinator and four new inspectors. According to a report presented to the City Council, the inspectors would target code violations that pose a threat to the occupants’ safety and generally have a “negative impact” on the community.

The plan also proposes that the city offer unspecified financial incentives for “exemplary” residential properties to reward responsible property owners. The program would run until Dec. 31, 1999, at which time the council would consider whether to continue it.

Rental units are now inspected largely based on complaints by neighbors and tend to address only those problems that are visible from the exterior, according to city officials.

The new program would address interior hazards such as heating and electrical problems, rat or roach infestation, and other problems that might otherwise go unreported.

The city’s original plan called for each building to be inspected every four years and would have been paid from $55-per-unit annual fees. Some apartment owners complained that the plan would put them out of business or force them to raise rents for those who could least afford them. However, on May 18, the council asked city officials to work with local apartment owners’ groups to reach a compromise.

Richard J. Lambros, director of public affairs for the Apartment Assn. of Orange County, said that his group supports the revised plan because it augments the existing city program and does not require mandatory inspection of all buildings.

“It’s really kind of what we were pushing for all along,” Lambros said. “It puts the resources where the problem is. Everybody is going to get more bang for their buck.”

He also praised the incentive part of the program, adding that officials should consider waiving the annual surcharge for owners who comply with the safety codes.

Lambros said the apartment association opposes the fee that owners must pay for the program and will encourage the city to find alternative funding sources.

Cindy Baker, president of the East Orange County Assn. of Realtors, also opposes the fee.

However, she said, “the city really has done a good job in pulling together a program that will work.”