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Chief Administrative Office, Office of Wildfire Preparedness and Resilience, recommending the Board consider the following:
1) Approve the Introduction (First Reading) of Ordinance 5186 to amend Chapter 8.09 of the El Dorado County Code of Ordinances entitled Hazardous Vegetation and Defensible Space; and
2) Waive full reading of the Ordinance, read by title only, and continue this matter to January 23, 2024, for Final Passage (Second Reading).
FUNDING: General Fund.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Catastrophic wildfire events continue to pose a threat to the preservation of public peace, health, and safety across the State of California, including El Dorado County. Beginning in the 1960s, the State has enacted a variety of laws and regulations to mitigate the risk of wildfire in wildland urban interface and intermix communities including the creation and maintenance of defensible space. As these regulations have continued to evolve over time, the proper implementation and enforcement of hazardous fuel regulations and landscaping requirements have proven to reduce the risk and impact from destructive wildfires through the mitigation of hazardous fuel conditions around homes and roadways. An overview of these guiding State laws and regulations is provided below:
Public Resources Code 4291:
Originally enacted by the State of California in the 1960s, Public Resources Code (PRC) 4291 establishes defensible space requirements and regulations for properties in California to protect wildland and watershed areas from risks of fires presented by development. PRC 4291 further outlines the responsibilities of property owners in creating and maintaining defensible space around structures to reduce the spread of wildfires. PRC 4291 has been amended in recent years to address additional mitigation measures and extend the defensible space clearance requirement from 30-feet around each applicable structure to 100-feet.
California Code of Regulations, Title 14:
Californ...
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