Glendale City Council Weighs Intrusions Into Backyard Privacy

glendale city council
The Glendale City Council debates a controversial proposal that would potentially violate people's privacy.

During its most recent working group meeting of the Glendale City Council, members debated a controversial proposal that would allow homeowners who had second story or balcony vantage points into the backyards of their neighbors, to file complaints alleging violations.

A complaint would trigger a prescribed process where city employees would enter the complainant’s home and use those same elevated vantage points to investigate the potential violations.

The lone dissenter was Mayor Jerry Weiers who expressed concerns about violations of people’s privacy, what he referred to as the “unfairness” of the proposal in that the minority of homeowners with multi-level homes would be able to complain about neighbors in a way that their single-story neighbors could not, and potential liability issues involving city employees who would have to enter private homes each time they received a complaint.

Speaking favorably of the proposal were Councilmembers Lauren Tomalchoff, Bart Turner, Joyce Clark and Ray Malnar, who defended the idea as a practical workaround to the inability of homeowners to otherwise complain about perceived violations.

Current city laws require that code violations be visible from the street or sidewalk, giving homeowners a great deal of privacy and control over what goes on behind their property walls. Malnar spoke at length about violations involving poorly maintained “green” swimming pools that could attract mosquitos and health concerns or high grass that could be a fire hazard, as just two examples. “I want to make sure that Council understands that this is restricted as far as the types of observations… What we’re trying to do is make the city a safer place.”

Weiers disagreed. “I don’t like this for multiple reasons,” he said, referring to the proposal as “not fair, not fair at all.” Weiers asked if there were ways that improved technology would allow the city to improve policing while treating every citizen the same way. “I still think technology is the easiest, quickest, probably most reasonable way to do that and be fair to everybody.”

Councilwoman Joyce Clark said the issue was a tough one, as she shared some of Weiers’ privacy concerns, but that she was inclined to give Code Compliance the power to use in extraordinary circumstances. Clark was also interested in discussing the use of drones to allow Code officers to do their work while treating every home the same, without any advantages accruing to multi-level homes, but several members disagreed with the idea, and the City Attorney cautioned that the use of drones would likely violate privacy laws and be impermissible.

Glendale city staff will now craft legal language for the Council to consider at an upcoming workshop.

VIEW THE WORKING GROUP MEETING HERE

About ADI Staff Reporter 12168 Articles
Under the leadership of Editor-in -Chief Huey Freeman, our team of staff reporters bring accurate,timely, and complete news coverage.