The City of Santa Rosa Board of Building Regulation Appeals on Oct. 16, 2025 denied an appeal by tenant Sally Steinhardt and upheld staff’s May 22, 2025 notice to vacate for Unit 806 at Bethlehem Tower, a 14‑story, low‑income senior housing building at 801 Tupper Street. The board voted 4‑0 to deny the appeal.

City code enforcement staff documented recurring sanitation and infestation complaints for Unit 806 and presented inspection findings and an exterminator report that staff said showed a severe rodent, cockroach and fruit‑fly infestation and conditions that impeded safe access and egress. Cassidy Anderson, senior code enforcement officer for the City of Santa Rosa, told the board that inspections and photographs showed “rotting food,” rat droppings and narrow, obstructed walkways and that staff considered the unit a public nuisance and “legally uninhabitable.”

Anderson described the enforcement timeline to the board: a complaint was received in December 2024, staff attempted inspections in late December 2024 and conducted interior inspections in January and May 2025; a licensed exterminator’s report was provided to the city in February 2025 with recommendations; a revised notice of violation was issued March 3, 2025 clarifying owner and tenant responsibilities and setting a March 17, 2025 timeline for substantial progress; and staff posted a notice to vacate on May 22, 2025. Anderson told the board that extermination could not proceed while the unit remained filled with debris and that, as of the staff presentation, Bethlehem Tower management told the city the appellant no longer resided at the unit and the sheriff had effected a lockout on Aug. 20, 2025.

The appellant, Sally Steinhardt, disputed the city’s allocation of responsibility and described a long history of building‑wide infestation and prior flooding and repairs. Steinhardt said rats had been present in the building for years, described personal injuries she attributed to the infestation and disputed the adequacy of extermination measures taken by building management. In her remarks she said, “I was bitten. I was scratched by the rats,” and urged more comprehensive building‑level abatement rather than reliance on traps distributed to individual tenants.

Board members questioned staff and the city attorney about the city’s authority and the basis for the notice to vacate. The city attorney said she was not aware of any provision in the city code or California regulations that by itself places primary responsibility for extermination on the city; Anderson and staff relied on the building‑level inspection findings, the exterminator’s written recommendations, and observed obstructions to egress and unsanitary conditions to support the notice to vacate.

After questions and a brief period for public comment (no members of the public spoke), a motion to deny the appeal and uphold staff’s notice to vacate passed on a roll call vote: Board Member Gordon, aye; Board Member Miller, aye; Vice Chair Lawson, aye; Chair Cooper, aye. The motion passed 4‑0.

The board’s action upheld staff’s determination that Unit 806’s interior conditions constituted a public nuisance and a health and safety hazard requiring vacatur and further actions before extermination work could safely proceed. Anderson told the board extermination efforts were on hold pending clearance of the unit’s interior; Bethlehem Tower management had informed staff it was pursuing eviction and had referred the matter to legal counsel. The board did not order relocation benefits for the appellant; staff had concluded the tenant was ineligible for relocation benefits because staff found the unit’s condition substantially contributed to infestation in adjoining units.

The record and staff report presented to the board include inspection dates, photographs, an exterminator report (February 2025) describing severe infestation and required remediation steps, the revised notice of violation (March 3, 2025), and the notice to vacate (May 22, 2025). Anderson told the board the exterminator report stated, in part, that “in order to perform pest services inside Unit 806, all garbage and waste must be completely removed” and that doorways and pathways must be clear to allow safe and effective treatment.

The board’s written decision will be the final administrative determination by the Board of Building Regulation Appeals for the City of Santa Rosa unless further legal action is filed. Staff noted that Bethlehem Tower management and property owners remain responsible for implementing extermination and building‑level pest control measures consistent with the exterminator’s recommendations once the unit is cleared.