Board schedules hearing on state'issued Local Responsibility Area fire-hazard maps; seeks criteria for appeals and exemptions

The Board of Supervisors opened a hearing on the Office of the State Fire Marshal''s recommended Local Responsibility Area (LRA) fire hazard severity zones and directed staff to return with an ordinance and related materials for adoption.

County fire staff described the maps as an extension of the State Responsibility Area (SRA) severity mapping; the LRA maps account for ember-cast and long-distance ember risk, local topography and vegetation and are intended to reflect hazard over a 30'to'50-year period without assumed mitigation measures such as home hardening or fuel reduction. State law requires local agencies to adopt an ordinance designating moderate, high and very-high fire hazard severity zones within 120 days of receiving the recommendations; adopted ordinances must be submitted to the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection within 30 days, staff said.

Battalion Chief Kevin McLean (fire marshal presentation) told the board the new maps substantially increased the acreage in very-high zones in San Luis Obispo County. Staff said the designation carries development implications: newly designated very-high areas must comply with California's wildfire construction standards (Title 14 fire-safe regulations), trigger defensible-space obligations and require natural-hazard disclosures in property transactions for both high and very-high zones.

Supervisors and several public speakers raised questions about maps that appear to place narrow coastal strips or urban parcels in high or very-high categories; speakers asked how the model treats embers and distance, whether the methodology included mitigation already in place and how designations might affect insurance and property values. Staff and County Counsel said state code is written to permit local agencies only to increase local severity ratings, not reduce them, and that the Office of the State Fire Marshal's map is the baseline the county must act upon. County staff told the board there is not a statewide appeals process and recommended local approaches to exceptions, appeal procedures and clarifying criteria be developed at the local level.

The board voted to schedule the required ordinance hearing for April 29, place the adoption on consent for that meeting, and directed staff to prepare: (1) a memo outlining suggested changes the county could ask state officials to consider in the maps (for advocacy at the state level); (2) draft criteria and an administrative appeals process tied to exceptions (for items such as dead-end-road standards and weed-abatement exceptions); and (3) a proposal for a Fire Appeals Board to hear exception appeals. The board also asked that public communication be amplified so residents understand the maps and their effects.

Supervisor Gibson moved the staff recommendation and asked staff to return with suggested legislative-platform changes and exception criteria; Supervisor Pashong seconded. The board approved the motion unanimously.

Staff said notices of the recommended maps have been posted to planning and assessor offices, fire stations and the county clerk, and that maps and related materials are available for public review online and at specified county locations. A formal ordinance and final adoption hearing remain scheduled for April 29.