Magistrate fines Safar Trust $750 and orders $250/day until permits issued at San Diego Drive property

Special Magistrate Amity Barnard found that work at 15447 San Diego Drive (Safar Irrevocable Trust) remained in violation of permit requirements and assessed fines after hearing testimony that a permit application had been filed but not issued.

Code Compliance Officer John Suarez presented the case (CE25-42), saying the violation remained after prior orders; property manager Shahab Shalka told the magistrate the contractor had submitted paperwork recently but that a prior submission had been sent to the wrong jurisdiction. Permit-review staff advised the magistrate that the permit will be kicked back for insufficiency; the permitting tech noted the job value on the application was listed as $30,000 and questioned sufficiency for the structure as currently described.

Magistrate Barnard said the respondent had been given a prior compliance date and that submitting an application the day before the compliance hearing did not demonstrate due diligence. She assessed a $750 fine and ordered the fine to accrue at $250 per day until the permit is reviewed, approved and issued; she waived administrative costs for today's hearing and directed that once permits are in hand the respondent may return for a fine mitigation hearing with a timeline and documentation of interactions with town permitting staff.

Barnard emphasized that her goal was not punitive but to ensure a path to compliance: respondents were told to present the permit timeline and related communications at any mitigation hearing. The case was continued to the next status/fine assessment hearing date.