County cuts red tape for fire victims, restaurants

County zoning changes allow restaurants to continue outdoor dining

Inyo County has reduced some regulatory red tape for fire victims and restaurant owners.

Inyo County will waive building and planning fees for residents seeking to rebuild their homes that were destroyed in the recent Fairview Fire.

The county also adjusted its zoning codes to allow restaurant owners to continue providing outdoor dining spaces with a minimum of paperwork.

Nine homes and about 20 outbuildings were destroyed by the July 8 Fairview Fire. The fire swept through the small subdivision west of Bishop that was made up of a mix of houses and mobile homes. On July 8, 2022, the Inyo County Director of Emergency Services proclaimed a county state of emergency due to the fire, and at its July 12 meeting the county Board of Supervisors ratified the proclamation.

The county Public Works Department started working on providing some more tangible relief to homeowners shortly afterward. As the staff report from the county Building and Safety Department states, “the County is turning its focus toward recovery. A large part of the recovery process is rebuilding the homes that were destroyed in the fire. The County would like to do everything that it can to encourage the fire victims to rebuild, particularly given that Inyo County is already experiencing a housing crisis. However, rebuilding is expensive. Waiving the building and planning fees will help defray some of the costs of rebuilding.”

Tyson Sparrow, of the Building and Safety Department, said the county will waive all fess associated with building and construction related inspections by his department, and plan check fees at the Planning Department. He said the fee waivers would only be granted to current residents who are rebuilding a home lost in the fire. The fee waiver will “not run with the land,” he said. If the current landowners sells, the new owner, for example, would not be able to take advantage of the fee waivers.

Those seeking to rebuild will still have to obtain all the relevant county permits for the work, Sparrow noted, but there would be no permit fees.

The fee waiver would be good for five years to give people time to rebuild, he said.

Sparrow estimated that construction and building permit and plan check fees for the nine residences lost in the fire would total about $20,000 if normal fees were charged. However, that only an estimate.

The fee waivers were unanimously approved by the board.

The board then addressed a holdover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

To help restaurants after the first Covid-19 restrictions limited occupancy of indoor spaces, on July 20, 2020 the county “suspended” its zoningbased ban on outdoor dining, said Planning Director Cathreen Richards.

Restaurants in the unincorporated communities in the county quickly responded and set up outdoor dining areas. Some were fairly simple, others were more extensive.

Supervisor Jeff Griffiths said that the development of outdoor dining “may be

the one good thing that came out of the pandemic.”

The temporary suspension has expired but the outdoor seating areas have remained.

The tidy up that situation, Richards presented changes in four commercial zones that allow restaurants. Currently, those zones do not allow outdoor seating or serving food or beverages outside. The changes in the zoning code would allow restaurants in those zones to add an outdoor dining or seating area as “a by-right accessory use.” That would eliminate the need to go through the full planning and approval process to obtain a special use permit to provide those outdoor amenities, as the current code dictates.

Richards said she could find no reason for the outdoor prohibition in the original zoning codes. “It seems kind of silly not to allow outdoor dining,” she added. The staff report expanded on that idea: “Inyo County with its sunny climate, beautiful views and tourist-based economy is a perfect place for businesses with food and beverage service to have outdoor seating and it has become a much more common and enjoyed practice in the United States. It has been a way of life in other parts of the world for many years.”

There would be no changes to the numerous building, zoning and health regulations for restaurants. The current outdoor dining and serving areas have not generated any complaints or concerns, she noted.

Supervisor Matt Kingsley said he appreciated the move to allow restaurants to keep their outdoor seating while easily coming into compliance with county codes.

The zoning changes were unanimously approved.