At the September 24 and October 8, 2019 City Council meetings, several tenants of the Citrus Packing House (CPH) complained about the treatment and the limited hours of operation imposed by the City of Fillmore’s yellow tag on the building. A “yellow tag” limits entry into a building until corrections needed for safety are made. Once the safety corrections are made, the yellow tag will be removed. The list of safety corrections was agreed upon months ago, after the City was allowed to inspect the entire building.

The building’s owner, David Storrs, is aware of the fire and safety conditions needing to be rectified and never applied for a business license or the other permits necessary to operate the CPH. For more than two years the City has been talking with Mr. Storrs about the code violations at the CPH and, although promises were made, no code violations were remedied until the City issued a red tag on the building. Then, within a week, the two most significant safety concerns were corrected, and the City was able to reduce the red tag to a yellow tag.

It is unfortunate that the tenants have been placed in this situation by Mr. Storrs, but the City has an obligation to enforce local and State building codes. As an example, at one point City staff discovered that two businesses with combustible materials were located dangerously close to one another within the CPH. It is the City’s responsibility to prevent this from happening, but City staff can only do so when landlords and tenants communicate with the City and apply for required permits and licenses.

Despite all of the delays and even though Mr. Storrs still does not have the permits required to operate the CPH and the plans he promised the City to address the fire and safety issues were due more than one month ago have not been submitted, the City is allowing him to keep the CPH open, for the benefit of the tenants. The increased hours for the occupancy of the CPH while the yellow tag remains were set at 7 AM to 7 PM Monday – Saturday per Mr. Storrs’s request. As he has made no further progress the City is unable, at this time, to further extend the hours.

The City has and continues to do what it can to work with the landlord to resolve the fire and safety issues at the CPH. The City has a responsibility to the CPH tenants and the citizens of Fillmore. Although it may not be a popular stance at this time, protecting the tenants and adjacent property owners is the right thing to do.