Property Encroachment

Any work or other obstruction in, over, or on any public sidewalk, street, avenue, alley, or public place in the City that requires inspection to ensure City-owned facilities have been constructed to City standards requires a permit.

Any activity that creates a liability due to obvious safety concerns of the proposed activity may also require a permit. Per Madera Municipal Code, “No person shall grade, prepare, subgrade, pave, excavate, or construct sewers, drains, curbs, gutters, driveways, sidewalks, manholes, catch-basins or similar structures or works in any street, alley, or way, which street, alley, or way is dedicated or proposed to be dedicated for public use, within the city unless and until a permit for the work has been issued by the Department in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.('61 Code, § 7-3.02) (Ord. 37 C.S., passed 12-4-62).”

Contractors performing work for compensation within the City must obtain a City of Madera Business License from the Finance Department. Per Madera Municipal Code, “Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, license taxes in the amounts prescribed in this chapter are imposed upon all business transacted or carried on in the City. It shall be unlawful for any person to commence, transact, engage in, or carry on any business in the city without first having procured a license from the city to do so, or without complying with any and all applicable regulations of this chapter and other related or relevant laws of the city. Each day any such business is carried on without a license and/or•• without such compliance shall constitute a separate violation of the provisions of this chapter for each and every day such business is so carried on. Such license, when issued, shall authorize the person obtaining the same to transact the business described therein at the particular locality within the city designated in such license during the term stated therein. (‘61 Code, § 6-1.05) (Ord. 228 N.S., passed - -).”

PLEASE NOTE: The City can’t give authorization for a property owner to use a third party’s easement based upon a letter.  One of the reasons for this is that it does not give a future property owner notice that there is a structure intruding into the easement, and that the easement holder would be entitled to require the future owner to remove the intruding part of a structure or pool (thereby emptying it) in order to access the easement.

The simplest approach is to design all structures, including pools, so that they do not intrude into existing easements.  If this is not an option, then property owners must contact the easement holder and enter into a special covenant for use of the easement, or the equivalent, and have it recorded against the property.  If the City is also a holder the easement or has an interest in the easement, it would also need to be a signatory to the covenant.  The covenant would basically state that the property owner can make special use of the easement “at risk” of having to remove the structure at the homeowner’s own expense if the easement holder needs access to the easement.

Examples of activities NOT requiring a permit from the City of Madera Engineering Division include:

Work that is not within the City Limits, work that is completely on private property, work that includes, but is not limited to, sprinkler repair or typical landscape maintenance such as mowing, trimming, etc. However, some activities may require a permit from another division within the City.