Certificates of occupancy can be applied for online.  Just visit the City's Citizen Self Service Portal to apply for your certificate of occupancy.

Building inspections are conducted Monday-Friday in the morning between the hours of 8am-12pm, or the afternoon between the hours of 1pm-5pm.  When you schedule your inspection through the City's Citizen Self Service Portal, you are able to choose both the date and time frame (AM or PM) for your inspection. 

Immediately upon completion of the building inspection (either approved or failed), inspection results are emailed to the contacts on the building permit.  If the inspection is failed, the email notification will include the reasons the inspection was failed.

You can find the status of your case by logging in to our Citizen Access Portal. If you are not registered as a user and not identified as either a property owner or complainant on the case, be sure to register as a user and then call (760) 955-5104 to have us add you to the case.

Or,

You can find out the status of your case by contacting us at (760) 955-5104 and in person at City Hall.

If you have received an invoice from the Code Enforcement Division, then it means two things. First, a Notice of Pendency, or lien, has been recorded on the property. This lien is intended to notice all interested parties that there is an active Code Enforcement case and there are potentially substandard or nuisance conditions that exist thereupon. Additionally, it means all costs associated with administering the City's case are owed to the City and shall be paid prior to its withdrawal. The invoice was generated and is inclusive of all associated costs. It will not accrue interest, but it is best to first comply and then pay it so that the lien can be removed because these liens tend to prevent a person from transferring the property to another or refinancing the loans that use the property as collateral.

Lastly, if you believe this was sent to you in error or there are costs that you do not agree with, then you may contact us at (760) 955-5104.

In all cases, our goal is to obtain voluntary compliance via a cooperative partnership with the property owner or occupants that are impacting the community or commercial zones. To that end, the following is a process that has long been established with proven positive results.

Receive, Process, and Prioritize the Complaint

• A case is created.  An officer is assigned for initial inspection to be conducted within 72 hours.
• Priority is set based on the nature of the complaint and impacts to health and safety.

Inspect and Confirm Reported Violations 

• A Notice of Violation is issued to the property owner/ occupant if violations are identified.
• A re-inspection occurs within 30 days or sooner to verify violations have been corrected.
• If violations are corrected, the case is closed

Additional Enforcement- If Violations Are Unresolved

• A Notice of Pendency (lien) is recorded with the San Bernardino County Recorder.
• An administrative citation is issued at the first penalty level ($100) for each unresolved violation. A re-inspection is typically done within 15 days to follow up after the citation is issued.
• Additional administrative citations are issued at the second, third and fourth penalty levels ($200, $400, $1000 respectively)  for each unresolved violation.  Depending on the violations and their severity, re-inspections and citations can be done every day, but typically every 15 days. 
• Issue misdemeanor citations for San Bernardino County Superior Court appearance. 
• Issue orders to vacate or stop work orders for construction without permits.   
• Compliance time extensions are granted only if violations are in the process of being corrected. 

Abatement Actions- If Needed

• Secure abatement warrants to address high priority violations unsecured structures.
• Initiate a Notice to Abate action for possible demolition actions.
• Refer the case to the City Attorney for a property receivership appointment action.

Case Closure

• Occurs after the violations are corrected by the occupant or property owner.
• Fines, City enforcement, legal and abatement expenses are recovered.
• A Notice of Pendency withdrawal is completed. 

Personal Cultivation:

Per State law, the city is required to allow cultivation for personal use of six or fewer cannabis plants within a single private residence. Victorville further regulates this allowance, as follows:

• Personal cultivation shall take place indoors only. There shall be no exterior visibility or evidence of cannabis cultivation, including odors. Outdoor cultivation is not permitted.
• Personal cultivation shall only occur in residential zones of the City.
• No more than a total of six cannabis plants, mature or immature, are permitted on the premises of a private residence.
• Cannabis cultivation for personal use may not be sold.

Commercial Cannabis Activity Prohibited:  

With one limited exception, Victorville prohibits all commercial cannabis activity license types from establishing, operating, maintaining, conducting, allowing, or engaging in commercial cannabis activity, whether or not for profit, anywhere within the City of Victorville. 

Limited Exception:  

“State-licensed” medicinal cannabis delivery services that are established/located outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the City of Victorville are permitted to make deliveries of medicinal cannabis and cannabis products only to Qualified Patients possessing Identification Cards (or their primary caregivers) within the City of Victorville, provided such delivery services comply with the provisions of Section 13.150.040 of Ordinance No. 2376, and all other applicable State and local laws and regulations.

You can find the zoning district for a particular piece of property by

1. Entering in the address online here
2. Asking Planning Division Staff by calling (760) 955-5135; or
3. Making an email request to planning@victorvilleca.gov 

Code Enforcement Officers are conducting inspections one neighborhood at a time to improve communities .  This program is intended to assist properties with our property maintenance requirements.  If you feel we have missed a violation in your neighborhood, please feel free to submit your complaint online here or call us at (760) 955-5104.

Have your voice heard: There are two main ways to get involved – a survey and two public workshops.

Survey

The City invites the community to provide input on housing needs and opportunities in Victorville. Please ensure your priorities for housing are heard by taking the online survey. 

Public Workshops

The first public workshop will be held on February 1, 2021 at 5:00 pm. The meeting will be held virtually. Check back here for a link to join the meeting.

• ALL INTERESTED PERSONS are invited to attend said Public Meeting to express their opinion in this matter. 

A second public workshop will be held in March to share the draft Housing Element update and gather public input on it. Check back on this page for public notices and workshop presentations.

The City is both reactive to public complaints and proactive through the Community Enhancement Program (CEP) program. CEP is a proactive neighborhood-by-neighborhood in person assessment process. CEP helps the City to improve community appeal. Should you wish to submit a complaint, please submit your complaint online here or call us at (760) 955-5104.

The length of the foster may vary based on your ability, but it may not exceed one year. 

Although you may not live in an area regulated by a Homeowners Association (HOA) or a Covenant, Condition and Restriction (CC&R), Victorville City Council has adopted municipal codes specifically designed to address blight, nuisance, and to maintain a clean, safe environment for all residents in our community. Most city codes and ordinances apply to every property within the City. Click here to access the Victorville Municipal Code.

With the passing of Measure P and direction of City Council, additional Code Enforcement Officers have been tasked to improve the quality of life in our city for our residents. With additional Officers, a proactive approach can be implemented. If violations are addressed now, rather than later or when it becomes a big enough problem for a neighbor to complain, Code Compliance can help prevent further problems in the neighborhoods later on and immediately improve the appeal of the community.

Installing drought-tolerant landscape shouldn't break the bank and most properties already have elements of landscaping in place such as shrubs, trees and other decorative landscape features- they just need a little added maintenance.

We have provided an estimated cost of material to meet the minimum landscape requirements set forth by the City of Victorville and requires little maintenance. The example below is based on an average size front yard of 800 sq. ft.  Costs below are approximate amounts. Actual costs may vary.

• Weed Barrier - One (1) roll of weed barrier costs $14.00 and covers

  approximately 200 sq. ft.  This example requires four (4) rolls. Estimated Cost: $56.00

•  Rock (3/4” in size is recommended although smaller rock may be used) - One scoop costs $39.00 and covers approximately 100 sq. ft. at the required 3 inches thick. This example requires eight (8) scoops. *Delivery not included. Estimated Cost: $312.00

• Drought-tolerant Plants - One 15-gallon tree priced at $75 and four drought-tolerant shrubs priced at $25 each. Estimated Cost: $175.00

Total Estimated Material Cost: $543.00 (*This is an estimate only. Actual cost may vary.)

• Fosters a positive and inviting first impression
• Promotes human well-being making the City a great place to live, work, and play
• Offers visually pleasing surroundings
• Mitigates soil erosion
• Enhances property values
• Increases public welfare and safety
• Reduces crime

The CEP program promotes public health, safety, and welfare as well as investment and maintenance in our neighborhoods through proactive code enforcement. Code Compliance is crucial to the well-being of our City as violations of city code impede the quality of life for residents. It involves a systematic comprehensive, exterior assessment of neighborhoods by Code Enforcement Officers. Below are some examples of exterior violations the Code Enforcement Officers are looking for.

•  Residential landscape consist of a combination of live vegetation and decorative rock ground cover must be used to achieve 100% soil coverage.
• All front and street side yards (if property is located on a street corner) visible from the street must be covered with landscaping.
  • Concrete and paved areas, including driveways and walkways, are limited to 50% of the entire front yard area.
• Ground cover may include
  • Decorative rock (5/8 rock or larger recommended to avoid wind erosion of material)
    • Decorative ground cover must be installed at an adequate depth of 2”-3” and include an unexposed permanent weed barrier.
    • Measures must be put in place to keep decorative rock in-place (i.e., landscape edging, mow curbing, etc).
  • Stones, boulders, cobblestones,
  • Quartzite,
  • pea gravel,
  • Decomposed granite,
  • Non-plastic/nylon artificial turf with a minimum length (pile height) of 1 ¼ inches.
• Live plants are required and may include various low growing shrubs and perennials to help achieve ground cover.
  • Bark or mulch may be used within a regularly maintained flowerbed/planter area- may not be used as primary ground cover due to wind erosion to mulch.
• Newly installed live grass is not allowed within the front yard landscape.
  • Properties that currently have grass must maintain the grass in a neat, healthy condition.
  • Drought-tolerant landscape must be installed if grass is decayed or removed.

For more information on Residential Landscape Standards, please refer to City of Victorville Municipal Code Sections 16-3.08.090 and 16-3.24.030.

The City’s primary objective is to seek voluntary compliance. Code Enforcement Officers will conduct an initial exterior inspection of the property and if property maintenance concerns are observed, Code Enforcement Officers will place a Courtesy Notice on the door providing a 30-day period to remedy and/or educate the property owner/occupant of the existing violations and collaborate to improve maintenance and bring the property into compliance if they are present at the time of inspection. Code Enforcement Officers will return to the property after the 30-day period has lapsed to confirm if the property owner/occupant has complied. If violations are still found, a Notice of Violation will be issued. The property owner/occupant will then have an additional 30-day period to correct all noted violations to avoid any further enforcement action such as filing a Notice of Pendency and/or fines. 

Additional time is commonly provided if you are actively working on compliance, but it is important for the property owner to request the time extension. Please submit an extension request online by clicking here or you may come into City Hall and fill out a form manually. Please note no additional time can be granted when violations present an immediate danger or safety risk. Please note an extension request is not a guarantee of additional time. The request must be submitted and approved.

The International Property Maintenance Code is a collection of additional property maintenance standards that help property owners maintain a clean, safe and sanitary property reducing blight. Examples of Property Maintenance Code standards include:

• Buildings: Exterior painting/siding, structural integrity, maintenance of fencing, lighting, plumbing systems, and other architectural property features.

• Sites: Unmaintained vegetation/weeds, garbage and debris accumulation, grading/drainage, inoperable vehicles, parking on the unpaved areas of the front yard.

• Orphaned and juvenile kittens, puppies and small animals
• Sick or injured animals (not life threating)
• Healthy adult, dogs and cats or other pets
• Senior geriatric animals
• Pets near the end of their lives who enter homes for “fosicpe” care.
• Animals with behavior challenges, including fearful, under socialized.
• Animas who are not able to be handled in the shelter environment.
• Animals who come into the shelter with no behavior issues, but who decline in the shelter environment.

• Community Enhancement Program Residential Landscaping Guide Pamphlet
• Time extensions to correct violations
• Water Conservation Department
  • No cost appointments to assist owners with compliant landscape designs and measurements of property
  • No cost irrigation systems and installation
  • No cost water conservation tools
  • Water-wise Landscaping Resources Webpage
• DumpItRightVV Cleanup Programs
  • Bulky Item Disposal
  • Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center
  • Free Dump Day Events
  • Recycling Drop-Off Center

Fosters come in all walks of life. Some are parents who want to teach children important lessons about helping animals in need. Others are individuals who want to help shelter pets but are not ready to make a lifelong commitment of pet adoption.

It doesn’t take a special skills or abilities to foster, simply the desire to help provide life saving care for a pet in need.

Type of fosters

· Over night or weekend fostering. Geared more towards dogs. It provides longer breaks from the shelter environment.

· Short-term foster placement. Commonly used as a tool for assessment and the gathering of behavior notes. For its potentially new family

· Medical foster for placement. This may include young animals who need around the clock care, pets recovering from injuries, surgeries or an animal with a treatable illness.

· Senior and geriatric foster – these are considered “less desirable” shelter life is particularly hard on senior dogs.

· Fostering for pets with behavior challenges. For experience foster. Dogs who are jumpy and mouthy in the shelter, under socialized indoor cats, barrier-reactive pooches, and pets who are fearful or hard to handle may need nothing more than to be outside of the confines of the shelter in order to thrive.

Victorville Municipal Code 13.60 – Water Efficient Landscaping was adopted by the city to promote water conservation, given the provisions of Article 10, Section 2 of the California Constitution declaring that waters of the State of California are to be put to beneficial use, and that waste, unreasonable use, or unreasonable method of use of water be prevented, and that water be conserved for the public welfare. The landscape water conservation standards detailed in this municipal code are intended to promote water conservation by designing healthy, attractive, and cost-effective water efficient landscapes, and to prevent water waste. There are also numerous other reasons as to why bare dirt or other landscape is not permitted such as:

• Urban and agriculture development result in habitat loss that directly impact biodiversity.
• Removal of vegetation causes loss of protective cover, food, and disturbances in natural processes.
• As California grows, communities use more resources and generate more waste.
• Historically, urban landscapes are water intensive and are chemically treated using fertilizers and pesticides, which can runoff into waterways.
• Maintaining a typical grass lawn creates noise and air pollution from gas-powered equipment; small engines are among the dirtiest engines allowed in California.
• Requiring a drought-tolerant, sustainable landscape reduces unnatural erosion, resource depletion, waste generation, and pollution problems while also helping to combat a changing climate.

Click here to access Victorville Municipal Code Section 16-3.24-030 – Landscape Standards.