Unpermitted Camping on Private Properties
Below is a general discussion of the County's enforcement approach when it comes to receiving complaints related to camping activities on private properties.
- Complaint-based enforcement. The County does not have the capacity or actively survey all properties to ensure that no illegal camping activities are occurring at any time. The County Code Enforcement Department relies on complaints either called or emailed in with specific incidents/ site locations and based on that report, the code enforcement staff will start an investigation by driving by the reported site.
- Health & Safety Priority. The Code Enforcement staff receives a high volume of complaint calls/ emails daily. In order to ensure the general health and safety of the community and environment, code enforcement staff will prioritize investigating complains related to suspected active, illegal construction/ building/ grading operations or camping activities that poses imminent health and safety threats.
- Investigative Process. When a complaint is received, Code Enforcement staff will conduct a drive by to investigate to determine the level of violation. Sometimes the violation(s) is clear and allows for immediate action(s), sometimes the violation(s) are hard to see from the public road. Without proper authorization, immediate access to the violation site(s) can be limited and County staff has to work with the property owner(s) to evaluate the violation(s) reported.
- Other Agency Involvement. If there is clear violation where camping activities have caused waste dumping or water concerns, Environmental Health will be contacted. If there is concerning fire activities, then CAL Fire/ Cambria Fire will be notified.
- Weekend Code Enforcement Service. County residents can report suspected general code violations either via phone or online here. The County has on-call weekend and holiday enforcement service hours from 8am to 10pm. For the weekend and holiday enforcement, county residents can call (805) 788-2350 to report suspected violations such as unpermitted camping activities, or grading, work that is causing environmental damage, unpermitted temporary events and violations of event conditions.