With the official start of summer coming June 21, the city of Cupertino wants property owners to eliminate brush on their properties that may pose fire risk.
The Cupertino brush abatement program — separate from the Santa Clara County Weed Abatement Program — requires property owners to remove brush and, if they fail to do so, authorizes the county to do so and to charge the property owner for it. On July 3, property owners identified for not being in compliance will have an opportunity to object during a public hearing in council chambers at Community Hall in Cupertino.
According to the city, owners of Cupertino properties located within the locally adopted Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Area — which includes lands in the western portions of the city and homes in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains — are required to maintain “an effective defensible space by removing brush, flammable vegetation and combustible growth when required by the fire code officials due to steepness of terrain or other conditions.”