(a) Within 30 days of receipt of the information required to be provided pursuant to Section 5504, the property owner may request a meeting with representatives of the agency to discuss the agency’s proposed schedule for, or method of, roadside vegetation control, or both the schedule and method to be used on, or along, the roadway adjacent or contiguous to his or her property.

(b) Upon receipt of a request for a meeting pursuant to this section, the agency shall meet with the property owner at a mutually agreeable time and location.

(c) The purpose of the meeting shall be to develop and adopt the following:

(1) A schedule for the roadside vegetation control operation .

(2) A method of roadside vegetation control that eliminates, or minimizes, damage to the property owner’s property while preserving the ability of the agency to conduct an effective roadside vegetation control program.

(d) The agency shall consider and, if the facts presented to the agency warrant further action in order to carry out the objectives of this chapter, do any or all of the following:

(1) Revise the schedule for the roadside vegetation control operation.

(2) Revise the proposed methods of roadside vegetation control, including, but not limited to, the use of a pesticide or mechanical methods of control, or a combination thereof.

(3) Use different pesticides, or different combinations or concentrations of pesticides.

(4) Enter into an agreement with the property owner whereby the property owner agrees to assume the responsibility, in whole or in part, of roadside vegetation control by any lawful method of control, if the agency determines that the property owner’s method is as effective as the method proposed to be used by the agency.

(e) The objective of this section is to establish a procedure for property owners and representatives of agencies to meet and confer in order to develop and adopt mutually acceptable times for, and methods of, well-coordinated and effective roadside vegetation control operations, and thereby minimize damage to adjacent or contiguous property.

(f) If agreement cannot be reached between the property owner and the agency, the agency shall maintain responsibility for decisions affecting roadside vegetation control in the disputed area.

(Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 361, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 1997.)