HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd. No. 2016-1349 Hazardous Vegetation & Rubbish AbatementORDINANCE NO. 2016 -1349
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE,
CALIFORNIA, AMENDING THE CITY OF LAKE
ELSINORE MUNICIPAL CODE, TITLE 8 HEALTH AND
SAFETY, BY AMENDING CHAPTER 8.18 NUISANCE
ABATEMENT, SECTIONS 8.18.020 (1, 2), 8.18.040 (B),
8.18.100 (A), 8.18.130 (A), 8.18.140 (B) AND 8.18.150 (A);
ADDING SECTION 8.18.152 HAZARDOUS VEGETATION
AND RUBBISH ABATEMENT PROGRAM; AND
REPEALING CHAPTER 8.32 WEED AND RUBBISH
ABATEMENT.
WHEREAS, Government Code sections 39501 and 39502 authorize the City of
Lake Elsinore to adopt procedures making it the responsibility and duty of the owners,
lessees, and occupants of real property within the City to prevent and abate public
nuisances caused by weeds or rubbish on or about their property; and
WHEREAS, the mission of the City's Weed and Rubbish Abatement Program is
for the annual removal of combustible fuel such as weeds, brush, dead trees and
rubbish from unimproved property within the city limits including the abatement of
nuisances such as fill dirt and debris from illegal dumping, through the cooperation of
affected property owners; and
WHEREAS, the City seeks to streamline the existing Weed and Rubbish
Abatement Program and establish efficient and effective procedures that will encourage
greater compliance and ensure adequate cost recovery for the program;
NOW THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE DOES
ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Title 8 Health and Safety, Chapter 8.18 Nuisance Abatement is
hereby amended to read as follows:
Chapter 8.18 NUISANCE ABATEMENT
8.18.010 Purpose.
8.18.020 Declaration of nuisance.
8.18.030 City investigation and abatement.
8.18.040 Notice to abate and appeal.
8.18.050 Service.
8.18.060 Voluntary abatement.
8.18.070 Failure to voluntarily abate a nuisance.
8.18.080 Abatement of an imminently dangerous nuisance.
8.18.090 Abatement costs.
8.18.100 Appeal of abatement costs — hearing procedures.
8.18.110 Collection of abatement costs.
8.18.120 Nuisance abatement lien.
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8.18.130 Special assessment alternative.
8.18.140 Owner's personal obligation.
8.18.150 Abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles or parts.
8.18.152 Hazardous Vegetation and Rubbish Abatement
8.18.160 Additional violations.
8.18.170 Cumulative Remedies
SECTION 2. Section 8.18.020, Declaration of nuisance, of the Lake Elsinore
Municipal Code is hereby amended to add the following:
DD. Lumber, junk, trash, rubbish, salvage materials, rubble, broken asphalt,
concrete, water containers, scrap metal or other debris stored on a property and
visible from a public street, alley or adjoining property.
EE. Dead, decayed, diseased, overgrown or hazardous trees, weeds and
vegetation, cultivated or uncultivated upon streets, sidewalks, parking, or private
property within the City, which may harbor rats or vermin, or constitute an
unsightly appearance, or which is detrimental to neighboring properties or
property values, or which is a fire hazard, or which otherwise adversely affects
the public health, safety or general welfare.
SECTION 3. Subpart B of Section 8.18.040, Notice to abate and appeal, of the
Lake Elsinore Municipal Code is hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows;
B. The recipient of the notice to abate, or the owner of the property on which
the nuisance is located, may request a hearing on the notice to abate by filing a
written appeal with the City Manager or designee within fifteen (15) calendar
days of the date of the notice to abate. The appeal shall state the reasons why
the notice to abate is incorrect.
SECTION 4. Subpart A of Section 8.18.100, Appeal of abatement costs —
hearing procedures, of the Lake Elsinore Municipal Code is hereby amended in its
entirety to read as follows:
A. If, pursuant to section 8.18.090 an appeal is timely filed, the City Manager
or designee shall set a hearing not more than thirty (30) days from receipt of the
appeal. If no such appeal is filed, the right to appeal is deemed waived and the
statement of abatement costs shall be final.
SECTION 5. Subpart A of Section 8.18.130, Special assessment alternative, of
the Lake Elsinore Municipal Code is hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows:
A. As an alternative to a nuisance abatement lien as set forth in section
8.18.120, the City Council may declare the costs of abatement a special
assessment against the parcel of land on which the nuisance is created, caused,
permitted or maintained. The total cost for abating such nuisance, shall then
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constitute a special assessment against the respective parcel of land to which it
relates, and upon recordation in the office of the county recorder of a notice of
lien, as so made and confirmed, shall constitute a lien on said property for the
amount of such assessment.
SECTION 6. Subpart B of Section 8.18.140, Owner's personal obligation, of the
Lake Elsinore Municipal Code is hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows:
B. Upon entry of a second or subsequent civil or criminal judgment within a
two -year period finding that an owner of property is responsible for a condition
that may be abated in accordance with this chapter, except for conditions abated
pursuant to Section 17980 of the California Health and Safety Code, the court
may order the owner to pay triple the costs of the abatement.
SECTION 7. Subpart A of Section 8.18.150, Abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or
inoperative vehicles and parts, of the Lake Elsinore Municipal Code is hereby amended
in its entirety to read as follows:
A. The notice shall contain a statement that the owner of the property on
which the vehicle is located and the owner of the vehicle may appeal the notice
within fifteen (15) calendar days of the date of the notice by filing an appeal with
the City Manager or designee. The appeal procedures shall be governed by
section 8.18.100 of this chapter. Failure to timely file an appeal shall constitute a
waiver of the right to appeal and a failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
SECTION 8. Section 8.18.152, Hazardous Vegetation & Rubbish Abatement
Program, is hereby added to the Lake Elsinore Municipal Code to read as follows:
8.18.152 Hazardous Vegetation & Rubbish Abatement Program.
A. Pursuant to Government Code sections 39501 and 39502, the City of
Lake Elsinore adopts the following procedures making it the responsibility and
duty of the owners, lessees, and occupants of real property within the City to
prevent and abate public nuisances caused by weeds or rubbish on or about
their property.
B. The following definitions apply to the City's hazardous vegetation and
rubbish abatement program:
1. "Weeds" include (i) any vegetation or plant which when mature bear
seeds of a downy or wingy nature; (ii) sagebrush, chaparral and any
other brush or weeds which attain such large growth as to become,
when dry, a fire menace; (iii) poison oak and poison ivy when the
conditions of growth are such as to constitute a menace to the public
health, and weeds that are otherwise noxious or dangerous; (iv)
overgrown vegetation which is likely to harbor rats or vermin, or which
constitutes a fire hazard; (v) dry grass, stubble, brush, or other
flammable material which endangers the public safety by creating a fire
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hazard; (vi) large amounts of dead, dying or diseased vegetation; and
(vii) any other brush, vines, trees, grass, plants, or vegetation that is
injurious to public health, safety, welfare or is otherwise hazardous or
unsightly to the community.
2. "Rubbish" includes, but is not limited to, trash or refuse consisting of
uncontained paper, cardboard, wood, dry grass or brush, dirt, plastic,
rubber, metal or ceramic wreckage, glass, junk, disassembled
automobiles, machinery, or parts thereof, or any other discarded
material which may be combustible or deleterious to the public health,
safety, or welfare, or any material which by reason of its location
and /or character may hamper or interfere with the prevention or
suppression of fire upon the premises or adjacent premises.
C. It shall be unlawful, and is hereby declared a public nuisance, for the
owner(s), lessee(s), or occupant(s) of real property within the City to maintain,
permit, or allow such premises to be maintained in such a condition where weeds
or rubbish negatively affect the public health, safety, or welfare. It is also hereby
declared the duty and responsibility of the owner(s), lessee(s), and occupant(s)
of real property within the City to prevent and abate any and all conditions of
weeds or rubbish that negatively affect the public health, safety, or welfare.
D. The City Manager or designee shall adopt standards consistent with this
section for the maintenance, prevention, and abatement of weeds and rubbish on
all lots and parcels of real property within the City and make the same
reasonably available to the public.
E. The City Manager or designee shall have authority to declare violations of
this section and the standards adopted pursuant hereto, and to enforce the same
against the owner(s), lessee(s) and occupant(s) of the property upon which such
conditions exist.
F. The City Manager or designee shall cause a forty -five (45) day notice to
be issued to the owner(s) of the lot or parcel of real property and any other
lessee(s) or occupant(s) against whom enforcement of this section is sought
and /or from whom cost recovery will be made. The notice shall contain (i) a
reasonable description of the lot or parcel of real property upon which the
violation exists, (ii) a reasonable description of the violating conditions
constituting the nuisance, (iii) the relevant standards for maintenance,
prevention, and abatement of weeds and rubbish adopted pursuant to this
section the City Manager or designee, (iv) reference to this section, (v) an order
to remove the violating conditions and bring the property into compliance in no
less than forty -five (45) days, (vi) a description of the consequences of failure to
comply as prescribed in this section, and (vii) a statement that a written appeal
may be filed with the City Manager or designee thereof.
G. The notice required shall be served upon the owner(s) and any lessee(s)
or occupant(s), or the authorized agents thereof, by any of the following methods:
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1. By personal service; or
2. By mail sent to the address as reflected on the last equalized
assessment roll of the county or agent thereof, or as otherwise known
to the City; or
3. By posting the notice conspicuously on or in front of the property upon
which the violation exists.
H. After the initial forty -five (45) day notice, if the property has not been
brought into compliance and no written appeal has been filed in accordance with
section 8.18.040, a fifteen (15) day notice shall be issued. This notice shall be
made in accordance with section 8.18.160(F) except that it shall order the
property be brought into compliance in no less than fifteen (15) days and shall
state that any written appeal must be filed in no less than fifteen (15) calendar
days with the City Manager or designee thereof. The fifteen (15) day notice shall
be served by certified mail addressed to the owner(s) and any lessee(s) or
occupant(s) as reflected on the last equalized assessment roll of the county or
agent thereof, or as otherwise known to the City. An administrative fee shall also
be assessed upon issuance of the fifteen (15) day notice.
I. All appeal and hearing procedures shall be governed by section 8.18.040
of this chapter. Failure to file a timely and proper written appeal shall constitute a
waiver of the right to appeal and a failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
J. If, after fifteen (15) days since the second notice was issued, the
nuisance upon the property has not been abated and no written appeal has been
filed in accordance with section 8.18.040, City personnel and /or contractors may
enter the property, subject to requirements of law, and take such action as is
reasonably necessary to abate the nuisance.
K. The City shall keep an itemized accounting of the associated costs
incurred by the City to abate the nuisance. All abatement and administrative
costs incurred by the City, including all fees and costs as defined in section
8.18.090(A), may be recovered by any manner authorized by law, including by
lien or assessment pursuant to the procedures set forth in sections 8.18.110.
L. Abatement of any nuisance under this section may, in the discretion of the
City Manager or designee, be contracted to an outside contractor. Should the
City contract the abatement process, the City may assign its interest in collecting
payment for the work to the contractor which performed the work, as payment to
the contractor.
SECTION 9. Repeal Chapter 8.32 Weed and Rubbish Abatement and reserve
numbering for future use.
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SECTION 10. This Ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after the date of
its final passage. The City Clerk shall certify as to adoption of this Ordinance and cause
this Ordinance to be published and posted in the manner required by law.
INTRODUCED at the regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Lake
Elsinore, California, on the 9t" day of February 2016, and ADOPTED at the regular
meeting of the 23rd day of February 2016.
Brian is le
Mayor
ATTEST:
Susan , amen, MMC
City Clerk
APPROVED AS TQ,F:O�
136fbara Zeid Le old
City Attorney /
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE ) ss.
CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE
I, Susan M. Domen, City Clerk of the City of Lake Elsinore, California, hereby certify that
Ordinance No. 2016 -1350 was introduced at the regular City Council meeting of
February 9, 2016, and adopted at the regular meeting of February 23, 2016, by the
following roll call vote:
AYES: Council Member Jonson, Council Member Manos, Mayor Pro Tern Magee,
and Mayor Tisdale
NOES:
None
ABSENT:
Council Member Hickman
ABSTAIN:
None
Susan M. Domen, M
City Clerk