City of Lewes, DE Adoption of Code

The ordinances of the City of Lewes, County of Sussex, State of Delaware, of a general and permanent nature, adopted by the City Council of the City of Lewes, hereinafter known and referred to as the "City Council," as revised, codified and consolidated into chapters and sections by General Code and consisting of Chapters 1 through 197, together with an Appendix, are hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as the Code of the City of Lewes, hereinafter known and referred to as the "Code."

§ 1-3 Continuation of existing provisions.

The provisions of the Code, insofar as they are substantively the same as those of the legislation in force immediately prior to the enactment of the Code by this ordinance, are intended as a continuation of such legislation and not as new enactments, and the effectiveness of such provisions shall date from the date of the prior legislation.

§ 1-4 Copy of Code on file.

A copy of the Code in a post-bound volume has been filed in the office of the City Manager and shall remain there for the use of and examination by the public until final action is taken on this ordinance; and, if this ordinance shall be adopted, such copy shall be certified to by the City Manager, and such certified copy shall remain on file in the office of the City Manager, available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times while said Code is in effect.

§ 1-5 Amendments to Code.

Any and all additions, deletions, amendments or supplements to the Code, when passed and adopted in such form as to indicate the intention of the City Council to be a part thereof, shall be understood to be incorporated into said Code. Whenever such additions, deletions, amendments or supplements to the Code shall be adopted, they shall thereafter be published and, as provided hereunder, included in the Code as amendments and supplements thereto.

§ 1-6 Code to be kept up-to-date.

It shall be the duty of the City Manager, or someone authorized and directed by the City Manager, to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the book containing the Code required to be filed in the office of the City Manager for the use of the public. All changes in said Code and all ordinances adopted by the City Council subsequent to the effective date of this codification which the City Council shall adopt specifically as part of the Code shall, when finally adopted, be included therein by reference until such changes or new ordinances are incorporated into the Code.

§ 1-7 Supplementation of Code.

Supplements to this Code shall be prepared whenever authorized or directed by the City Council or designee thereof. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive permanent and general parts of ordinances passed by the City Council and all changes made thereby in the Code.

In preparing a supplement to this Code, all portions of the Code which have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code by the omission thereof from Code provisions.

When preparing a supplement to this Code, the codifier (meaning the person, agency or organization authorized to prepare the supplement) may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances included in the supplement, insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody them into the unified Code.

(1)

For example, the codifier may:

(a)

Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subsections;

(b)

Provide appropriate headings and titles for sections and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement, and make changes in such headings and titles;

(c)

Assign appropriate numbers to chapters and sections to be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material, change existing or other section numbers;

(d)

Change the words "this ordinance" or words of the same meaning to "this chapter," "this article," "this section," etc., as the case may be, or to "§§ _____ to __________" (inserting section numbers to indicate the sections of the Code which embody the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated into the Code); and

(e)

Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of ordinance sections inserted into the Code.

(2)

In no case shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance material included in the supplement or already in the Code.

§ 1-8 Sale of Code book; supplementation schedule.

Copies of the Code, or any chapter or portion of it, may be purchased from the City Manager or an authorized agent of the City Manager upon the payment of a fee to be set by the City Council or as otherwise set by law. The City Manager or designee may also arrange for procedures for the periodic supplementation of the Code.

§ 1-9 Altering or tampering with Code; penalties for violation.

It shall be unlawful for anyone to improperly change or amend, by additions or deletions, any part or portion of the Code or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the City of Lewes to be misrepresented thereby. Anyone violating this section or any part of this ordinance shall be subject, upon conviction, to a fine of not more than $100.

§ 1-10 Severability of Code provisions.

Each section of the Code and every part of each section is an independent section or part of a section, and the holding of any section or a part thereof to be unconstitutional, void or ineffective for any cause shall not be deemed to affect the validity or constitutionality of any other section or part thereof.

Each section of this ordinance is an independent section, and the holding of any section or part thereof to be unconstitutional, void or ineffective for any cause shall not be deemed to affect the validity or constitutionality of any other sections or part thereof.

§ 1-11 Inconsistent ordinances repealed.

Except as provided in § 1-12, Certain ordinances not affected, below, all ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent with the provisions contained in the Code adopted by this ordinance are hereby repealed; provided, however, that such repeal shall be only to the extent of such inconsistency, and any valid legislation of the City which is not in conflict with provisions of the Code shall be deemed to remain in full force and effect.

The following ordinances (chapters/articles) are specifically repealed:

(1)

Chapter 8, Court, adopted September 8, 1958, as amended May 12, 1980.

(2)

Chapter 23, Human Relations Commission, adopted May 12, 1980.

(3)

Chapter 44, Social Security, adopted October 23, 1951.

(4)

Chapter 54, Alcoholic Beverages, adopted June 29, 1961, as amended June 11, 1984.

(5)

Chapter 101, Fishing, adopted June 4, 1962, as amended May 12, 1980.

(6)

Chapter 110, Gas Standards, adopted January 14, 1980.

(7)

In Chapter 140: Article I, Disorderly Conduct Generally, adopted June 1, 1964, as amended June 8, 1970, and May 12, 1980; Article II, Drunk and Disorderly Conduct, adopted June 8, 1970, as amended May 12, 1980; and Article IV, Sleeping in Vehicles, adopted June 8, 1970, as amended May 12, 1980.

(8)

Appendix Chapter A201, Law Enforcement Ethics, adopted February 18, 1974, as amended January 11, 1982, August 12, 1991, and February 15, 1993.

§ 1-12 Certain ordinances not affected.

Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall be construed to repeal or otherwise affect the validity of any of the following:

(1)

Any ordinance promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the City, or any evidence of the City's indebtedness;

(2)

Any appropriation ordinance providing for the levy of taxes or for any annual budget;

(3)

Any order annexing territory to the City or excluding territory as a part of the City;

(4)

Any ordinance granting any franchise, permit or other right;

(5)

Any ordinance creating a special services district;

(6)

Any ordinance approving, authorizing or otherwise relating to any contract, agreement, lease, deed or other instrument;

(7)

Any ordinance adopting a preliminary or development plan;

(8)

Any temporary or special ordinance;

(9)

Any zoning amendment ordinance.

(10)

Any ordinance adopted subsequent to June 11, 2018.

All ordinances pursuant to this section are hereby recognized as continuing in full force and effect to the same extent as if set out at length in this section.

§ 1-13 Effect of repeal of ordinances.

The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect, unless expressly stated.

The repeal of an ordinance shall not affect any punishment or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, nor any suit, prosecution or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal, for an offense committed under the ordinance repealed.

§ 1-14 Changes in previously adopted ordinances.

In compiling and preparing the ordinances of the City of Lewes for publication as the Code of the City of Lewes, no changes in the meaning or intent of such ordinances have been made, except as provided for in Subsections B and C hereof. Certain grammatical changes and other minor nonsubstantive changes were made in one or more of said ordinances. It is the intention of the City Council that all such changes be adopted as part of the Code as if the ordinances so changed had been previously formally amended to read as such.

In addition, certain changes of a substantive nature as set forth in the attached document entitled "Schedule A" were made to various ordinances found within the Code. These changes were made to bring the provisions into conformity with the desired policies of the City Council, and it is the intent of the City Council that all such changes be adopted as part of the Code as if the ordinances so changed had been previously formally amended to read as such. (Chapter and section number references are to the ordinances as they have been renumbered and appear in the Code.) Such changes are cited within the historical statements or the text of the Code by the term "added/amended/repealed at time of adoption of Code."[1]

[1]

Editor's Note: During routine supplementation, such citations will be replaced with the following history: [Amended (added, repealed) 9-10-2018]. Schedule A, which contains a complete description of all changes, is on file in the City offices.

Nomenclature. The term "dog catcher" is changed to "Animal Welfare Officer" throughout the Code.

§ 1-15 Catchlines, histories and references.

The catchlines of the sections in the chapters of this Code are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the section and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such sections nor as any part of the section, nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including the catchlines, are amended or reenacted.

The histories appearing in brackets after sections and subsections and the references and notes located throughout the Code are for the benefit of the user of the Code and shall have no legal effect.

§ 1-16 When effective.

This ordinance shall take effect immediately upon its final adoption.