[Ord. No. 1177, § 1; Ord. No. 1191, § 3.]
(a)
A host of physical conditions of structures and properties within
the City can constitute a public nuisance which is injurious to the
residents and property owners in the community. Such public nuisances
can create conditions that negatively affect one's health, or
be indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to visual
blight, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life
or property of an entire community or neighborhood, or by any considerable
number of persons.
(b)
Just as physical conditions of structures and properties within the
City can constitute public nuisances, so can too the behavior of persons
on properties within the City constitute public nuisances. The abatement
of such behavioral nuisances is as important to the City in its fight
against blight, decay, deterioration and crime as is the abatement
of other nuisances created by physical conditions.
(c)
The owners of real properties within the City are responsible for
monitoring their properties and for taking appropriate action if a
nuisance exists thereon, whether that nuisance be created by existing
physical conditions or by nuisance creating behaviors, or the combination
of conditions. Many nuisances can be avoided with active property
management. Lack of proper management of real property can create
an environment, which is conducive to behaviors, which become a nuisance
with repetition and lack of abatement and corrective measures. If
a property owner does not fulfill his or her responsibilities, it
is necessary for the safety, health and welfare of the neighborhoods,
and the City as a whole, that the City be able to undertake abatement
action.
(d)
Because of the profound impact and affect behavioral nuisances have
on the community, individuals and crime, the council, in adopting
this article finds the civil penalties imposed for a violation of
this article are justified and necessary to protect the health, property,
and integrity of this community.
(e)
Nothing in this article exempts property owners from compliance with
state or federal laws, including, but not limited to, laws on housing,
eviction, retaliatory conduct, discriminatory conduct, or invasion
of privacy, nor with City laws relating to housing or relocation.
(f)
The purpose of this article is:
(1)
To set forth and enforce minimum standards relating to the management
of activities conducted or conditions on real property to protect
the public health, safety and welfare, and;
(2)
To put in place remedies which will permit the City to take
timely, effective, efficient administrative or other legal action
against property owners who permit or suffer nuisance creating behaviors
or conditions to occur on their properties on a continuing basis,
in order to compel such owners to abate the nuisance creating behaviors
or conditions and control the environment, both physical and behavioral,
on such real properties.
(g)
The provisions of this article are complimentary, cumulative, supplementary,
and additional to any other legal remedies available, whether found
in this code, state or federal laws, regulations, or case law.
(h)
It is not the intent nor purpose of this article to subject owners
or managers to any legal liability resulting from a tenant's
actions away from the owner's or manager's own property
unless it can be shown that the problem tenant is also creating a
nuisance or committing a crime on the owner's or manager's
property.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1; Ord. No. 1191, § 3.]
(a)
PUBLIC NUISANCE — Means the creation or maintenance of any
condition upon public or private property which is injurious to health,
or indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free
use of property, or a detriment to property values, or contributes
to visual blight, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment
of life or property of an entire community or neighborhood, or by
any considerable number of persons.
(b)
BUILDING — Means any structure used or intended for supporting
or sheltering any use or occupancy and includes any house, garage,
duplex, apartment, condominium, stock cooperative or other residential
structure, and includes all retail, commercial and industrial structures.
(c)
CITY MANAGER — Means the City Administrator Manager or the
City Manager's designees (hearing officer).
(d)
HABITUAL — Means patterns or occurrences evidenced by frequent
repetition or regularity, or that evidence a mode of practice or usage.
(e)
OWNER — Means any person owning property, as shown on the last
equalized assessment roll for City taxes, or other person having control
or possession of the property.
(f)
PERSON — Means any individual, partnership, corporation, association
or other organization, however formed.
(g)
PROPERTY — Means all property within the City and includes
any building located on such property.
(h)
TENANT OR OCCUPANT — Means any person or group of persons entitled
to occupy the whole or part of a building or land, pursuant to a written
or oral lease, tenancy at will, tenancy at sufferance or otherwise.
(i)
UNREASONABLE STATE OF PARTIAL CONSTRUCTION —Means any unfinished
building or structure which has been in the course of construction
two years or more, and where the appearance or other conditions of
said unfinished building or structure substantially detracts from
the appearance of the immediate neighborhood or reduces property value
in the immediate neighborhood.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
It is hereby declared a public nuisance and a violation of this
article for any person owning, or any tenant or occupant leasing,
renting, occupying or having charge or possession of any property
in the City to maintain or to allow to be maintained such property
in such manner that any of the following conditions are found to exist
thereon, except as may be allowed by this Code:
(a)
Land configuration which, whether in natural state or as a result
of excavation or grading operations, causes erosion, subsidence, or
surface water drainage problems, or is injurious or potentially injurious
to the public health, safety and welfare or to adjacent properties;
(b)
Encroachments on the public right-of-way without proper authority;
(c)
Broken or discarded furniture, household equipment and furnishings
or shopping carts stored on the property so as to be visible from
a public street or neighboring properties;
(d)
Overgrown vegetation visible from a public street likely to harbor
rodents, vermin or other nuisances or which obstructs the view of
drivers on public streets or private driveways, or which impedes,
obstructs or denies pedestrian or other lawful travel on sidewalks,
walkways, or other public rights-of-way;
(e)
Dead, decayed, diseased or hazardous trees, weeds, or other vegetation
constituting unsightly appearance, dangerous to public safety and
welfare and visible from a public street;
(f)
Packing boxes, cardboard boxes, lumber, junk, trash, garbage, barrels,
drums, salvage materials, garbage, rubbish or other debris kept on
the property which is not properly contained and disposed, for an
unreasonable period of time and visible from a public street or neighboring
properties;
(g)
Attractive nuisances dangerous to children or other persons, including
abandoned, broken or neglected equipment, machinery, appliances, refrigerators
and freezers, hazardous pools, ponds or excavations;
(h)
Personal property such as vehicles, boats, trailers or vehicle parts
which are abandoned, inoperative, or left in a state of partial repair
for an unreasonable period of time in front yards, side yards, driveways,
sidewalks or walkways and visible from a public street or neighboring
properties;
(i)
The use of boats, trailers, campers or camper shells, or similar
vehicles, or equipment for sleeping or cooking purposes in areas and
at times where such use is not specifically authorized;
(j)
Vehicles, trailers, campers or boats parked or stored in residential
zoning districts on property, other than on driveways or other impervious
surfaces, or areas where such parking and storage is specifically
authorized, and visible from a public street;
(k)
Performance of mechanical work on motor vehicles on private property
in residential areas visible from public right-of-way or neighboring
properties for periods totaling more than four weeks within any calendar
year;
(l)
Uncleaned spills, or the disposal of oil, gasoline, other petroleum
products, noxious chemicals, pesticides, or any gaseous, liquid or
solid wastes in such a manner as to constitute a condition considered
injurious to the public health, safety and welfare, cause pollution
to land, water, air in the City, or degrade the appearance or property
value of neighboring properties;
(m)
Buildings which are abandoned, partially destroyed, left in an unreasonable
state of partial construction or have been declared substandard or
dangerous by the building official;
(n)
Unpainted buildings and those having dry rot, warping or termite
infestation. Any building on which the condition of paint has become
so deteriorated as to permit decay, excessive checking, cracking,
peeling, chalking, dry rot, warping or termite infestation as to render
the building unsightly and in a state of disrepair;
(o)
Buildings lacking adequate weather protection; with holes in walls
or roofs; or windows containing broken glass or no glass at all, where
the window is the type that normally contains glass, which constitutes
a hazard and/or invites trespassers and malicious mischief. Plywood
or other material used to cover such window space or other openings,
if permitted under this Code, shall be painted in a color or colors
compatible with the remainder of the building;
(p)
Building exteriors, walls, fences, driveways, sidewalks or walkways
which are constructed of substandard materials (chicken wire or patch
board fences, etc.) or maintained in such condition as to become effective
or appear unsightly or are materially detrimental to nearby properties
and improvements;
(q)
Lights, lighted signs, or other devices that direct or reflect glare
onto public rights-of-way or neighboring properties;
(r)
Blighted signage, in disrepair, or abandoned, or otherwise in violation
of City ordinances regulating signs on public or private property
or in the public right-of-way;
(s)
Construction equipment, farm machinery, or machinery of any type
or description parked or stored on the owner's property when
it is visible from a public street, except:
(1)
During excavation, construction or demolition operations covered
by an active building permit which are in progress on the subject
property or on an adjoining property.
(2)
During active farming operations, or
(3)
When such machinery is in an agricultural or industrial district
and is appropriately stored/screened as may be required by district
ordinance;
(t)
Property which lacks appropriate landscaping, turf or plant material
so as to cause excessive dust;
(u)
The keeping, storing, depositing or accumulation for an unreasonable
period of time of dirt, sand, gravel, concrete, and other similar
materials, which manner of keeping, storing or depositing or accumulation
constitutes visual blight or reduces the aesthetic appearance of the
neighborhood or is offensive to the senses;
(v)
Maintenance of property so out of harmony or conformity with the
maintenance standards of adjacent properties as to cause substantial
diminution of the enjoyment or use of such adjacent properties.
[Ord. No. 1177, § 1.]
It is hereby declared a public nuisance and a violation of this
article for the owner, whether through the owner or owner's agent,
lessee, sublessor, sublessee, or occupant of any premises in the City
to permit, with actual or constructive knowledge, any of the following
activities or behavior to habitually occur on the property of the
owner:
(a)
The illegal sale, use or possession of controlled substances or other
illegal drugs and substances;
(b)
The gathering, or coming and going, of people who have an intent
to purchase or use controlled substances on the premises;
(c)
The occurrence of prostitution;
(d)
Unlawful activities of a criminal street gang (as defined in the
California Penal Code);
(e)
The making or continuing, or causing to be made and continued, or
any loud unnecessary or unusual noise which disturbs the peace and
quiet of the neighborhood, or which causes discomfort or annoyance
to any reasonable person of normal sensitiveness residing on the property
or in the area.
(f)
The unlawful discharging of a firearm or brandishing of a weapon
by any person;
(g)
The frequent response by the Oakdale Police Department to the real
property or the adjacent area (but not the real property of another)
as a result of any person or persons causing any combination of the
following calls as indicated in the City of Oakdale Police Department
Incident Code identifier:
(1)
Animal disturbances, including but not limited to competitive
fighting between animals.
(2)
Violent criminal acts, charged or not, including, but not limited
to, rapes assaults, battery, homicides and/or shootings.
(3)
Illegal consumption of intoxicants in public view.
(4)
Gaming activities.
(5)
Juvenile disturbances.
"Frequent" as used in this subsection means such response is
occurring more than one and one-half times than the average number
of such responses for property of a similar size in character;
(h)
The presence of graffiti or other defacing words, letters or drawings,
trash and debris on the property for more than a 48-hour period.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
Any property found to be maintained in violation of the foregoing §§ 19-49 and 19-49.1 is declared to be a public nuisance and shall be abated by rehabilitation, removal, demolition or repair pursuant to the procedures set forth in this chapter or elsewhere in the municipal code. The procedures for abatement set forth in this chapter shall not be exclusive and shall not in any manner limit or restrict the City from enforcing other City ordinances or abating public nuisances in any other manner provided by law.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
Whenever the City Manager or his or her designee determines
that any property within the City is being maintained contrary to
the provisions of § 19-49(a)-(v), the manager or designee shall
give notice to the owner of the property, and the person responsible
for causing the violation if that is not the owner, stating the section(s)
being violated. Such notice shall set forth a reasonable time limit,
in no event less than ten days, for correcting the violation(s) and
may set forth suggested methods of correcting them. Such notice shall
be served upon the owner in person or by certified mail.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
In the event the owner or person responsible for the violation shall fail, neglect or refuse to comply with the notice of order to abate, the City Manager or his or her designee shall have the authority to issue an administrative citation in accordance with the provisions of article V of this chapter.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
In the event the owner or person responsible for the violation(s) shall fail, neglect or refuse to comply with notice of order to abate, or to respond to the issuance of an administrative citation, the City Manager or his or her designee shall have the authority to initiate administrative remedies in accordance with the provisions of article VI of this chapter, in addition to all other legal remedies, criminal or civil, which may be pursued by the City to address any violation of this Code.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
(a)
If the nuisance is not abated within the specified abatement period,
the City Manager or his or her designee shall abate the nuisance utilizing
City employees or private contractor. The cost of abatement and administration
for same shall be billed to the owner, and be due and payable thirty
days thereafter. Administrative costs shall include personnel costs,
costs incurred in documenting the nuisance, costs of notices, specifications
and contracts, inspections, and costs of printing and mailing required
by this article.
(b)
In the event the property owner disputes the cost of abatement and
administration they shall give notice to the City Clerk of such objection
and the clerk shall set the matter for hearing before the City Council
within thirty days after receipt of said notice at which time the
council will hear evidence presented by the owner and staff and determine
whether or not the cost of abatement and administration are reasonable.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
In the event the costs to abate the nuisance are not paid by
the owner, the City shall prepare a special assessment against the
subject property requiring the abatement of nuisance. Assessment will
be implemented upon recordation in the office of the county recorder
of a notice of lien on the property for the amount of the assessment;
or to cause the amounts of the respective assessments to be added
to the next regular tax bills levied against the affected properties.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
Nothing in this article shall be deemed to prevent the council
or City Manager from ordering the commencement of a civil or criminal
proceeding to abate a public nuisance or from pursuing other means
available under provisions of applicable ordinances or state laws,
to correct hazards or deficiencies in real property in addition to
or as alternatives to the proceedings set forth in this article.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
(a)
The owner or other person having charge or control of any such building,
structure or property who maintains any public nuisance defined in
this chapter, or who violates any order of abatement made pursuant
to this article is guilty of an infraction.
(b)
Any person who removes or defaces any notice or order posted as required
by this chapter is guilty of an infraction.
(c)
No person shall obstruct, impede or interfere with any representative
of the City or City contractor engaged in vacating, repairing, rehabilitating
or demolishing or removing a building or nuisance pursuant to the
provisions of this chapter, or in performing any necessary act preliminary
or incidental to such work as authorized or directed pursuant to the
provisions of this article.
[Ord. No. 1041, § 1; Ord. No. 1096; Ord. No.
1177, § 1.]
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or other part of
this article is for any reason held to be invalid, such decision shall
not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this article.
