Note: Prior ordinance history: Ord. No. 1340.
The purpose of this chapter is to promote the public health, safety, and welfare through the regulation of the placement, appearance, servicing, and ensuring of newsracks on the public right-of-way so as to:
A. 
Provide for pedestrian and driving safety and convenience;
B. 
Restrict the unreasonable interference with the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, including ingress into or egress from any residence or any place of business or from the street to the sidewalks by persons exiting or entering parked or standing vehicles or along public sidewalks;
C. 
Provide reasonable access for the use and maintenance of poles, posts, traffic signs or signals, hydrants, and mailboxes and access to locations used for public transportation purposes;
D. 
Eliminate newsracks that may result in a visual blight on the public rights-of-way or that may unreasonably detract from the aesthetics of store window displays, adjacent landscaping, and other improvements;
E. 
Maintain and protect the values of surrounding properties;
F. 
Reduce the unnecessary exposure of the City to personal injury and property damage claims; and
G. 
Provide for and maintain the freedom of speech for newspapers or news periodicals using newsracks for distribution purposes.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
For the purpose of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:
"Highway"
means all that area dedicated to public uses for public street purposes and shall include, but not be limited to, roadways, parkways, alleys, and sidewalks.
"Newsrack"
means any self-service container installed, used, or maintained for the distribution of newspapers, news periodicals, or other news publications.
"Parkway"
means that area between the sidewalk and the curb of any street and where there is no sidewalk that area between the edge of the roadway and the property line adjacent thereto. "Parkway" shall also include any area within a roadway that is not open to vehicular travel.
"Roadway"
means that portion of the street improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.
"Sidewalk"
means any surface provided for the exclusive use of pedestrians.
"Street"
means all that area dedicated to public use for public street purposes and shall include, but not be limited to, roadways, parkways, alleys and sidewalks.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
A. 
Permit required. An application for a permit for one or more newsracks shall be filed with the City for the placement of any newsrack in the public right-of-way. A permit shall be issued in accordance with this chapter. Any permit issued shall be valid for one year and shall be renewable annually. This section shall not become effective until 120 days from the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter.
B. 
Permit issuance. Permits shall be issued within 10 days after the application has been filed. The denial of a permit shall not prohibit the installation, use and maintenance of a newsrack, pending a judicial review of the denial of said permit.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
A person seeking issuance of a permit pursuant to this chapter shall file with the City a written application on a form supplied by the City. The application shall contain the following information:
A. 
The name, address, and telephone number of the applicant;
B. 
The name, address, and telephone number of a responsible person whom the City may notify or contact at any time concerning the applicant's newsrack;
C. 
The number of newsracks and the exact proposed location of each shown by an 8-1/2-inch by 11-inch diagram and identifying all items in the public right-of-way, such as bus benches, street poles and posts, driveways, wheelchair ramps, other newsracks, fire hydrants, crosswalks, curb returns, fire call boxes, buildings, landscaping, bus shelters, bus stops, trash containers, mailboxes, and pull boxes within a 20-foot radius; and
D. 
The names of the newspapers or periodicals to be contained in each newsrack.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
The applicant shall provide a nonrefundable permit application fee in an amount established by City Council resolution.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
A. 
As a condition of approval of the permit, the permittee must file with the City an insurance certificate establishing that the applicant has in force public liability and property damage insurance in the amount of $1,000,000.00 to indemnify the City for damage to City property arising out of the permittee's activities. The City, each of its officials, officers, employees, agents, and representatives shall be named as additionally insured.
B. 
Indemnification. Every person operating or maintaining a newsrack upon or within the public property, rights-of-way, or public easement adjacent to streets of this City shall agree, prior to the granting of a newsrack permit, to indemnify and hold harmless the City of Garden Grove, its officials, officers, employees, agents, and representatives from any loss, liability, damage, or cost sustained by any person or property, arising from the installation, operation, or use of such newsrack; provided, however, that such obligation to indemnify and hold harmless the City of Garden Grove, its officials, officers, employees, agents, and representatives shall not extend to any loss, liability damage, or cost resulting from the acts or property of another.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
A. 
No person shall install, use, or maintain any newsrack or other structure that projects onto, into, or over any part, upon, along, or over any portion of the roadway of any public street or that rests, wholly or in part, upon, along, or over any portion of the roadway of any public street.
B. 
No person shall install, use, or maintain any newsrack that in whole or in part rests upon, in, or over any public sidewalk or parkway when such installation, use or maintenance endangers the safety of persons or property, or when such site or location is used for public transportation purposes, or other governmental use, or when such newsrack unreasonably interferes with or impedes the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, including any legally parked or stopped vehicle, the ingress into or egress from any residence or place of business or the use of poles, posts, traffic signs or signals, hydrants, mailboxes, or other objects permitted at or near such location, or when such newsrack interferes with the cleaning of any sidewalk by the use of mechanical sidewalk cleaning machinery.
C. 
Any newsrack shall be located so as to maximize public convenience, health, safety, and welfare, both as to accessibility to the newsracks and the use of the public right-of-way as a thoroughfare, and the aesthetic appearance of the area.
D. 
Any newsrack that, in whole or in part, rests upon, in, or over any public sidewalk or parkway shall comply with the following standards:
1. 
Newsracks shall only be placed either near a curb or adjacent to the wall of a building. Newsracks placed near the curb shall be at least 24 inches from the edge of the curb, where parking is not permitted and 36 inches where parking is permitted. Newsracks shall only be placed at the curb when in the opinion of the City Manager or his or her designee, it is not practical to place a newsrack at the back of the sidewalk or adjacent to the building. No newsrack shall be placed or maintained on the sidewalk or parkway opposite a newsstand or another newsrack.
2. 
No newsrack shall be chained, bolted, or otherwise attached to any property not owned by the owner of the newsrack or to any permanently fixed object, except that a newsrack may be bolted to any sidewalk.
3. 
No newsrack shall be placed, installed, used, or maintained:
a. 
Within 10 feet of any marked crosswalk;
b. 
Within five feet of the curb return of any unmarked crosswalk;
c. 
Within six feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box, or other emergency facility;
d. 
Within 15 feet of any driveway;
e. 
Within five feet ahead of and 25 feet to the rear of any sign marking designated bus stop;
f. 
Within 10 feet of any bus bench;
g. 
At any location whereby the clear space for the passageway of pedestrians is reduced to less than four feet;
h. 
Within three feet of any display window of any building abutting the sidewalk or parkway or in such a manner as to impede or interfere with the reasonable use of such window for display purposes;
i. 
Within 10 feet of any bus shelter;
j. 
In a grouping of more than four, with a minimum of three feet between groupings.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
A. 
Newsrack enclosures. The City may, at its option, construct enclosures to house newsracks in lieu of or in addition to existing newsrack structures.
B. 
Identifying information. Each newsrack installed, used, or maintained pursuant to this chapter shall be identified with the name, address, and telephone number of the owner in a manner so as to be clearly visible.
C. 
Use for advertising is prohibited. No newsrack shall be used for commercial advertising, signs, or publicity purposes other than to state the name of the newspaper or periodical on the dispensing side of the newsrack or matters discussed within the body of the paper.
D. 
Working condition. Each newsrack shall be maintained in good operating condition by its owner and shall be maintained so as not to become mechanically inoperable or have cracked or broken coverings or casings. Each machine shall be painted or covered with a protective coating so as to keep it free from rust.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
A. 
Number permitted. No more than eight newsracks shall be located on any public right-of-way within a space of 200 feet in any direction within the same block of the same street. No more than 16 newsracks shall be allowed on any one block. As used herein, "block" means one side of a street between two consecutive intersecting streets.
1. 
The number of newsracks permitted on any public right-of-way within a space of 200 feet in any direction within the same block of the same street may be increased to 12 and the number of newsracks allowed in any one block may be increased to 24 by City Council resolution upon a finding that the increase is necessary because of the high demand for newspapers at the specified location.
2. 
In determining which newsracks shall be permitted to remain, the City Manager or his or her designee shall be guided solely by the following criteria set forth in subsection B of this section. In the event there are eight or more newsracks located on the public right-of-way within a space of 200 feet in any direction within the same block of the same street in the aforementioned locations on the effective date of this chapter, no additional newsracks shall be approved until such time when there are fewer than eight newsracks within a space of 200 feet in any direction within the same block of the same street at such location. The applicant, upon request, may be placed on a waiting list for such location. The waiting list shall be administered on a first come, first serve basis.
B. 
Priority system. In determining which newsracks shall be permitted to remain, the City Manager or his or her designee shall be guided solely by the following criteria:
1. 
First priority. First priority shall be given to newsracks used for the sale of publications that have been adjudicated to be newspapers of general circulation.
2. 
Second priority. Second priority shall be given to newsracks used for the sale of daily publications (those published on five or more days in a calendar week) that have not been adjudicated to be newspapers of general circulation.
3. 
Third priority. Third priority shall be given to newsracks used for the sale of weekly publications (those published on at least one but less than five days in a calendar week) that have not been adjudicated to be newspapers of general circulation.
C. 
Conflict within priority categories. As between newspapers included within any single category of priority above, the City Manager or his or her designee shall also be guided by the following criteria of priorities whenever more than eight newsracks are proposed for any one site or more than 16 newsracks are proposed for any one block:
1. 
First priority shall be daily publications (published five or more days per week).
2. 
Second priority shall be publications published two to four days per week.
3. 
Third priority shall be publications published one day per week.
4. 
In the event that there is a conflict between newspapers within the same priority seeking the same location, and there are insufficient newsrack spaces remaining to accommodate the competing newspapers after first filling as many spaces as possible by utilizing the criteria set forth above, then the City Manager or his or her designee shall assign the space or spaces at random by placing the names of all applicants for the remaining spaces at a location into a container from which the names shall be drawn, one at a time, until the particular spaces remaining of unfilled newsracks have been filled. Such drawing shall be open to the public at a time and date designated by the City Manager or his or her designee.
D. 
Existing owners. This section shall not become effective until 90 days after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
A. 
Publications offered for sale from newsracks placed or maintained on the public right-of-way shall not be displayed or exhibited in a manner that exposes to public view from the public right-of-way any of the following:
1. 
Any statements or words describing explicit sexual acts, sexual organs, or excrement where such statements or words have as their purpose or effect sexual arousal, gratification, or affront;
2. 
Any picture or illustration of genitals, pubic hair, perineum, anuses, or anal regions of any person where such picture or illustration has as its purpose or effect sexual arousal, gratification, or affront; and
3. 
Any picture or illustration depicting explicit sexual acts where such picture or illustration has as its purpose or effect sexual arousal, gratification, or affront.
B. 
"Explicit sexual acts" as used in this section means depictions of sexual intercourse, oral copulation, anal intercourse, oral-anal copulation, bestiality, sadism, masochism, or lewd exhibition of genitals, whether any of the above conduct is depicted or described as being performed above or between members of the same or opposite sex or between humans and animals, or other act of sexual arousal, involving any physical contact with a person's genital, pubic region, pubic hair, perineum, anus, or anal region.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
No person shall knowingly display or cause to be displayed, in any public place where minors are not excluded, any harmful matter as defined in Section 313 of the Penal Code, unless such matter is displayed in newsracks equipped with devices commonly known as blinder racks affixed in such a manner that the lower two-thirds of the matter is not exposed to view.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
A. 
In the event any newsrack installed pursuant to this chapter does not contain the publication specified in the application within a period of 30 days for a daily or weekly periodical or other periodical issued at some other time interval and 60 days for a monthly periodical after the release of the current issue, or if no publication is in the newsrack for a period of more than 30 consecutive days for a daily or weekly periodical, or other periodical issued at some other time interval and 60 days for a monthly periodical, the City Manager or his or her designee may deem the newsrack abandoned and may remove the newsrack from the public right-of-way.
B. 
In the event a permittee of a newsrack owned by the permittee desires voluntarily to abandon a newsrack location, such permittee shall completely remove the newsrack and mount and restore the public right-of-way to a safe condition, leaving no hole or projection in the pavement.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)
A. 
Any newsrack installed, used, or maintained in violation of the provisions of this chapter may be subject to the removal and storage by the City Manager or his or her designee. Such officer shall take steps to notify the owner thereof and request compliance within 30 calendar days prior to removal. At any time within said 30-day period, an administrative hearing to challenge the existence of a violation may be requested by the owner. Failure to request the hearing shall result in removal and storage of the newsrack by the City Manager or his or her designee at any time after the expiration of the 30-day period.
B. 
If the owner requests a hearing as provided in subsection A of this section, said hearing shall be scheduled within five days of the request and shall be administered by the City Manager or his or her designee. The owner shall have 30 days to comply with the provisions specified in the ruling. If, after 30 days from the date of decision the owner has failed to comply with the provisions of this chapter cited in the decision, the subject newsracks shall be removed and stored by the City Manager or his or her designee.
C. 
Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, in the case of violations of this chapter relative to restrictions upon attachments of newsracks to property other than that owned by the owner of the newsrack, to fixed objects, or to each other and upon location of newsracks, the City Manager or his or her designee may, as an alternative to the provisions set forth in subsections A and B of this section, move, realign, remove such attachment, or otherwise move such newsrack or newsracks to restore them to a legal condition.
D. 
Any newsrack in violation of the provisions of this chapter that creates an immediate danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the public, and cannot be corrected by moving or otherwise repositioning the newsrack may be summarily removed and stored in a convenient location so as to eliminate the danger to the health, safety, and welfare of the public. The City Manager or his or her designee shall inform the newsrack owner of the date the newsrack was removed, the reasons therefor, the location and procedure for claiming the newsrack, and the procedure for obtaining a post-removal hearing before the City Manager or his or her designee, if desired. Any such newsrack removed and stored pursuant to this subsection shall be released to the owner thereof if claimed within 45 days after the mailing of written notice of removal, and upon the payment of reasonable charges of removal and storage or upon a determination in a post-removal hearing that the newsrack complies with all of the provisions of this chapter.
E. 
The City Manager or his or her designee may, after a hearing in accordance with this chapter, order the newsrack returned upon payment of costs of storage and/or removal; or without cost to the newsrack owner if no violation of this chapter is found.
F. 
The cost of removal and storage by the City Manager or his or her designee of any newsrack subject to this chapter shall be chargeable as a civil debt to the owner thereof, and may be collected by the City in the same manner as it collects any other civil debt or obligation. In addition, the newsracks in question shall be deemed to be unclaimed property and may be disposed of accordingly.
(2343 § 1, 1995; 2802 § 1, 2011)