The ordinance codified in this chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Pleasanton anti-litter ordinance."
(Prior code § 4-3.33)
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meaning given in this section. When not inconsistent with the content, words used in the present tense include the future, words used in the plural number include the singular number, and words used in the singular number include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
"Aircraft"
means any contrivance now known or hereafter invented, used or designated for navigation or for flight in the air. The word "aircraft" includes helicopters and lighter-than-air dirigibles and balloons.
"Authorized private receptacle"
means a litter storage and collection receptacle as required and authorized in the refuse collection system ordinance.
"Commercial handbill"
means any printed or written matter, any sample or device, dodger, circular, leaflet, pamphlet, paper, booklet, or any other printed or otherwise reproduced original or copies of any matter of literature:
1. 
Which advertises for sale any merchandise, product, commodity or thing; or
2. 
Which directs attention to any business or mercantile or commercial establishment, or other activity, for the purpose of either directly or indirectly promoting the interest thereof by sales; or
3. 
Which directs attention to or advertises any meeting, theatrical performance, exhibition, or event of any kind, for which an admission fee is charged for the purpose of private gain or profit; but the terms of this clause shall not apply where an admission fee is charged or a collection is taken up for the purpose of defraying expenses incident to such meeting, theatrical performance, exhibition, or event of any kind, when either of the same is held, given or takes place in connection with the dissemination of information which is not restricted under the ordinary rules of decency, good morals, public peace, safety and good order; provided, that nothing contained in this clause shall be deemed to authorize the holding, giving or taking place of any meeting, theatrical performance, exhibition, or event of any kind, without a license, where such license is or may be required by any law of this state, or under any ordinance of the city;
4. 
Which, while containing reading matter other than advertising matter, is predominantly and essentially an advertisement, and is distributed or circulated for advertising purposes, or for the private benefit and gain of any person so engaged as advertiser or distributor.
"Enforcement officer"
means and includes any official or officials duly appointed by the manager of the city.
"Garbage"
means putrescible animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
"Litter"
means "garbage," refuse" and "rubbish," as defined in this section, and all other waste material.
"Newspaper"
means any newspaper of general circulation as defined by general law, any newspaper duly entered with the Post Office Department of the United States, in accordance with federal statute or regulation, and any newspaper filed and recorded with any recording officer as provided by general law; and, in addition thereto, shall mean and include any periodical or current magazine regularly published with not less than four issues per year, and sold to the public.
"Noncommercial handbill"
means any printed or written matter, any sample, or device, dodger, circular, leaflet, pamphlet, newspaper, magazine, paper, booklet, or any other printed or otherwise reproduced original or copies of any matter of literature not included in the definitions of a commercial handbill or newspaper.
"Park"
means a park, reservation, playground, beach, recreation center or any other public area in the city, owned or used by the city and devoted to active or passive recreation.
"Person"
means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind.
"Person in control of private property"
means any person occupying, renting, managing or controlling real property.
"Private premises"
means any dwelling, house, building or other structure designed or used either wholly or in part for private residential purposes, whether inhabited or temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant, and shall include any yard, grounds, walk, driveway, porch, steps, vestibule or mailbox belonging or appurtenant to such dwelling, house, building, or other structure.
"Public place"
means any and all streets, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys, or other public ways, and any and all public parks, squares, spaces, grounds, and buildings.
"Refuse"
means all putrescible and nonputrescible solid wastes, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, dead animals, abandoned automobiles, and solid market and industrial wastes.
"Rubbish"
means nonputrescible solid wastes, consisting of both combustible and noncombustible wastes, such as paper, wrappings, cigarettes, cardboard, tin cans, yard clippings, leaves, wood, glass, bedding, crockery and similar materials.
"Vehicle"
means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, including devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
(Prior code § 4-3.34)
No person shall throw or deposit litter in or upon any street, sidewalk or other public place within the city except in public receptacles, in authorized private receptacles for collection or in lawfully established dumping grounds.
(Prior code § 4-3.35)
Persons placing litter in public receptacles or in authorized private receptacles shall do so in such a manner as to prevent it from being carried or deposited by the elements upon any street, sidewalk or other place or upon private property.
(Prior code § 4-3.36)
No persons shall sweep into or deposit in any gutter, street or other public place within the city the accumulation of litter from any building or lot or from any public or private sidewalk or driveway. Persons owning or occupying property shall keep the sidewalk in front of their premises free of litter.
(Prior code § 4-3.37)
No person owning or occupying a place of business shall sweep or deposit in any gutter, street or other public place within the city the accumulation of litter from any building or lot or from any public or private sidewalk or driveway. Persons owning or occupying places of business within the city shall keep the sidewalk in front of their business premises free of litter.
(Prior code § 4-3.38)
No person shall drive or move any truck or other vehicle within the city unless such vehicle is so constructed or loaded as to prevent any load contents or litter from being blown or deposited upon any street, alley or other public place. Nor shall any person drive or move any vehicle or truck within the city, the wheels or tires of which carry onto or deposit in any street, alley or other public place, mud, dirt, sticky substances, litter or foreign matter of any kind.
(Prior code § 4-3.40)
No person shall throw or deposit litter in any park within the city, except in public receptacles and in such a manner that the litter will be prevented from being carried or deposited by the elements upon any part of the park or upon any street or other public place. Where public receptacles are not provided, all such litter shall be carried away from the park by the person responsible for its presence and properly disposed of elsewhere as provided in this chapter.
(Prior code § 4-3.41)
No person shall throw or deposit any commercial or noncommercial handbill in or upon any vehicle if such handbills create significant litter.
(Prior code § 4-3.44; Ord. 2019 § 1, 2011)
The owner or person in control of any private property shall at all times maintain the premises free of litter which tends to create a danger to public health, safety or welfare; provided, however, that this section shall not prohibit the storage of litter in authorized private receptacles for collection.
(Prior code § 4-3.47)
A. 
Notice to Remove Litter. If the owner or person in control of any private property in the city fails to remove therefrom all litter which is located on the property and which is dangerous to the public health, safety or welfare, it shall be the duty of the enforcement officer to notify such person or persons to remove the same. Such notice shall be by regular mail and shall be deposited in the United States Post Office at Pleasanton, California, with postage thereon prepaid and addressed to such owner at his or her last known place of address shown on the assessment roll of the city, and if no such address is there shown or is known, then to General Delivery, Pleasanton. If such real property is occupied and the mailing address thereof is different from that of the owner on the assessment roll, then an additional copy shall be similarly mailed to the occupant of such property at the mailing address thereof. Such notice shall contain a description of said property; such description may be the number of the lot and block and the name of the map, tract or subdivision in which the real property lies, or may be the street and number thereof, or may be any other description by which the property may be reasonably and readily identified. One or more lots or blocks of land may be described in one and the same statement or notice.
B. 
Removal of Litter by City. If the owner or person in control of the real property in the city fails to remove litter in accordance with the notice given pursuant to the provisions of subsection A of this section within 10 days after the mailing of such notice, it shall be the duty of the enforcement officer, his or her assistants, employees, contracting agents or other representatives of the city, to remove such litter, and they, and each of them, are expressly authorized to enter upon private property for such purpose, and it is unlawful for any person to interfere, hinder or refuse to allow them to enter upon private property for such purpose and to remove litter in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Any person owning, occupying, renting, managing, leasing or controlling real property in the city shall have the right to remove litter or have the same removed at his or her own expense at any time prior to the arrival of the enforcement officer or his or her authorized representatives for such purpose.
C. 
Account and Report of Cost. The city finance officer shall keep an account of the cost to the city to remove litter as provided in this section for each separate lot or parcel of land and the portions of streets adjoining the same, and shall embody such account in a report and assessment list to the city council, which report shall be filed with the city clerk. Such report shall refer to each separate lot or parcel of land by description sufficient reasonably to identify the same, together with the expense proposed to be assessed against it.
D. 
Notice of Report and Hearing. The city clerk shall post a copy of such report and assessment list on the bulletin board near the entrance to the City Hall, together with the notice of the filing thereof and the time and place when and where it will be submitted to the city council for hearing and confirmation. The city finance officer shall mail to the persons and in the manner prescribed in subsection A of this section, a notice in form substantially as follows:
ASSESSMENT FOR REMOVAL OF LITTER AND NOTICE OF HEARING THEREON
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to the provisions of Ordinance No. 517 of the city of Pleasanton, the Enforcement officer has removed litter from the real property owned, occupied, rented, managed or controlled by you, which real property is described as follows: (herein insert description of real property sufficient for reasonable and ready identification.)
The cost of said destruction or removal proposed to be assessed against said property is $__________.
FURTHER NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on ____________________, at the hour of__________, in the Council Chamber of the City of Pleasanton, located at 200 Old Bernal Avenue, Pleasanton, Alameda County, California, the report of the city Finance officer on the cost of destruction or removal of litter and the assessment list thereof will be presented to the city council for consideration, correction and confirmation, and that at said time and place any and all persons interested in or having any objections to said report or list of proposed assessments, or to any matter or thing contained therein may appear and be heard. The failure to make any objection to said report and list shall be deemed a waiver of the same.
Upon confirmation of said assessment by the city council, the amount thereof will be payable. In the event the same is not paid on or before the 15th day of July following the aforesaid hearing, said assessment will be added to the tax bill for said property and thereafter shall become a lien on said property.
Dated:
____________________
Finance officer of the City of Pleasanton
E. 
Hearing and Confirmation. At the time and place fixed for receiving and considering the report, the city council shall hear the same together with any protests or objections which may be raised by any interested person. Upon such hearing, the council shall make such corrections or modifications in any proposed assessment which it may deem to be excessive or otherwise incorrect, after which such assessments shall be confirmed by resolution of the council and the amount thereof shall constitute a lien on property assessed until paid. The confirmation of assessment by the council shall be final and conclusive.
F. 
Payment of Assessment. It is lawful for any person to pay the amount of such assessment for removal of litter on or before the 15th day of July following the date the confirmation of said assessment was made by the council. If said assessment is not paid on or before said date, the total amount thereof shall be entered on the next fiscal year tax roll as a lien against the property, and shall be subject to the same penalties as are provided for other delinquent taxes or assessments of the city.
(Prior code § 4-3.49; Ord. 2120 § 1, 2015)
A. 
In addition to the prevention of litter which is the purpose of all the provisions of this chapter, this section has the following two purposes:
1. 
To protect the privacy of citizens from the delivery of newspapers, commercial handbills and noncommercial handbills to which the citizens have objected in the manner prescribed in subsection B of this section; and
2. 
To protect citizens during extended absence from their residences against the visible accumulation of newspapers, commercial handbills and noncommercial handbills that the citizens do not express or have not expressed a willingness to receive, and thus to lessen the risk that the residences will be burglarized or vandalized during the absence of the occupants.
B. 
No person shall distribute, circulate, deliver or deposit any newspaper, commercial handbill or noncommercial handbill upon any private premises if the owner or occupant thereof not more than one year previously has notified the distributor of such newspaper, commercial handbill or noncommercial handbill not to deliver it to the premises of the objecting owner or occupant. Such notification shall be sent by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, and shall include the name of objecting owner or occupant, the address where no distribution is to be made, the declarant's capacity to make such objection, and the name of the newspaper, commercial handbill or noncommercial handbill not to be distributed; such notification shall become effective upon delivery of the return receipt to the objecting owner or occupant.
C. 
Any person who delivers, circulates, distributes or deposits any newspaper, commercial handbill or noncommercial handbill upon any private premises shall place the material distributed in such a manner that it will not blow, scatter or otherwise litter the premises.
D. 
If any other copy of any newspaper, commercial handbill or noncommercial handbill previously has been distributed, circulated, delivered or deposited upon the premises and has not been removed, any person who then distributes, circulates, delivers or deposits any such material shall not place it upon the premises in any manner that would cause or substantially cause the appearance of any accumulation of such materials visible from the street or sidewalk in front of the premises and indicating or tending to indicate the recent or current absence of the resident or occupant for a period greater than 48 hours; apply if the resident or occupant expresses or has expressed his or her willingness to receive the material that would cause or substantially cause such an appearance.
(Prior code § 4-3.50)