[Code, 8-20-1963]
All ordinances embraced in the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated "The Lake Oswego Code" and may be so cited. When citing a specific section of the Lake Oswego Code, "LOC" may be used as an abbreviation.
[Ord. No. 1444, 11-16-1971]
That compilation known as the Lake Oswego Code, 1968 Edition as amended from time to time, is hereby recognized as the official compilation of general city ordinances and shall be prima facia evidence of municipal law. Any such ordinance included in the Code may be amended or repealed by reference to its code number or ordinance number, or both. The City Recorder shall administer the Code and shall supervise the production and distribution of all amendments or replacement parts to the Code.
[Ord. No. 1588, 7-1-1975]
The City Recorder is empowered to make certain editorial changes and corrections in the Lake Oswego Code, provided such changes shall not alter the sense, meaning, affect, or substance of any ordinance. Said changes and corrections may include the following:
1. 
Numbering and re-numbering sections and parts of sections of ordinances, either as enacted or as codified;
2. 
Changes in the wording of headnotes;
3. 
Rearrangements of sections;
4. 
Changes of reference numbers to agree with renumbered chapters, sections and statutes;
5. 
Substitutions of the proper subsection, section, chapter, or other division numbers;
6. 
Omission of figures or words which are merely repetitious;
7. 
Changes of capitalization and punctuation for purposes of uniformity;
8. 
Correction of manifest clerical or typographical errors.
[Code, 8-20-1963; Ord. No. 2161, Amended, 12-16-1997; Ord. No. 2231, Amended, 3-21-2000; Ord. No. 2890, Amended, 3-17-2022]
In the construction of this Code and all other ordinances of the City, the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the Council or the context clearly requires otherwise:
CITY
The words "the city" or "this city" shall be construed as if followed by the words "of Lake Oswego, Oregon."
CODE
The words "the Code" or "this Code" shall mean "The Lake Oswego Code."
COMPUTATION OF TIME
The time within which an act is to be done, as provided in the civil procedure statutes, is computed by excluding the first day and including the last unless the last day falls upon any legal holiday or on Saturdays in which case the last day is also excluded.
COUNCIL
Whenever the word "council" is used, it shall be construed to mean the City Council of the City of Lake Oswego, Oregon.
COUNTY
The words "the county" or "this county" shall mean Clackamas County, Oregon.
DAY
A day is the period of time between any midnight and the midnight following.
DAYTIME, NIGHTTIME
"Daytime" is the period of time between sunrise and sunset. "Nighttime" is the period of time between sunset and sunrise.
DEPARTMENT, BOARD, COMMISSION, OFFICE, OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE
Whenever any department, board, commission, office, officer or employee is referred to, it shall mean a department, board, commission, office, officer or employee of the City of Lake Oswego, Oregon, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
FISCAL YEAR
The term "fiscal year" shall mean the period from July first through June thirtieth of each year.
GENDER
The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.
IN THE CITY
The words "in the city" or "within the corporate limits of the city" shall mean and include all territory over which the city now has or shall hereafter acquire jurisdiction for the exercise of its police powers or other regulatory powers.
JOINT AUTHORITY
All words giving joint authority to three or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.
MONTH
The word "month" shall mean a calendar month.
NUMBER
The singular number includes the plural, and the plural the singular.
OATH
"Oath" includes affirmation.
OREGON REVISED STATUTES (ORS) REFERENCES
All references to the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) shall be construed to refer to those statutes in effect on October 23, 1999.
OFFICIAL TIME
Whenever certain hours are named herein, they shall mean the standard of time as set out in Oregon Revised Statutes 187.110.
OR, AND
"Or" may be read "and", and "and" may be read "or", if the sense requires it.
OWNER
The word "owner", applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety of the whole or of a part of such building or land or vendee in possession under a land sale contract.
PERSON
"Person" includes individuals, corporations, associations, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies.
PERSONAL PROPERTY
"Personal property" includes every species of property, except real property, as herein defined.
PRECEDING, FOLLOWING
The words "preceding" and "following" mean next before and next after, respectively.
PROCESS
"Process" includes a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings of either a civil or criminal nature.
PROPERTY
The word "property" shall include real and personal property.
REAL PROPERTY
The words "real property" shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments.
"SHALL," "MAY"
"Shall" is mandatory and "may" is permissive.
SIGNATURE OR SUBSCRIPTION BY MARK
"Signature" or "subscription" includes mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer’s or subscriber’s name being written near the mark by a witness who writes their own name near the signer’s or subscriber’s name; but a signature or subscription by mark can be acknowledged or can serve as a signature or subscription to a sworn statement only when two witnesses so sign their own names thereto.
STATE
The words "the state" or "this state" shall be construed to mean the State of Oregon.
TENANT OR OCCUPANT
The words "tenant" or "occupant," applied to a building or land, shall include any person holding a written or an oral lease of or who occupies, the whole or a part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
TENSES
The present tense includes the past and future tenses, and the future includes the present.
TO
"To" means "to and including" when used in reference to a series of sections of this Code or when reference is made to the Oregon Revised Statutes.
WEEK
A week consists of seven consecutive days.
WRITING
Writing includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, statement or record is required or authorized by this Code, it shall be made in writing in the English language unless it is expressly provided otherwise.
YEAR
The "year" shall mean a calendar year, except where otherwise provided.
[Code, 8-20-1963]
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.
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 any offense committed under the ordinance repealed.
[Code, 8-20-1963; amended 11-21-2023 by Ord. No. 2937]
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of the court of competent jurisdiction or is preempted by state or federal law, such unconstitutionality or preemption shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this Code.
[Code, 8-20-1963]
The catchlines of the several sections of this Code printed in boldface type are intended as mere catch-words 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 catchline, is amended or re-enacted.
[Ord. No. 2617, Amended, 6-4-2013; Ord. No. 2140, Amended, 12-17-1996; Ord. No. 430, 9-18-1951]
All surveys required to be approved by the City that require determination of elevation shall be calculated from either the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) or the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88).