The city council finds and declares that graffiti on public or private property creates a condition tending to reduce the value of such property, and promotes blight and deterioration of surrounding property inviting further vandalism and loss of pride in affected neighborhoods, and loss of business to neighboring commercial enterprises. It is the purpose and intent of the city council of the city of Westminster, through the adoption of this chapter, to provide additional enforcement tools to protect public and private property from acts of vandalism and defacement; especially, but not limited to, graffiti on privately and publicly owned walls, which is inimical and destructive of the rights and values of private property owners as well as the total community. It is further the intent of the city council, through the adoption of this notice upon all of those who callously disregard the property rights of others, that the law enforcement agencies of the city, the police department, the district attorney's office, and the city attorney's office, will strictly enforce the law and severely prosecute those persons engaging in the defacement of public and private properties.
(Ord. 2430 § 1, 2008)
"Aerosol paint container"
means any aerosol container, regardless of the material from which it is made, which is adapted or made for the purpose of spraying paint or other substance capable of defacing property.
"Etching cream"
means any caustic cream, gel, liquid, or solution capable, by means of a chemical action, of defacing, damaging, or destroying hard surfaces in a manner similar to acid.
"Felt tip markers"
means any indelible marker or similar implement with a tip which, at its broadest width is greater than one-eighth inch, containing an ink or other pigmented liquid that is not water soluble.
"Graffiti,"
as used in this section, includes any unauthorized inscription, word, figure, or design that is marked, etched, scratched, drawn, or painted on any surface, regardless of the nature of the material of that structural component; or otherwise deemed by the council to be a public nuisance.
"Graffiti implement"
means an aerosol paint container, a felt tip marker or marking pen, a paint stick or paint pen, scribe, or gummed label, glass cutters, etching creams, or other similar devices that are commonly used or are likely to be used to scar glass, metal, concrete or wood, or in a manner that defaces property. Graffiti implement may also include any other implement that the Westminster police department has included on a current list of items that are commonly used or likely to be used to commit graffiti offenses.
"Gummed labels"
means any sticker, stamp, or item applied with self-adhesive glue, gum, tape or any other type of adhesive which is larger than one inch by one inch, which can be applied to any surface, wall, window, or sign, regardless of material.
"Paint stick"
means a device containing a solid form of paint, chalk, wax, epoxy, or other similar substance capable of being applied to a surface by pressure, and upon application, leaving a mark at least one-sixteenth of an inch in width, and not water-soluble.
"Scribe"
means an implement to permanently etch glass.
(Ord. 2430 § 2, 2008)
A. 
Amount. Pursuant to Section 53069.5 of the Government Code, the city of Westminster does hereby offer a reward of five hundred dollars for information leading to the arrest of, or the filing of a criminal complaint against, whichever comes first, any person maliciously injuring or destroying property, not his or her own, by the use of graffiti.
Claims for the rewards under this section shall be filed with the city and each claim shall specifically identify the date, location, kind of property damage, and identify the name of the person who was arrested.
B. 
Multiple Witnesses. It is the intent of the city council to award no more than one thousand dollars per criminal incident, no matter the number of suspects or witnesses involved. Therefore, in the event that more than one claimant meets the reward criteria in any given incident, the reward amount shall be divided by the city in the manner it shall deem appropriate.
C. 
Verification. No claim for a reward shall be allowed by the city unless an authorized representative of the city investigates and verifies the arrest and recommends that it be allowed.
D. 
Liability for Reward. The person committing the graffiti, and if an unemancipated minor, then the custodial parent of said minor, shall be liable for reward paid pursuant to this section.
E. 
All claims for reward under this section must be made in writing to the police department within thirty days following the date of the occurrence. No claim for reward will be paid until after this filing period has elapsed.
(Ord. 2430 § 3, 2008)
A. 
Graffiti Prohibited. It is unlawful for any person to apply graffiti on any public or privately owned structures located on public or privately owned real property within the city.
B. 
Possession in Designated Public Places. No person shall have in his or her possession any graffiti implement while doing any activity in any public park, playground, swimming pool, recreational facility, or while loitering in or near an underpass, bridge abutment, storm drain, and other similar types of infrastructure not normally used by the public, except as may be authorized by law.
(Ord. 2430 § 4, 2008)
A. 
Any violation of this chapter shall be a misdemeanor offense punishable by either six months in jail, a one thousand dollar fine, or both such fine and imprisonment.
B. 
Additional Penalties Available. Any person convicted of violating Section 9.38.040 shall, in addition to any fines and/or jail time, perform community service within the city of Westminster, including graffiti removal service, of not less than eighty hours for the first offense, not less than one hundred and sixty for the second offense, and not less than two hundred and forty for a third or subsequent offense.
C. 
Loss of Driver's License. Any person convicted of applying graffiti in the city of Westminster may be subject to delay or suspension of driving privileges for one year for each conviction, pursuant to the provisions of Section 13202.6 of the Vehicle Code.
D. 
Juvenile Delinquent Community Service. Any minor determined to be a ward of the court under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 602 as a result of committing an offense in the city may be required, at the juvenile court's option, to perform community service within the city of Westminster, including graffiti removal service of not less than six hours nor more than eighty hours.
(Ord. 2430 § 5, 2008)
A. 
Furnishing to Minors Prohibited. It is unlawful for any person, other than a parent or legal guardian, to sell, exchange, give, loan or otherwise furnish, or cause or permit to be exchanged, given, loaned, or otherwise furnished, any graffiti implement to any person under the age of eighteen years without the consent of the parent or other lawfully designated custodian of the person, which custodial consent shall be given in advance in writing.
B. 
Unsecured Display Unlawful. No person, firm or entity engaged in a commercial enterprise ("seller") shall display for sale, trade or exchange, any graffiti implement except in an area from which the public shall be securely precluded without employee assistance. Two such acceptable methods for displaying graffiti implement for sale shall be by containment in (1) a completely enclosed cabinet or other storage device which shall be permanently affixed to a building or building structure, and which shall, at all times except during access by authorized representatives, remain securely locked; or (2) in an enclosed area behind a sales or service counter from which the public is precluded from entry.
C. 
Wrongful Storage. No person shall store any graffiti implement except in either (1) a completely enclosed room which shall, at all times except during access or substantial occupancy by the owner or an authorized adult representative of the owner, remain securely locked; or (2) in a completely enclosed cabinet or other storage device which shall be permanently affixed to a building structure, and which shall, at all times except during access by the owner or an authorized adult representative of the owner, remain securely locked. For the purposes of this section, an owner or authorized representative of the owner, shall be deemed to have substantial occupancy of a room even during short periods of absence if the room is part of a larger structure which is occupied by the owner.
D. 
Civil Responsibility for Damages Wrongful Display or Storage. Any person who displays or stores a graffiti implement in violation of the provision of this chapter shall be personally liable for any and all costs incurred by any party in connection with the removal of graffiti, or the repair of any property containing graffiti, caused by a minor who shall use such graffiti implement in violation of the provisions of Section 9.38.040 or of California Penal Code Section 594 within the city of Westminster, and for all attorneys' fees and court costs incurred in connection with the civil prosecution of any claim for damage.
(Ord. 2430 § 6, 2008)
A. 
Declaration of Nuisance.
1. 
Graffiti as a Nuisance. The existence of graffiti within city of Westminster city limits is a public and private nuisance, and may be abated according to the provisions and procedures contained in this chapter.
2. 
Graffiti-Attracting Surface as a Nuisance. The existence of any surface of a structure on a parcel of land which has been defaced with graffiti after removal more than five times in twelve months may be declared a public and private nuisance, and may be abated by minor modifications thereto, or to the immediate area surrounding same, according to the provisions and procedures herein contained as follows: Said surface or surfaces shall be required to be retrofitted, at the cost of the property owner of said lot, not to exceed a total cost of five hundred dollars, or at the cost of the city at the city's option, with such features or qualities as may be established by the city as necessary to reduce the attractiveness of the surface for graffiti, or as necessary to permit more convenient or efficient removal thereof.
B. 
Right of City to Require Removal. It is unlawful for any person who is the owner or who has primary responsibility for control of property or who has primary responsibility for the repair or maintenance of property ("responsible party") to permit property which is defaced with graffiti to remain so defaced for a period of seven days after notice of same, unless (1) the responsible party can demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that they do not have the financial or physical ability to remove the defacing graffiti; or (2) unless it can be demonstrated that the responsible party has an active program for the removal of graffiti and has scheduled the removal of the graffiti as part of that program, in which case it is unlawful to permit such property defaced with graffiti to remain defaced for a period of fifteen days after notice of same.
C. 
Summary Abatement. The city shall have the option to summarily abate any nuisance resulting from the defacement of property of another by graffiti at the expense of the minor or other person creating, causing, or committing the nuisance.
1. 
Financial Responsibility for Graffiti Offenses.
a. 
The expense of summary abatement of graffiti shall be a lien against property of the minor or other person who has committed a graffiti offense, and a personal obligation against the minor or other person.
b. 
The parent or guardian having custody and control of the minor who has committed a graffiti offense shall be jointly and severally liable with the minor. The expense of abatement of any nuisance, resulting from the defacement by a minor of the property of another by graffiti or any other inscribed material, shall be a lien against the property of a parent or guardian, having custody and control of the minor, and a personal obligation against the parent or guardian having custody and control of the minor.
2. 
Reporting by Probation Officer. Pursuant to Government Code Section 38772(c), the county probation officer shall report the names and addresses of the parent or guardian having custody and control of the responsible minor to the city clerk.
3. 
Lien Assessment Procedure. The city shall be legally entitled to recover and collect abatement and related administrative costs incurred in the summary abatement of graffiti nuisances. Expense of abatement includes, but is not limited to, court costs, attorney fees, costs of removal, costs of repair, and law enforcement costs incurred by city. In no event shall the total abatement costs exceed five hundred dollars unless the actual costs of graffiti abatement exceeds five hundred dollars, in which case the total assessment shall be limited to the actual costs of abatement.
a. 
Notice of Proposed Lien Assessment. Pursuant to Government Code Section 38773.2(a), a proposed statement of lien expenses prepared by the city manager or designee shall be served upon the minor, parent or guardian. If the applicable party desires to protest the assessment, the party may do so by requesting an informal hearing before the city manager in writing within ten calendar days from receipt of the assessment. The city manager, or designee, shall then render a final decision on the assessment in writing within five days and mail same by first class mail to the party. The affected party shall then have ten days to appeal this decision to the city council. The appeal shall be in writing.
The proposed assessment shall be calendared for approval by the city council, whether an appeal has been filed or not.
b. 
Service of Proposed Lien Assessment. The notice of proposed statement of lien expenses shall be personally served on the applicable party at least seven calendar days prior to the city council meeting.
If after diligent search, the minor, parent or guardian, as the case may be, cannot be found, the notice may then be served by: (i) posting a copy of the notice upon the property owned by the applicable party for a period of ten days; and (ii) the notice shall be published in a newspaper by the city clerk pursuant to Government Code Section 6062. Notice of the city council consideration of the proposed adoption of the assessment shall be served by first class U.S. Mail.
c. 
Adoption and Recording of Lien Assessment. The city council shall have the authority to adopt a resolution confirming the lien assessment, which, following adoption, shall be recorded by the city clerk in the Orange County recorder's office, pursuant to Government Code Section 38773.2(c). From date of recording, the lien shall have the force, effect and priority of a judgment lien.
d. 
Contents of the Resolution Confirming Assessment. Pursuant to Government Code Section 38773.2(d), the resolution confirming the abatement lien shall specify the amount of the lien; the name of the agency on whose behalf the lien is imposed; the date of the abatement order; the street address, legal description, and assessors parcel number; and the name and address of the recorded owner of the parcel.
4. 
Alternate Lien Procedure/Special Assessment Against Land. As an alternate lien abatement procedure to that procedure set forth in Government Code Section 38773.2, the city council also establishes the following optional lien abatement procedure resulting in a special assessment against a parcel of land owned by the minor or affected parent or guardian.
To establish a lien abatement assessment against land, the same procedural steps set forth in subsection (C)(3)(a) through (d) of this section shall be followed. The assessment against land shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as municipal taxes.
This optional lien procedure is established pursuant to Government Code Section 38773.6.
D. 
Right of City to Remove.
1. 
Volunteer Work Force. Persons removing graffiti pursuant to a city-sponsored graffiti removal program shall be deemed workers covered by the city's worker's compensation program and insurance coverage.
2. 
Use of Public Funds. Whenever the city becomes aware, or is notified and determines that graffiti is so located on public owned property within the city, the city shall be authorized to use public funds for the removal of same, or for the painting or repairing of same, but shall not authorize or undertake to provide for the painting or repair of any more extensive area than disfigurement to the neighborhood or community.
3. 
Right of Entry on Private Property.
a. 
Securing Owner Consent. Prior to entering upon private property or property owned by a public entity other than the city, for the purpose of removal of graffiti, the city shall attempt to secure the consent of the property owner, and a release of the city from liability damage.
b. 
Failure to Obtain Owner Consent. If the responsible party fails to remove the offending graffiti within the time herein specified, or if the city shall have requested consent to remove or paint over the offending graffiti and the responsible party shall have refused consent for entry on terms acceptable to the city consistent with the terms of this section, the city shall commence abatement and cost recovery proceedings for the removal of the graffiti according to the following procedure.
c. 
Abatement and Cost Recovery Proceedings.
i. 
Notice and Conduct of Due Process Hearing. The building and planning director, the hearing officer, shall give not less than forty-eight hours notice, served in the same manner as summons in a civil action in accordance with Article 3 (commencing with Section 415.10) of Chapter 4 of Title 5 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If the owner of record after diligent search cannot be found, the notice may be served by posting a copy thereof in a conspicuous place upon the property for a period of ten days and publication thereof in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which the property is located (pursuant to Government Code Section 6062) to the party who is responsible for the maintenance of a parcel of property containing graffiti, and, if a different person is the owner of record of the parcel of land on which the nuisance is maintained, based on the last equalized assessment roll or the supplemental roll, whichever is more current, then to said owner also, or a "due process" hearing at which said responsible party shall be entitled to present evidence and argue that his or her property does not contain graffiti. The determination of the hearing officer shall be final and not appealable. If, regardless of the attendance of the responsible party or his or her agent, the hearing officer determines that the property contains graffiti, the hearing officer shall give written notice that, unless the graffiti is removed within five days, the city shall enter upon the property, cause the removal, painting over (in such color as shall meet with the approval of the building and planning director) or such other abatement thereof as the building and planning director deems appropriate. An accounting of the costs of such abatement effort on a "full cost recovery basis" shall be generated by the city.
ii. 
Abatement Accounting. Not sooner than the time specified in the order of the hearing officer, the public works director or designee, shall implement the abatement order, and shall provide an accounting to the responsible party of the costs thereof.
iii. 
Cost Hearing. If the responsible party fails to request a hearing before the hearing officer on the abatement accounting, or if a cost hearing is requested and conducted, and the hearing officer determines that all or a portion of the costs are appropriately chargeable to the abatement effort, then the amount of the total cost of abatement set forth in the abatement accounting, or such amount thereof as deemed appropriate by the hearing officer, shall be due and payable by the responsible party within thirty days.
iv. 
Lien. If all or any portion of the assessed eradication charges remain unpaid after thirty days, pursuant to the authority created by law, including Government Codes Section 38773, et seq., such portion thereof as shall remain unpaid shall constitute a lien on the property which was the subject matter of the eradication effort. The city shall follow the lien procedures articulated in Section 9.38.070(C).
E. 
Ease of Removal Provisions.
1. 
Common Utility Colors and Paint-Type. Any gas, electric, telephone, water, sewer, cable, and other utility operating in the city shall paint their above-surface metal fixtures with a uniform paint type and color which meets with the approval of the public works director.
2. 
Condition Encroachment Permits. All encroachment permits issued by the city are conditioned on (a) the permittee shall apply an anti-graffiti material to the encroachment object of a type and nature that is acceptable to the director of public works; (b) the immediate removal by the permittee of any graffiti; (c) the right of the city to remove graffiti or to paint the encroaching object; (d) providing city with sufficient matching paint and/or anti-graffiti material on demand for use in the painting of encroaching object containing graffiti.
3. 
Condition of Land Use Entitlements. In approving tract or parcel maps, site plans, conditional use permits, variances, or other similar land use entitlements, the city shall consider imposing any or all of the following conditions, or other similar or related conditions:
a. 
Use of Anti-Graffiti Material. The developer shall apply an anti-graffiti material of a type and nature that is acceptable to the building and planning director to such of the publicly-viewable surfaces on the improvements to be constructed on the site deemed by the building and planning director to be likely to attract graffiti.
b. 
Right of Access to Remove Graffiti. The developer shall grant, prior to resale of any of the parcels which are within the territory of said tentative or parcel maps, the right of entry over and access to such parcels, upon forty-eight hours posting of notice, by authorized city employees or agents, to the city for the purpose of removing or painting over graffiti; and
c. 
Supply City With Graffiti-Removal Material. The developer shall, for a period of two years after the resale of the developer's final lot, provide the city with sufficient matching paint and/or anti-graffiti material on demand for use in the painting over or removal of designated graffiti attracting surfaces.
d. 
Owner to Immediately Remove Graffiti. The developer shall, either as part of the conditions, covenants and restrictions, or as separate covenants recorded against individual lots, prior to resale of same, covenant, which covenant shall run with the land and be for the benefit of the city, in a form satisfactory to the city, that the owner of the lots shall immediately remove any graffiti place thereon.
(Ord. 2430 § 7, 2008)
A. 
At Owner's Cost. Any surface of a structure on a parcel of land placed in any land use which has been defaced with graffiti after removal more than five times in six months, or the immediate area surrounding said surface, shall permit the city to enter upon and make such modifications thereto, at city's cost, which modifications shall include such features or qualities as may be established by the city as necessary to reduce the attractiveness of the surface for graffiti, or as necessary to permit more convenient or efficient removal thereof.
B. 
At City's Cost. The owner of property on which is located a surface of a structure which has been defaced with graffiti after removal more than five times in six months, or the immediate area surrounding said surface, shall permit the city to enter upon and make such modifications thereto, at city's cost, which modifications shall include such features or qualities as may be established by the city as necessary to reduce the attractiveness of the surface for graffiti, or as necessary to permit more convenient or efficient removal thereof.
(Ord. 2197 § 8, 1993; Ord. 2199 § 2, 1993)
Parental Civil Liability. Any parent or other legal guardian of a child under the age of eighteen shall be personally liable for any and all costs to any person incurred in connection with the removal of graffiti caused by said child, and for all attorneys' fees and court costs incurred in connection with the civil prosecution of any claim or damages. The city is hereby empowered and authorized to use any lawful means to bill and collect any and all sums owed under this chapter of the code.
(Ord. 2430 § 8, 2008)
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The city council declares that it would have adopted each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, clauses, phrases or portions be declared invalid or unconstitutional.
(Ord. 2197 § 10, 1993; Ord. 2199 § 2, 1993)