The ordinances embraced in the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated the “Grand Junction Municipal Code, City of Grand Junction, Colorado” (GJMC), and may be so cited.
(Amended during 2009 recodification; Code 1994 § 1-1; Code 1965 § 1-1)
In the construction of this code and of all ordinances, the following definitions and rules of construction shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the City Council:
Charter.
The word “Charter” shall mean the Charter of the City of Grand Junction, Colorado.
City.
The word “City” shall be construed as if the words “of Grand Junction, Colorado” followed it and shall extend to and include its several officers, agents and employees.
City Council, Council.
The terms “City Council” and “Council” shall mean the City Council of the City of Grand Junction, Colorado.
City officials or officers.
Whenever reference is made to officers, officials, employees, boards, commissions, departments, etc., by title only, they shall be deemed to refer to those of the City of Grand Junction, Colorado.
Code.
The word “code” shall mean the Code of Ordinances, City of Grand Junction, Colorado.
Computation of time.
In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by this code, the day of the act, event, or default after which the designated period of time begins to run is not to be included. The last day of the period so computed is to be included, unless it is a Sunday or a legal holiday, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is neither a Sunday nor a holiday. When the period of time prescribed or allowed is less than seven days, intermediate Sundays and holidays shall be excluded in the computation. A half holiday shall be considered as other days and not as a holiday. When a party has the right or is required to do some act or take some proceedings within a prescribed period after the service of a notice or other paper upon him and the notice or paper is served by mail, three days shall be added to the prescribed period.
County.
The word “County” shall mean the County of Mesa, State of Colorado.
C.R.S.
The abbreviation “C.R.S.” shall mean the latest edition or supplement of the Colorado Revised Statutes.
Delegation of authority.
Whenever a provision appears authorizing or requiring the City Manager or any other City official or officer or head of a department of the City to do some act or make certain inspections, it is to be construed to authorize that person to designate, delegate and authorize subordinates to perform the authorized or required act or make the authorized or required inspection unless the terms of the provision or section designates otherwise. Except as otherwise required in the Charter or State law, the City Manager has the power to delegate authority and duties designated for the City Manager in this code.
Gender.
A word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to females and to firms, partnerships and corporations as well as to males.
Joint authority.
All words giving a 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.
Nontechnical and technical words.
Words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be construed and understood according to such meaning.
Number.
A word importing the singular number only may extend and be applied to several persons and things as well as to one person and thing.
Oath.
The word “oath” shall be construed to include an affirmation in all cases in which, by law, an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and in such cases the words “swear” and “sworn” shall be equivalent to the words “affirm” and “affirmed.”
Or, and.
“Or” may be read “and” and “and” may be read “or” if the sense requires it.
Person.
The word “person” shall include and be applied to associations, clubs, societies, firms, partnerships and bodies politic and corporate as well as to individuals.
Signature, subscription.
The words “signature” or “subscription” shall include a mark when a person cannot write.
State.
The word “State” shall be construed to mean the State of Colorado.
Street.
The word “street” shall be construed to embrace streets, avenues, boulevards, roads, alleys, lanes, viaducts and all other public highways in the City and shall embrace all parts thereof within the designated right-of-way.
Tense.
Words used in the present or past tense include the future as well as the present and past.
Week.
The word “week” shall be construed to mean seven days.
Written, in writing.
The words “written” or “in writing” shall be construed to include any representation of words, letters or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
Year.
The word “year” shall mean a calendar year.
(Code 1994 § 1-2; Code 1965 § 1-2)
The catchlines of the several sections of this code printed in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords 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 catchlines, are amended or reenacted.
(Code 1994 § 1-3; Code 1965 § 1-3)
The history notes appearing in parentheses after certain sections of this code are not intended to have any legal effect, but are merely intended to indicate the source of matter contained in the section.
(Code 1994 § 1-5)
References and editor’s notes following certain sections of this code are inserted as an aid and guide to the reader and are not controlling nor meant to have any legal effect.
(Code 1994 § 1-6)
(a) 
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate, disobey, omit, neglect, refuse or fail to comply with or resist the enforcement of any ordinance adopted by the City Council or any provision of this code, or commit any act or omission declared to be unlawful or an offense or a misdemeanor, and where no specific penalty is provided therefor, the violation of any provisions of this code shall be punished as provided in subsection (b) of this section. Unless otherwise indicated, each day or portion thereof any violation of any provision of this code shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
(b) 
Any person 18 years of age or older who violates any provision of this code or the regulations promulgated hereunder shall be subject to a fine of up to $1,000 and/or up to one year in jail or any combination thereof unless a specific fine is expressly provided. Any person under 18 years of age who violates any provision of this code or the regulations promulgated hereunder shall be subject to a fine up to $1,000 and/or be required to perform useful public service not to exceed 48 hours or any combination thereof.
(c) 
Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b) of this section, unless otherwise provided, violation of any requirement of an industrial wastewater pretreatment program implemented pursuant to the federal act, as defined in § 25-8-103(8), C.R.S., is punishable as required by such federal act and its implementing regulations for such programs.
(Code 1994 § 1-9; Code 1965 § 1-8)
(a) 
By contract or by City personnel, supplements to this code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by motion of the City Council. A supplement to the code shall include all substantive permanent and general parts of ordinances passed by the City Council or adopted by initiative and referendum during the period covered by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the code during the period. The pages of a supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into the code and will, where necessary, replace pages which have become obsolete or partially obsolete, and the new pages shall be so prepared that, when they have been inserted, the code will be current through the date of adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.
(b) 
In preparing a supplement to this code, all portions of the code which have been repealed shall be excluded from the code by the omission thereof from reprinted pages.
(c) 
When preparing a supplement to this code, the codifier, meaning the person authorized to prepare the supplement, may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances included in the supplement, insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody them into a unified code. For example, the codifier may:
(1) 
Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions.
(2) 
Provide appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for sections and other subdivisions of the code printed in the supplement, and make changes in catchlines, headings and titles.
(3) 
Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to be inserted in the code and, where necessary to accommodate new material, change existing section or other subdivision numbers.
(4) 
Change the words “this ordinance” or words of the same meaning to “this chapter,” “this article,” “this division,” etc., as the case may be, or to “sections ________ through ________.” The inserted section numbers will indicate the sections of the code which embody the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated into the code.
(5) 
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of ordinance sections inserted into the code; but in no case shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance material included in the supplement or already embodied in the code.
(Code 1994 § 1-10)
Nothing in this code or the ordinance adopting this code shall be construed to repeal or otherwise affect the validity of any of the following when not inconsistent with this code:
(a) 
Any offense or act committed or done or any penalty or forfeiture incurred before the effective date of this code.
(b) 
Any ordinance or resolution promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the City, or authorizing the issue of any bonds of the City, or any evidence of the City’s indebtedness, or any contract, right, agreement, lease, deed or other instrument or obligation assumed by the City.
(c) 
Any administrative ordinances or resolutions of the City not in conflict or inconsistent with the provisions of this code.
(d) 
Any right or franchise granted by any ordinance.
(e) 
Any ordinance or resolution dedicating, naming, establishing, locating, relocating, opening, paving, widening, repairing, vacating, etc., any street or public way in the City.
(f) 
Any appropriation ordinance or any ordinance adopting the budget.
(g) 
Any ordinance levying or imposing taxes.
(h) 
Any ordinances prescribing through streets, parking and traffic regulations, speed limits, one-way traffic, limitations on load of vehicles, or loading zones.
(i) 
Any land use, zoning or rezoning ordinance or amendment to the zoning map.
(j) 
Any ordinance establishing and prescribing the street grades of any street in the City.
(k) 
Any ordinance providing for local improvements and assessing taxes therefor.
(l) 
Any ordinance dedicating or accepting any plat or subdivision in the City.
(m) 
Any ordinance annexing territory or excluding territory or any ordinance extending the boundaries of the City.
(n) 
Any ordinance establishing positions, classifying positions, setting salaries of City officers and employees or establishing retirement systems or other employee benefits and any personnel regulations.
(o) 
Any temporary or special ordinances.
(p) 
Any ordinance calling elections or prescribing the manner of conducting the election in accordance with State law.
(q) 
Any ordinance prescribing any rates, charges, deposits, fees or other payment of money to the City.
(r) 
Any people’s ordinance or any ordinance adopted by referendum pursuant to the Charter.
All such ordinances are hereby recognized as continuing in full force and effect to the same extent as if set out at length in this code and are on file in the City Clerk’s office.
(Code 1994 § 1-11)
(a) 
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.
(b) 
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 an offense committed or cause of action arising under the ordinance repealed.
(Code 1994 § 1-12; Code 1965 § 1-5)
All ordinances of a general nature passed by the City Council shall be numbered consecutively, beginning with the number following the last numbered ordinance in the book of ordinances.
(Code 1994 § 1-13; Code 1965 § 1-9)
[1]
Editor’s note: Ordinances adopted by referendum of the people are listed in Table C, People’s Ordinances Table, at the end of this Code.
(a) 
All ordinances passed subsequent to the adoption of this code which amend, repeal or in any way affect this code may be numbered in accordance with the numbering system of this code and printed for inclusion in this code. In the case of repealed chapters, sections and subsections or any part thereof by subsequent ordinances, such repealed portions may be excluded from the code by omission from reprinted pages affected thereby. The subsequent ordinances as numbered and printed, or omitted in the case of repeal, shall be prima facie evidence of such subsequent ordinances until such time that this code and subsequent ordinances numbered or omitted are readopted as a new code by the City Council.
(b) 
Amendments to any of the provisions of this code may be made by amending such provisions by specific reference to the section number of this code in the following language: “That section ________ of the Code of Ordinances, City of Grand Junction, Colorado, is hereby amended to read as follows: _______.” The new provisions shall then be set out in full as desired.
(c) 
If a new section not then existing in the code is to be added, the following language may be used: “That the Code of Ordinances, City of Grand Junction, Colorado, is hereby amended by adding a section (or article or chapter) to be numbered ________, which section reads as follows: _______.” The new section shall then be set out in full as desired.
(d) 
All sections, articles, chapters or provisions desired to be repealed must be specifically repealed by section, article or chapter number, as the case may be.
(Code 1994 § 1-14; Code 1965 § 1-6)
It shall be unlawful for any person in the City to change or amend, by additions or deletions, any part or portion of this code, or to insert or delete pages, or portions thereof, or to alter or tamper with such code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the City to be misrepresented thereby. Any person violating this section shall be punished as provided in GJMC § 1.04.090.
(Code 1994 § 1-15; Code 1965 § 1-7)
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City 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, invalid or unenforceable by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality, invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this code.
(Code 1994 § 1-16; Code 1965 § 1-4)
Pursuant to the authority conferred by the Charter of the City and the Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 31, Article 16, Part 2, there is hereby accepted that certain code, entitled the “Code of Ordinances, City of Grand Junction, Colorado,” together with all ancillary codes and manuals duly described in the Code of Ordinances and incorporated therein by reference, hereinafter the “code” as renumbered and reformatted.
(Ord. 4379 § 1, 8-17-09)
All ordinances of a general and permanent nature enacted on or before the effective date of the ordinance codified in this article, and not included in the code or recognized and continued in force by reference therein are hereby repealed unless otherwise provided.
(Ord. 4379 § 2, 8-17-09)
Nothing in this article shall affect any offense or act committed or done, or any penalty or forfeiture incurred, or any contract or right established or occurring before the effective date hereof. References to the 1994 Code sections will by this provision be construed to refer to the corresponding section in the code. City employees shall have jurisdiction and authority to cite and enforce any ordinance violation by or according to the code section. No person may claim or assert a defense to enforcement of the code because of renumbering and/or change or indexing as provided in this article.
(Ord. 4379 § 4, 8-17-09)
One copy of the code is on file in the City Clerk’s office and is available for public inspection. The complete text of the code is available to the public via the Internet.
(Ord. 4379 § 5, 8-17-09)
Additions or amendments to the code, when passed in the form as to indicate the intention of the City Council to make the same a part of the code, shall be deemed to be incorporated in the code, so that reference to the code includes the additions and amendments. The City Clerk shall develop and implement a numbering and indexing system as provided in the ordinance in her discretion.
(Ord. 4379 § 6, 8-17-09)
Ordinances adopted after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this article, that amend or refer to ordinances that have been codified in the code, shall be construed as if they amend or refer to those provisions of the code and will be incorporated into said code.
(Ord. 4379 § 7, 8-17-09)