Ordinance Number 782035
ORDINANCE NO. 782
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, -
CALIFORNIA, AMENDING TITLE 5, CHAPTER 21 OF THE SAN JUAN
CAPISTRANO MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO THE USE OF PUBLIC
PARKS AND FACILITIES
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CALIFORNIA, DOES
HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
The City Council finds that:
Unregulated use of public parks and facilities could pose a risk of injury to citizens and
guests in the City:
equipment.
1. Serious injury can be caused by improper use of public parks and facility
2. By creating an environment for the use of illegal weapons and substances.
3. By creating a conducive atmosphere that endangers public safety.
SECTION 2: Amendments.
Based on the findings in Section 1 preceding Title 5, Chapter 21 of the San Juan
Capistrano Municipal Code is hereby amended in its entirety and reads as follows:
"CHAPTER 21. USE OF PUBLIC PARKS AND FACILITIES
Sec. 5-21.01. Definitions.
The following words shall have the meanings indicated in this chapter unless the
context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Amplified sound means music, sound wave, vibration or speech projected or
transmitted by electronic equipment, including amplifiers.
City approval shall mean a permit authorized by the City Manager or any person
authorized by the City Manager.
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Knife or dagger means by knife, dirk, or dagger having a blade of three inches or more
in length; any ice pick or similar sharp stabbing tool; any straight -edge razor or any razor blade fitted
to a handle.
Park means any community park, neighborhood park, or any other recreational facility
maintained by the City.
Vehicle means any device by which any person or property may be propelled, moved,
or drawn, excepting a device moved by human power.
Vehicular travel means travel by a vehicle.
Section 5-21.02. Duty to comply.
No person shall enter, be, or remain in any City park unless he complies at all times
with all of the City regulations applicable to such park and with all other applicable laws, ordinances,
rules and regulations.
Section 5-21.03.
Any person not having a permit for the use of a recreational facility, park or school
district property designated for scheduling by the Community Services Department of the City of San
Juan Capistrano, shall surrender or turn over possession of said recreational facility to any person
having possession of a permit from the Community Services Department for the use of said facility.
It shall be unlawful for any person not having a permit from the Community Services
Department to refuse or fail to surrender the use of any recreational facility to any person who has
a permit for the use of said facility or where facilities are posted "Permit Only"from the Community
Services Department of the City of San Juan Capistrano.
Section 5-21.04. Rules and regulations applicable in City parks and facilities.
The following rules and regulations apply in all City parks unless expressly stated
otherwise elsewhere in this title:
(a) Operations of vehicles.
1. Roads for public use. The provisions of the Vehicle Code are
applicable in the City parks with respect to any way or place of whatever nature which is
publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. All
violations of such Vehicle Code shall be enforced and prosecuted in accordance with the
provisions thereof.
2. Surfaces other than roads for public use; skateboards. No person shall
drive or otherwise operate a vehicle in a park upon surfaces other than those maintained and
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open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel, except upon temporary parking areas as
may be designated from time to time by the Council, and further excepting vehicles in the
service of the City, animal control vehicles, law enforcement vehicles, and motorized
wheelchairs. No person shall ride or operate a skateboard in any park.
(b) Prohibition of animals in park. No person shall cause, permit, or allow any
animal owned or possessed by them or any animal in their care, custody, or control to be present in
any park except:
I. Equine animals being led or ridden under reasonable control upon any
bridle path or trail provided for such purpose.
2. Equine or other animals which are hitched or fastened at a place
expressly designated for such purpose.
3. Dogs or cats when led by a cord or chain not more than six feet long,
or when confined within the interior of a vehicle.
4. Dogs which have been specifically trained and are being used by blind
or disabled persons to aid and guide them in their movements.
Small pets which are kept on the person of the possessor at all times.
6. In connection with activities authorized in writing by the City.
7. Fowl or animals turned loose at the direction of the City.
It shall be the mandatory duty of all persons owning, possessing, in control of,
or otherwise responsible for a dog, cat, or an equine animal in a park to promptly collect, pick up,
and remove all fecal matter left behind by such animal in or upon any park; provided, however, that
subsection 5-21.04(b) shall not apply to guide dogs for blind or disabled persons or to equine animals
on bridle paths.
(c) Amplifted sound in parks. The following provisions are enacted for the sole
purpose of securing and promoting the public health, comfort, safety, and welfare of its citizenry.
While recognizing that certain uses of sound amplifying equipment are protected by constitutional
rights of free speech and assembly, the City nevertheless feels obligated to reasonably regulate the
use of sound amplifying equipment in order to protect the correlative constitutional rights of the
citizens to privacy and freedom from the public nuisance of loud and unnecessary sound.
I. Permit required for amplifiers. It shall be unlawful for any person to
install, use, and operate within a park a loudspeaker or any sound amplifying equipment for
the purposes of giving instructions, directions, talks, addresses, or lectures, or of transmitting
music to any persons or groups of persons in any park, or in the vicinity thereof, except when
installed, used, or operated in compliance with one of the following provisions:
M
By authorized law enforcement or Community Services
personnel; or
ii. Under a reservation or permit issued by the City, and when
operated in accordance with terms of the reservation or permit.
2. Granting or denial ofpermit. In determining whether to grant or deny
a permit, the City shall be guided by the following considerations:
of persons in the park.
property.
The possible effects upon the peaceable passage or presence
ii. The potential for disorder or unlawful injury to persons or
iii. The potential invasion of other persons' rights of privacy.
iv. The possible unlawful breach or disturbance of the peace.
Any actual conflict with other scheduled park uses or events.
The City shall not deny a permit on the basis of any dislike for or
disagreement with the content of any proposed talks, addresses, lectures, or musical
presentations. The City may, however, deny a permit for any such events which are designed
for the purpose of advocating imminent lawless conduct.
3. Power source for amplifiers. Amplifiers permitted in parks shall be
operated only through a power source provided or approved by the City or with a battery.
(d) Prohibition of firearms, fireworks, BB guns, toy weapons. No person shall
carry or discharge firearms, firecrackers, rockets, torpedoes, or other types of explosives; or carry
or discharge any gun, pistol, slingshot or similar device, or any bows and arrows, or carry or use any
other object capable of propelling a projectile; or carry or use any object calculated to make a noise
sufficient to disturb the peace or quiet of the park; or bring into any park any of the above objects or
articles.
(e) Prohibition of dangerous weapons. The provisions of the California Dangerous
Weapons' Control Law are applicable in City parks and shall be enforced and prosecuted in
accordance with the provisions thereof. No person shall carry on his person, in plain view, any knife
or dagger.
(f) Exceptions to applicability. The provisions of subsection 5-21.04(e) above
shall not be deemed to prohibit the carrying of ordinary tools or equipment for use in a lawful
occupation or for the purpose of lawful recreation.
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(g) Damaging property. No person other than a duly authorized City employee
in the performance of his duties shall cut, break, injure, deface or disturb any tree, shrub, plant, rock,
building, cage, pen, monument, fence, bench or other structure, apparatus, or property; or pluck, pull
up, cut, take or remove any shrub, bush, plant or flower, or mark or write upon, paint or deface in
any manner any building, monument, fence, bench or other structure.
(h) Damaging lana No person other than a duly City authorized employee in the
performance of his duties shall cut, dig, or remove any wood, turf, grass, soil, rock, sand, gravel or
fertilizer, except park maintenance personnel.
(i) Golf. No person shall play or practice the game of golf, including chipping,
putting, driving or any other type of play or practice which includes the hitting of a golf or similar
type ball with a golf or similar type club.
0) Water. No person shall swim, fish, bathe, wade, release pet animals in, of
pollute the water of any fountain, pond, lake, stream or reservoir except by permission of the City.
(k) Fires and fireplaces. No person shall kindle a fire except in fireplaces provided
for that purpose or in barbecues approved by the City, except by permission of the City.
(1) Waste liquids and refuse. No person shall wash dishes, or empty salt water or
other waste liquids, or leave garbage, cans, bottles, papers or other refuse elsewhere than in the
receptacles provided therefor.
(m) Park Hours. No person shall be or remain in any park beyond posted hours
as established by the Director of Community Services. The provisions of subsection 5-21.04(c)2. of
this section shall govern the granting or denial of such permission. The following are established park
hours:
Lighted Athletic Parks 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
All Other Parks 8:00 a.m. - Sunset
(n) Alcoholic beverages. No person shall consume any alcoholic beverage within
any park unless specifically permitted by the prior written approval of the City,
(o) Controlled suhstances. The provisions of the California Uniform Controlled
Substances Act are applicable in City parks and shall be enforced and prosecuted in accordance with
the provisions thereof.
(p) Glass containers. No person shall possess any glass container in City parks.
Sec. 5-21.05. Camper trucks and trailers.
(a) Scope. This section shall apply to all public land owned, operated or
maintained by the City.
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(b) Unauthorized camping. It shall be unlawful for any person to camp or sleep
overnight in a vehicle or otherwise, or to park a camper truck, camper trailer, tent trailer or other
vehicle overnight upon any lands or easements owned by the City, except upon such portions thereof
as may have been specifically designated and set aside by the City for such purposes.
Section 5-21.06. Violations.
(a) Every act prohibited or declared unlawful and every failure to perform an act
made mandatory by these regulations is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail
not exceeding six months, or by fine of $100, or by both.
(b) Every act prohibited by subsection (d), (e), (n), or (o) of Section 5-21.04 of
this chapter shall subject the possessor of the prohibited items to confiscation of those items."
This Ordinance shall take effect and be in force thirty (30) days after its passage.
The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Ordinance and cause the same
to be posted at the duly designated posting places within the City and published once within fifteen
(15) days after passage and adoption as required by law; or, in the alternative, the City Clerk may
cause to be published a summary of this Ordinance and a certified copy of the text of this
Ordinance shall be posted in the Office of the City Clerk five (5) days prior to the date of adoption
of this Ordinance; and, within fifteen (15) days after adoption, the City Clerk shall cause to be
published the aforementioned summary and shall post a certified copy of this Ordinance, together
with the vote for and against the same, in the Office of the City Clerk.
PASSED, APPROVED
ember . 1996.
ATTEST:
CITY CLEW V
AND ADOPTED this 17th day of
WYATrART, MAYOR
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STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) ss
CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO )
1, CHERYL JOHNSON, City Clerk of the City of San Juan Capistrano,
California, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of Ordinance
No. 782 which was introduced at a meeting of the City Council of the City of San Juan
Capistrano, California, held on September 3rd , 1996, and adopted at a
meeting held on September 17th , 1996, by the following vote:
AYES: Council Members Jones, Nash, Swerdlin, Campbell and
Mayor Hart
NOES: None
ABSTAIN: None
ABSENT: None
(SEAL) �j/✓2��1�c�1��`�s�s��//�i
CHERYL JOHNSON, OTY CLERK
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