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Ordinance Number 189309 ORDINANCE NO. 189 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO DEFINING NUISANCES AND PROVIDING FOR THE SUMMARY ABATEMENT THEREOF The City Council of the City of San Juan Capistrano does ordain as follows: SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS (a) "Street'! includes public street, alley, lane, court or other place. (b) "In front of which the nuisance exists" }ncludes to the rear of or abutting the property upon which the nuisance exists. (c) "Weeds," as used in this article, includes any of the following: (1) Weeds which bear seeds of a downy or wingy nature. (2) Sagebrush, chaparral, trees, shrubs, vegetation, brush, and any other growth which creates or causes a hazard or menace to the public health, safety and welfare. (3) Weeds which are otherwise noxious or dangerous. (4) Poison oak and poison ivy when the conditions of growth are such as to constitute a menace to the public health. (5) Dry grass, stubble, brush, litter, or other flam- mable material which endangers the public safety by creating a fire hazard. SECTION 2. AUTHORITY TO DECLARE NUISANCEAND ABATE The City Council may declare by resolution as public nuisances, and abate: (a) All weeds as herein defined growing upon the streets, sidewalks, or private property in the. city. (b) All rubbish, refuse, and dirt upon parkways, sidewalks, or private property in the city. SECTION 8. RESOLUTION DECLARING NUISANCE; CONTENTS The resolution shall: (a) Refer to the street by its commonly known name. (b) Describe the property upon which or in front of which the nuisance exists by giving its lot and block number according to the official or city assessment map. Any number of streets, sidewalks, or parcels of property may be included, in one resolution. SECTION 4. WEEDS ON SPECIFIED PARCELS OF PROPERTY AS SEASONAL AND RECURRENT NUISANCES; ABATEMENT At the time it adopts the resolution as herein provided, the City Council may also find and declare that.weeds on specified parcels of property are seasonal and recurrent nuisances. Such seasonal and recurrent nuisances shall be abated in ac- cordance with the provisions of this Ordinance, provided, that upon the second and any subsequent occurrence of such nuisance on the same parcel or parcels within the same calendar year, no further 310 hearings need be held and it shall be sufficient to mail a post card notice to the owners of the property as they and their addresses appear upon the current assessment roll. The notice shall refer to and describe the property and shall state that noxious or dangerous weeds of a seasonal and recurrent nature are growing on or in front of the property, and that the same constitute a public nuisance which must be abated by the re- moval of said noxious or dangerous weeds, and that otherwise they will be removed and the nuisance will be abated by the City author- ities, in which case the cost of such removal shall be assessed upon the parcel and lands from which or in front of which such weeds are removed and that upon confirmation such cost will consti- tute a lien upon such parcel or lands until paid. SECTION 5. PREVENTIVE ABATEMENT OF SEASONAL AND RECURRENT WEED NUISANCES; CHEMICAL CONTROL Where the City Council finds and declares that weeds on speci- fied parcels of property are seasonal and recurrent nuisances as provided in Section 4, it may provide for the preventive abatement of such seasonal and recurrent nuisance as provided in this section. The notice required by Section 4 shall, in addition to con- taining all other required matters, state that the efficient and economical control of such seasonal and recurrent nuisance requires preventive chemical control of such weeds, weed seeds and weed seedlings and that the city may require preventive chemical control of such nuisance. In the event the city is once required to abate such nuisance the city may, in addition, before and during the next following germinating season of such weeds, provide for the preventive abate- ment of such nuisance by using chemical control of such weeds. SECTION 6. NOTICES; POSTING - After passage of the resolution, the Director of Public Works shall cause notices to be conspicuously posted on or in front of the property on or in front of which the nuisance exists. He shall post: (a) One notice to each separately owned parcel of property of not over fifty feet frontage. (b) Not more than two notices to any such parcel of one hundred - feet frontage or less. (c) Notices at not more than one hundred feet apart if the - frontage of such a parcel is greater than one hundred feet. SECTION 7. NOTICES; HEADING AND FORM The heading A the notices shall be "Notice to destroy weeds and remove rubbish, refuse,- and dirt: in letters not less than one inch in height, and shall be substantially in the following form: NOTICE TO DESTROY WEEDS AND REMOVE RUBBISH, REFUSE, AND DIRT Notice is hereby given that on the ..... day of ........... 19.., the City Council of the City of San Juan Capistrano passed a resolution declaring that noxious or dangerous weeds were growing upon or in front of the property on this street, and that rubbish, refuse, and dirt were upon or in front of property on this street, in .............. and more particularly described in the resolution, and that they constitute a public nuisance which must be abated by the removal of the weeds, rubbish, refuse, and dirt. Otherwise they will be removed and the nuisance abated by the city and the`cost of -2- 311 removal assessed upon the land from or in front of which the weeds, rubbish, refuse, and dirt are removed and will constitute a lien upon such land until paid. Reference is hereby made to the resolution for further particulars. A copy of said resolution is on file in the office of the city clerk. The property owners having any objections to the proposed removal of the weeds, rubbish, refuse, and dirt are hereby noti- fied to attend a meeting of the City Council of the City of San Juan Capistrano to be held (given date), when their objections will be heard and given due consideration. Dated this ............ day of .............. 19... s Director or Public Works SECTION 8. .NOTICES The notices shall be posted at least five days prior to the time for hearing objections by the City Council. As an alternative to posting notice of the resolution and notice of the meeting when objections will be heard, the City Coun- cil may direct the city clerk to mail written .notice of the proposed abatement to all persons owning property described in the resolu- tion. The cityclerkshall cause such written notice to be mailed to eachpersonto whom such described property is assessed in the last equalizedassessmentroll available on the date the resolution was adopted by the City Council. The address of theowners.shown -on the assessment roll shall be conclusively deemed to be the proper address for the purpose of mailing such notice. Any costs incurred in securing the aforesaid names and addresses shall be a part of the costs of abatement. The notices.mailed bythecity clerk shall be mailed at least five days prior to .the time for hearing--objections.by�the City Council. The notices mailed by the city clerk shall be substantially in the form provided by Section 7, except, that notices shall be signed by the city clerk and the heading of the notice need not comply therewith. SECTION 9. HEARING At the time stated in the notices, the City Council shall hear and consider all objections to the proposed removal of weeds, rubbish, refuse, and dirt: it shall, by motion or resolution, allow or over- rule any objections." -The hearing may be continued from time to time, butthedecision of the City Council is final, and it acquires jurisdiction to proceed and perform the work of .removal upon the conclusion.of the.hearing. - - SECTION 10. ABATEMENT PROCEDURE If objections have not been made or after. -the -City Council has disposed of those made, it shall order the Director of Public Works, by motion or resolution, to abate thenuisance by�.having the weeds, rubbish, refuse, and dirt removed.. .The Director of Public Works may, thereupon enter upon private property to abate the nuisance. Not- withstanding such order of abatement, the owner may, prior to the arrival of the Director of Public Works, remove the weeds, rubbish, refuse, and dirt at his own expense. -3- 312 SECTION 11. COSTS; ACCOUNT; REPORT The Director of Public Works shall keepanaccount ofthecost of abatement in front of or on each separate parcel of land where the work is done by him. He shall submit to the City Council for confirmation an itemized written report showing such cost. A copy of the report shall be posted for at least three days prior to its submission to the City Council on ornearthe chamber door of the City Council, with a notice of the time and submission. At the time fixed for receiving and considering the report, the City Council shall hear it with any objections of the property owners liable to be assessed for the abatement. It may modify the report if it is deemed necessary, and shall then confirm the report by motion or resolution. SECTION 12. PERFORMANCE OF ABATEMENT BY CONTRACT; BIDS; ITEMIZED WRITTEN REPORTS Abatement of the nuisance may in the discretion of the City Council be performed by contract awarded by the City Council on the basis of competitive bids let to the lowest responsible bidder pursuant to Sections 37903,.37904, 37905 and 37931 to 37935 inclusive of the California Government Code. In such event thecontractor shall keep the account and submit the itemized written report for each separate parcel of land required by Section 39574 of said Code. SECTION 13. COSTS; ASSESSMENT The cost of abatement in front of or uponeachparcel of land constitutes.a -special assessment against that parcel. After the assessment is made and confirmed, it is a lien on the parcel. After confirmation of the report, a copy shall be given to the city assessor and thetaxcollector. who--shall-add the amount of the assessment to the next regular tax bill levied against the parcel for municipal purposes. If the county assessor and the tax collector assess property and collect taxes for the city, a certified copy of the report shall be filed with the county auditor on or before August 10th. The descriptions of the parcels reported shall be those used for the same parcels on the county assessor's map books for the current year. The county auditor shall •enter each assessment on the county tax roll..opposite the parcel of land. The amount of the assessment shall be collected at the, time and in the manner of ordinary municipal taxes. If delinquent, the amount is subject to the same penalties and procedure of foreclosure and sale provided for ordinary municipal taxes, The City Council may determine that, in lieu of collecting the entire assessment at the time and in the manner of ordinary munic- ipal taxes, such assessment of fifty dollars ($50) or more may be made in annual installments, in any event not to exceed five, and collected one installment at a time at the times and in the manner of ordinary municipal taxes in successive years. If any installment is delinquent, the amount thereof is subject to the same penalties and procedure for foreclosure and sale provided for ordinary munic- ipal taxes. The payment of assessments so deferred shall bear - interest on the unpaid balance at a rate to be determined by the City Council; not to exceed 6 percent per annum. As an alternative method the county tax collector in his dis- cretion may collect the assessments without reference to the general taxes by issuing separate bills and receipts for the assessments. -4- 313 Laws relating to the levy, collection, and enforcement of county taxes apply to such special assessment taxes. SECTION 14. COST; PAYMENT TO DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS; TIME The Director of Public Works may receive the amount due on the abatement cost and issue receipts at any time after the confirma- tion of the report and until 10 days before a copy is given to the city assessor and tax collector, or where a certified copy is filed with the county auditor, until August 1st following the confirmation of the report. SECTION 15. REFUNDS The City Council may order refunded all or part of a tax paid pursuant to this article if it finds that all or part of the tax has been erroneously levied. A tax or part shall pot be refunded unless a claim is filed with the clerk of the City Council on or before November 1st after the tax became due and payable. The claim shall be verified by the person who paid the tax, or his guardian, executor, or administrator. SECTION 16. DAMAGES FROM NEGLIGENCE IN ABATEMENT; AUTHORITY TO PAY; CLAIMS If the City Council finds that property damage was caused by the negligence of a city officer or employee in connection with the abatement of a nuisance pursuant to this article, a claim for such damages may be paid from the city general fund. Claims therefore are governed by Part 3 (commencing with Section 900) and Part 4 (commencing with Section 940) of Division 3.6 of Title 1 of the California Government Code. SECTION 17. The Clerk of the Council shall certify to the passage of this Ordinance and shall cause the same to be published once in the Coastline Dispatch after its adoption. This ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days from and after the date of its final adop- tion. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of San Juan Capistrano at its regular meeting held on the 27th day of March, 1972, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: COUNCILMEN: Gammell, Bathgate, Chermak, Thorpe and Forster NOES: COUNCILMEN: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEN: None ATTEST: J i y Clerk or the City or San Juan Capistrano -5- Thomas A. rorster, mayor 314 STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF ORANGE ) ss. CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO ) I, DONALD G. WEIDNER, City Clerk of the City of San Juan Capis- trano, California, hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 189 is a true and correct copy of an ordinance of the City Council of said City, adopted by the City Council on the 27th day of March, 1972.