HomeMy WebLinkAbout680ORDINANCE NO. 680
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF IRWINDALE ADDING
CHAPTER 12.10 TO ARTICLE 12 OF THE IRWINDALE MUNICIPAL CODE TO
REGULATE TREES AND LANDSCAPING IN THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY AND TO
PROHIBIT NUISANCES CREATED BY TREES AND LANDCAPING ON PRIVATE
PROPERTY
A. RECITALS
(i) The City of Irwindale is authorized by Article XI, Section 5 and Section 7 of
the California Constitution to exercise the police power of the State by adopting
regulations to promote public health, public safety, and general prosperity.
(ii) By this ordinance, the City Council of the City of Irwindale desires to provide
authorization to the Director of Public Works to plant, maintain, and remove trees and
landscaping in the public right-of-way in his/her sole and absolute discretion and to prohibit
nuisances created by trees and landscaping on private property including, but not limited
to, hazardous conditions and sight obstructions that may impede pedestrians and/or
vehicles in the public right-of-way.
B. ORDINANCE
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Irwindale hereby does ordain as
follows:
Section 1. Chapter 12.10 is hereby added to Article 12 of the Irwindale Municipal
Code and shall read as follows:
Chapter 12.10
TREES AND LANDSCAPING IN THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY AND NUISANCES
CREATED BY LANDCAPING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY
12.10.010
12.10.020
12.10.030
12.10.040
12.10.050
Purpose.
Definitions.
Planting, Maintenance, and Removal of Trees and Landscaping in
Public Right-of-Way.
Emergency Maintenance or Removal of Trees and Landscaping in
Public Right-of-Way.
Prohibition of Nuisances Created by Landscaping on Private Property.
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Section 12.10.010 Purpose.
The purposes of this Chapter are to provide authorization to the Director of Public
Works to plant, maintain, and remove trees and landscaping in the public right-of-way in
his/her sole and absolute discretion and to prohibit nuisances created by trees and
landscaping on private property including, but not limited to, hazardous conditions and
sight obstructions that may impede pedestrians and/or vehicles in the Public Right-of-Way.
Section 12.10.020 Definitions.
The following words shall have the respective meanings assigned to them for
purposes of this Chapter 12.10:
"City" means the City of Irwindale.
"Director' means the Director of Public Works or his or her designee.
"Public Right-of-Way" means any City-owned or controlled property used for public
travel and/or as a buffer between road use and private property, including the area along
the public street between the curb and the sidewalk or, if there is no curb or sidewalk, the
unpaved portion of the area between the street right-of-way line and the paved portion of
the street or alley.
Section 12.10.030 Planting, Maintenance, and Removal of Trees and
Landscaping in Public Right-of-Way.
A. The Director shall have the authority to take the following actions in his or
her sole and absolute discretion:
1. Designate the type and species of trees and landscaping to be
planted in Public-Right-of-Way and to cause the same to be planted; and/or
2. Perform maintenance on trees and landscaping in the Public Right-of-
Way so that said trees and landscaping do not interfere with, obstruct, or create any
hazards or dangerous conditions to, users of the Public-Right-of-Way; and/or
3. Remove trees and/or landscaping in the Public Right-of-Way that are
dead, diseased, and/or cause a hazard.
B. Nothing herein shall be deemed to impose any duty, obligation, and/or
liability on the Director or City to exercise this authority at any time.
Section 12.10.040 Emergency Maintenance or Removal of Trees and
Landscaping in Public Right-of-Way.
The Director may perform maintenance on, or remove, trees and/or landscaping in
the Public Right-of-Way at any time when, in the reasonable judgment of the Director, the
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condition of said tree and/or landscaping constitutes an imminent hazard to persons or
property.
Section 12.10.050 Prohibition of Nuisances Created by Landscaping on
Private Property.
A. It is hereby declared a public nuisance for a property owner, or person in
possession of private property, to maintain any landscaping, including any trees, shrubs,
groundcovers, or other plants, on his or her private property in such a manner that one or
more of the following conditions is present:
1. It is infested with a disease or insect, which in the opinion of the
Director, is infectious and may spread disease or insects to other trees or shrubs in the
City;
2. It interferes with lawfully erected utility equipment constructed or
maintained in the Public Right-of-Way;
3. It interferes with or obstructs the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic
or visibility of streets, sidewalks or intersections by any person or vehicle lawfully using the
same;
It restricts visibility of any traffic-marking sign or street light;
5. It impedes the flow of runoff water along City curbs;
6. It interferes with the maintenance, repair or sweeping in the City's
curbs, gutters or street surfaces;
7. It becomes diseased or weakened in such a manner as to be
dangerous to persons or vehicles lawfully using the street or sidewalk;
8. It harbors rats or other vermin;
9. It is in such a condition due to overgrowth, disease, decay or death
that it depreciates the aesthetic environment or property values of surrounding property;
10. It is otherwise a danger to the public health, safety or welfare.
B. Subject to the Director's right to address an imminent hazard pursuant to
Section 12.10.050.C, should a property owner, or person in possession of private property,
create a nuisance in violation of Section 12.10.050.A, the Director shall obtain compliance
through the following procedures.
1. The Director shall provide written notice of the nuisance conditions to
the property owner, or person in possession of private property. The notice shall be
served by First-Class U.S. mail and shall direct the Property Owner, or person in
possession of private property, to abate the nuisance within thirty (30) days of service.
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2. Should the property owner, or person in possession of private
property, fail to timely abate the nuisance as set forth in the notice, the Director shall
cause such work to be performed.
3. Should the Director cause the work to be performed, the City shall be
authorized to recover the cost of performing said work as follows:
a. The Director shall cause a report to be prepared that specifying
the work which has been done, the charges to perform said work, and the parcel(s) of
property upon which the charges are proposed to be collected with the property taxes.
b. The Director shall file the report with the City Clerk, who shall
fix a date, time, and place for a public hearing and for any objections or protests thereto.
c. The City Clerk shall cause notice of the filing of said report and
of the date, time, and place for a public hearing to be made as follows:
i. Notice shall be published pursuant to Section 6066 of
the Government Code, as amended, prior to the date set for hearing, in a newspaper of
general circulation printed and published within the city; and
Notice shall be mailed at least fifteen days prior to the
hearing to each person to whom any parcel(s) of real property described in said report is
assessed in the last equalized assessment roll available on the date said report is
prepared, at the address shown on said assessment roll or as known to the City Clerk.
d. At the public hearing, the City Council shall hear and consider
all objections or protests, if any, to said report referred to in said notice and may continue
the hearing from time to time.
e. Upon the conclusion of the hearing, the City council may adopt,
revise, change, reduce or modify any charge or overrule any or all objections and shall
make its determination upon each charge as described in said report, which determination
shall be final.
f. On or before August 10 of each year following the final
determination upon each charge, the City Clerk shall file with the County Auditor a copy of
the report prepared with a statement endorsed on the report over his or her signature that
the report has been finally adopted by the City Council and that the County Auditor shall
enter the amounts of the charges against the respective lots or parcels of land as they
appear on the current assessment roll.
g. The amount of the charges shall constitute a lien against the
parcel of land against which the charge has been imposed as of noon on the first Monday
in March immediately preceding the date of levy.
h. The County Tax Collector shall include the amount of the
charges on bills for taxes levied against the parcel(s) of land. Thereafter the amount of the
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charges shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner and by the same
persons as, together with and not separately from, the general taxes for the City, and shall
be delinquent at the same time and thereafter be subject to the same delinquency
penalties.
C. Notwithstanding Section 12.10.050.B above, the Director may abate the
nuisance conditions set forth in Section 12.10.050.A at any time when, in the reasonable
judgment of the Director, the condition of said tree and/or landscaping constitutes an
imminent hazard to persons or property and providing notice and an opportunity to the
property owner, or person in possession of private property, to correct the hazard pursuant
to Section 12.10.050.8 is infeasible in light of the imminent hazard created. The Director
shall comply with the procedure set forth in Section 12.10.050.B.3 to recover the cost of
the work performed.
D. As an alternative to Section 12.10.050.B, the Director may comply with the
procedures set forth in Chapter 8.08 to abate the nuisance conditions set forth in Section
12.10.050.A.
E. The failure to deliver any notice required under this Section or the failure of
any person to receive such notice shall not affect the validity of any proceedings or actions
taken by the City.
Section 2. Severability. This ordinance and the various parts thereof are hereby
declared to be severable. Should any section of this ordinance be declared by the courts
to be unconstitutional or invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the ordinance
as a whole, or any portion thereof other than the section so declared to be unconstitutional
or invalid.
Section 3. Certification. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of
this ordinance by the City Council of the City of Irwindale and shall cause a summary of
this ordinance to be published in accordance with Government Code Section 36933, in a
newspaper of general circulation which is hereby designated for that purpose, and this
ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after its passage.
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council of
the City of Irwindale tfiis -2-4th—day,of September, 2014.
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None
None
None
ura M. Nieto, CMC
puty City Clerk
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) ss.
CITY OF IRWINDALE
I, Laura M. Nieto, CMC, Deputy City Clerk of the City of Irwindale, California, do
hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 680 was introduced at a regular meeting of
the City Council of the City of Irwindale held on September 10, 2014, and adopted at a
regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Irwindale held on September 24, 2014,
and was carried by the following-roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmembers:
NOES: Councilmembers:
ABSENT: Councilmembers:
ABSTAIN: Councilmembers:
Ambriz, Garcia, Miranda, Ortiz, Mayor
Breceda
AFFIDAVIT OF POSTING
I, Laura M. Nieto, Deputy City Clerk, certify that I caused a copy of Ordinance No. 680, adopted by the City Council of the City
of In/Adele at its regular meeting held September 24, 2014, to be posted at the City Hall, Library, and Post Office on September 25,
01
Dated:
GrAs1/4 y
ura M. Nieto, CMC
eputy City Clerk
Ordinance No. 680
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