123 ORDINANCE NO . 123
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
GRAND TERRACE, ADOPTING THE SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
VEHICLE ABATEMENT AND REMOVAL PROGRAM .
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GRAND TERRACE HEREBY ORDAINS
AS FOLLOWS :
SECTION 1. The County of San Bernardino Vehicle Abatement
and Removal Program, Chapter 12, is hereby adopted in its entirety
( see attached) .
SECTION 2. Our current City Vehicle Abatement Ordinance is
inconsistent and this Ordinance shall supercede it.
SECTION 3. This Ordinance shall take effect thirty ( 30 )
days from the date of adoption .
First read at a regular meeting of the City Council of said
City held on the 12th day of July, 1990, and finally adopted and
ordered posted at a regular meeting of said City Council on the 26th
day of July, 1990.
ATTEST:
&1--, r
i Clerk o t, a ity of Ma r of t o i y o ran
Givand Terrace and of the T race and of the City
City Council thereof. Council thereof.
I , JUANITA J . BROWN , City Clerk of the City of Grand
Terrace , do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance was introduced
and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of
Grand Terrace held on the 26th day of July, 1990, by the following
vote :
AYES : Councilmembers Pfennighausen , Singley , Mayor
Pro Tem Grant ; Mayor Matteson
NOES : None
ABSENT : Councilmember Carlstrom
ABSTAIN : None
Ci4t. Clerk
r Approved as to form :
City Attorney
ORDINANCE NO. 123 Attachment
HEALTH, SANITATION
33.121 AND ANIMAL REGULATIONS
(W
Chapter 12
VEHICLE ABATEMENT AND REMOVAL PROGRAM
Sections:
33.121 Authority.
3".122 Definitions.
33.123 Public Nuisances.
33.124 Exceptions.
33.125 Chapter Supplement to Existing Law.
33.126 Prohibited Uses.
33.127 Duty to Abate.
33.128 Emergency Abatement and Other Services.
33.129 Abatement Procedures for Vehicles Which are a Public
Nuisance.
33.1210 Payment for Abatement.
33.1211 Appeals of Abatement.
33.1212 Appeals of Charges.
33.1213 Cancellation of Charges.
33.1214 Procedure for Refund of Payments.
33.1215 Disposal of Vehicles.
33.1216 Authorization to Enforce Vehicle Code and County Code
Provisions.
(W 33.1217 Determination of Estimated Value of Vehicles.
33.1218 Criminal Penalties.
33.121 Authority.
(a) Pursuant to the authority cited in this Code, California Vehicle Code
§ 22660, California Government Code § 25845, and the authority granted by the State
and California Constitution Art. XI, § 7, the San Bernardino County Board of
Supervisors authorizes the Director of the Department of Environmental Health
Services (DEHS) of the County of San Bernardino to enforce the provisions of this
Chapter within the unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County and to enforce
provisions of City ordinances relating to abatement and removal of vehicles provided
such cities contract to have such service performed by the Department of
Environmental Health Services. This authority includes the right to enter private or
public property for the purposes specified in this chapter, to examine a vehicle or
parts thereof, to obtain information as to the identity of a vehicle and remove or
cause the removal of a vehicle or part thereof declared to be a nuisance.
(b) Any person interfering with or refusing entry to property to any county
or contracted service employee performing duties under this Chapter shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor.
(W /ilijriss/ 3 — 244
VEHICLE ABATEMENT
AND REMOVAL PROGRAM 33.122 — 33.123
33.122 Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context,
phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:
(a) "Abandoned Vehicle" shall be a vehicle which is located on public or
private property which the owner has or apparently has relinquished control, concern
or interest therewith, and which has been situated unattended at one place for a period
of seventy-two (72) hours or longer.
(b) "Administrative Board" shall be a body appointed by the director to
hear appeals under this chapter and shall consist of three (3) persons.
(c) "DEHS" shall be the Department of Environmental Health Services
of the County of San Bernardino.
(d) "Director" shall be the Director of the Department of Environmental
Health Services of the County of San Bernardino.
(e) "Fee" shall be any amount of money charged, fined, or paid to DEHS
relating to the administrative and/or enforcement costs incurred for the purpose of
enforcing this chapter.
(f) "Lien sale" shall mean a sale of a vehicle to obtain legal ownership
of a vehicle under title or requiring registration, under the California Vehicle Code.
(g) "Owner" shall be any person or entity having legal or rightful title in
any personal property or real property subject to the provisions of this chapter.
(h) "Owner of the vehicle" shall be the last registered owner and legal
owner of record.
(i) "Person" includes a natural person, firm, copartnership, association,
or corporation.
4W 0) "Private property" shall be property owned by a person other than a
public entity.
(k) "Public property" shall be property owned by a public entity.
(1) "Licensed Dismantler's Yard" shall be premises used for dismantling
or wrecking of vehicles, where there is baying, selling or dealing in such vehicles,
their integral parts, or component materials thereof, and the sale of dismantled,
partially dismantled, wrecked or inoperative vehicles.
(m) "Unattended vehicle" shall be a vehicle for which the licensed driver
responsible for the same is not within an audible distance and immediately available
for moving said vehicle.
(n) "Vehicle" shall be any device by which persons or property may be
propelled, moved, or drawn upon a highway, and shall include all types of motor
vehicles, but shall exclude devices moved exclusively by human power or used
exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
33.123 Public Nuisances.
Pursuant to the determination made, and the authority granted by the state under
Section 22660 of the California Vehicle Code to abate and remove dismantled,
wrecked, junked, abandoned, inoperative, and unused vehicles, or parts thereof as
public nuisances, and in accordance with the County's constitutional police power
authority, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors makes the following
findings and declaration:
3 — 244-1 1 13l/b31
(W
HEALTH, SANITATION
33.124 — 33.127 AND ANIMAL REGULATIONS
The accumulation and storage of dismantled, wrecked, inoperative, junked,
abandoned or unused vehicles or parts thereof, on private or public property (other
than streets and highways which are regulated by the Vehicle Code) is found to create
condition tending to reduce the value of private and public property, to promote
blight and deterioration, invite plundering, to create fire hazards, to constitute an
attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors, to create
a harborage for rodents and insects and to be injurious to the health, safety and general
welfare of the public. Therefore, the presence of inoperative, dismantled, wrecked,
junked, abandoned or unused vehicles or parts thereof on private or public property
(other than on streets and highways) in the unincorporated area of San Bernardino
County except as expressly permitted in this chapter, is declared to constitute a public
nuisance which may be abated as such in accordance with the provisions of this
chapter.
33.124 Exceptions.
This chapter shall not apply to any vehicle(or parts thereof)which is completely
enclosed within a structure consisting of four (4) walls and roof in a lawful manner,
were such vehicle is not visible from the street or other public or private property
CT,
a vehicle which is stored or parked in a lawful manner on property used in
onnection with the business of a licensed dismantler, garage, vehicle dealer or
junkyard.
33.125 Chapter Supplement to Existing Law.
This chapter is not the exclusive regulation of dismantled, wrecked, junked,
abandoned, inoperative or unused vehicles or parts thereof, or public nuisances within
the County. It shall supplement and be in addition to the other regulatory codes,
statutes and ordinances heretofore or hereafter enacted by the County, the State,
or any other legal entity or agency having jurisdiction.
33.126 Prohibited Uses.
Any dismantled, wrecked, junked, abandoned, inoperative or unused vehicles
or parts thereof, or fully or partially disassembled vehicle (including vehicles without
hood, fenders, engines, body panels, headlights, trunk lid, wheels, windows or
windshields)when placed or kept for more than seventy-two (72)hours in residential,
commercial or industrial sites(except licensed vehicle impound storage yards, garages,
vehicle dealers, junkyards and/or dismantling yards), and visible from outside the
parcel of land upon which such is or are kept, is prohibited and constitutes a violation
of this chapter.
33.127 Duty to Abate.
No person shall cause, permit, maintain, conduct or otherwise allow a
dismantled, wrecked, junked, abandoned, inoperative or unused vehicle or parts
thereof to be openly stored, within the unincorporated area of San Bernardino County.
It shall be the duty of every owner, and/or occupant, in control of any land located
within the unincorporated area of San Bernardino County to remove, abate, and
prevent the recurrence of open storage of such a vehicle.
3 — 244-2
VEHICLE ABATEMENT
AND REMOVAL PROGRAM 33.128 — 33.129
33.128 Emergency Abatement and Other Services.
. (a) Emergency abatement. When a vehicle defined by this chapter as a
public nuisance constitutes an immediate hazard or threat of harm and the situation
calls for abatement sooner than the abatement procedures herein allow, DEHS, the
Director of Transportation, or Sheriff's Department may take or cause emergency
abatement of such nuisance with such notice to parties concerned, or without notice,
as the particular circumstances reasonably allow.
(b) Request for Service. If any member of the public, except self-storage
operators, requests DEHS in writing to remove junked, wrecked, abandoned,
dismantled, inoperative, or unused vehicles or parts thereof, DEHS is authorized to
provide processing and removal for a fee which covers all DEHS costs. The removed
junked, wrecked, abandoned, inoperative, dismantled, or unused vehicles or parts
thereof, through transfer of title or lien sale process shall become the property of
San Bernardino County and such will be the responsibility of the County to dispose
of according to law.
(c) Complaints. DEHS will investigate anonymous complaints associated
with junked, wrecked, abandoned, inoperative, dismantled, or unused vehicles or
parts thereof. The complaint may be phoned in or be in writing and must have situs
address and/or assessor parcel number with a description of the violation.The process
referring to "Notice to Abate" will be utilized for abatement if such is determined
to be appropriate.
33.129 Abatement Procedures for Vehicles Which are a Public Nuisance.
A ten-day "Notice to Abate" shall be given to the property owner to remove
4W the vehicle or vehicles or parts thereof, as a public nuisance. Notification shall be
given either by personal delivery, posting the property or by registered or certified
mail addressed to the owner at his/her last known business or residence address as
the same appears in the public records of the last equalized assessment roll or other
records pertaining to the matter to which the notice is directed. If such a vehicle is
in such condition that identification numbers are not available to determine ownership,
notice need not be given to the last registered and legal owner of the vehicle or parts
thereof.
The notice shall be substantially as follows:
"You are hereby notified to abate this public nuisance by removal of the
vehicle(s)or parts thereof within ten(10)days from the date of mailing of this notice.
If you fail to do so, the public nuisance and such dismantled, wrecked, junked,
inoperative, abandoned or unused vehicles or parts thereof, will be abated and
removed by San Bernardino County DEHS and/or contract services and all the costs
for abatement and removal, together with administrative costs, may be assessed to
the legal owner of the land on which the public nuisance and such dismantled, junked,
abandoned, inoperative or unused vehicle or parts thereof are located."
The notice shall also set forth the procedures and time period for filing an appeal.
If the nuisance is not abated within the time period given in the notice, DEHS
is authorized to abate the nuisance.
No abandoned vehicle which has been abated or removed as a public nuisance
shall thereafter be reconstructed or made operable unless it is a vehicle which qualifies
for either a horseless carriage license plate or historical vehicle license plate.
3 — 244-3 112!111881
4
HEALTH, SANITATION
33.1210 — 33.1213 AND ANIMAL REGULATIONS
33.1210 Payment for Abatement.
Procedure for payment. When abatement has been completed, the director of
DEHS shall render to the San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller an itemized
atement covering work necessary for the abatement. The Auditor-Controller shall
tray the same from the funds of the agency causing said work to be done, and the
director shall present to the owner a demand for payment by mail. If payment is
not made on behalf of the owner within sixty (60) days after mailing of such bill,
the director shall file a Notice of Pendency and certify to the Auditor-Controller the
remaining unpaid cost. The Auditor-Controller shall cause the amount of the same
to be entered upon the next succeeding secured tax roll. Thereafter, the amounts of
the assessment shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as County
taxes are collected, and are subject to the same penalties and the same procedure
and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary County taxes, except that
if any real property to which such lien would attach has been transferred or conveyed
to a bona fide purchaser for value, or if a lien of a bona fide encumbrancer for value
has been created and attached thereon, prior to the date on which the first installment
of such taxes would become delinquent, then the lien which would otherwise be
imposed by this section shall not attach to such real property and the costs of
Ctement, as confirmed, relating to such property shall be transferred to the
cured roll for collection from the person who was the property owner at the time
of the abatement.
33.1211 Appeal of Abatement.
Upon written request by the legal owner of the vehicle under title or requiring
registration under the California Vehicle Code, received by the DEHS within ten (10)
days after mailing of the Notice to Abate or from the owner of the land, claiming
nonresponsibility for the vehicle(s), a hearing shall be held by the Administrative Board
on the abatement and removal of such vehicle(s) and nuisance. The Administrative
Board shall hear and act on appeals within sixty (60) days of filing and its
determination shall be conclusive.Except as provided herein,the provisions of Section
33.029 (Administrative Hearing Procedures) of Chapter 2 of this Code are
incorporated here by reference.
33.1212 Appeals of Charges.
Any appeal from charges for the cost of removal and abatement must be filed
within sixty (60) days from the date of billing or mailing of a tax bill which shows
abatement charges. The appeal procedure shall be the same as Section. 33.039 of
Chapter 2 of this Code, and the Administrative Board's decision shall be conclusive.
33.1213 Cancellation of Charges.
All or any portion of any such special assessment, penalty, or costs heretofore
entered, shall on order of the Administrative Board, be cancelled by the Auditor-
Controller if uncollected, or, except in the case provided for in subdivision(5)hereof,
funded by the County Treasurer if collected, if it or they were entered, charged,
r paid: (1) more than once; (2) through clerical error; (3) through the error or mistake
of the Administrative Board, the Director, or the person designated by them to give
1121311881 3 — 244-4
VEHICLE ABATEMENT
AND REMOVAL PROGRAM 33.1214 — 33.1217
notice to abate regarding any material fact relevant to the determination of a charge;
(4) illegally; (5) the owner of the land was not responsible for the vehicle(s); (6) on
property acquired after the lien date by the state or by any county, city,school district,
or other political subdivision and because of this public ownership, not subject to
sale for delinquent taxes.
33.1214 Procedure for Refund of Payment
No order for a refund under the foregoing section shall be made except on a
claim: (1) verified by the person who paid the special assessment, their guardian,
executor, or administrator; (2) filed within three (3)years after making the payment
sought to be refunded.
33.1215 Disposal of Vehicles.
If a vehicle is of a value of three hundred dollars ($300.00) or less, it may be
disposed of at a dismantler, scrap yard or other suitable site determined by DEHS
without conducting a lien sale.
After proper notification is given to property and vehicle owner(s) and the
abatement and removal process has occurred, a lien sale will be conducted on every
removed dismantled, wrecked, junked, inoperative, abandoned or unused vehicle,
with a value of over three hundred dollars ($300.00) and such sale will be carried
out if all fees and costs for the removal, abatement, storage and enforcement have
not been paid by the legal owner. Once legal ownership has been transferred to the
County by lien sale, the vehicle(s)or parts thereof will be sold on a regular scheduled
date by an auction or other authorized, legal method permitted for the County.
33.1216 Authorization to Enforce County Code and Vehicle Code Provisions.
The Director of DEHS and his designated employees are authorized to remove
abandoned and unattended vehicles pursuant to the provisions of Vehicle Code Section
22669 and County Code Section 53.036. In exercising this authority they shall follow
all procedural and legal requirements applicable to said sections.
33.1217 Determination of Estimated Value of Vehicles.
For lien sale purposes, DEHS shall determine the estimated value of vehicles
and maintain proper documentation and give notifications as required by the
California Vehicle Code with respect to vehicles which are abated and removed under
this chapter. DEHS shall determine whether the value of a vehicle is three hundred
dollars ($300.00) or less; or over three hundred dollars ($300.00) but less than one
thousand dollars($1,000.00); or over one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). All regularly
employed and salaried employees of DEHS (including contract employees) are
authorized to make appraisals to determine the value of vehicles abated or removed
under this ordinance.
3 — 244-5 In r1.88]
HEALTH, SANITATION
33.1218 AND ANIMAL REGULATIONS
33.1218 Criminal Penalties.
Any person or entity who violates any provision of this chapter, other than the
provisions of Section 33.121(b), shall be guilty of an infraction and, upon conviction
ereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) but
not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00) for a first violation; a fine not exceeding
two hundred dollars ($200.00) for a second conviction within one (1) year; and a
fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($5.00.00) for the third conviction within one
(1)year. The fourth and additional convictions within one (1) year shall be punishable
as misdemeanors and shall be punished by a fine not less than two hundred fifty dollars
($250.00) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment in
the County jail for a term not exceeding six (6) months, or both, and such convicted
person or entity may, in the discretion of the court, be adjudged, in addition to the
above penalties, to be liable to DEHS for all necessary costs incurred in investigation,
discovery, analysis, inspection, clean-up, and other actual costs incurred by DEHS
or its agents pertaining to the violation.
Each day or portion thereof in violation shall be considered a separate and
distinct offense.
(W
Ji:/31/NRJ 3 — 244-6