California City Municipal Code Art. 5 Off-Road Vehicles

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 08-659, adopted Jan. 15, 2008 amended former Art. 5.

This article applies to the operation of vehicles which are not licensed for operation on public streets.

(a) No person shall operate or permit to be operated a motor vehicle, including a motorcycle, mini-bike, dune buggy, motor scooter, jeep, or other form of transportation propelled by an internal combustion engine, upon the private property of another or upon public property not held open to the public for vehicular use without the prior permission of the private or public property owner as the case may be.

(b) No person shall operate a motor vehicle, including any motorcycle, mini-bike, dune buggy, motor scooter, jeep, or other form of transportation propelled by an internal combustion engine, upon private property by engaging racing, exhibitions of speed, driving in repetitive patterns, including, but not limited to, driving in circles and figure eights, within 660 feet or one standard City block of any residential dwelling, structure or public place or in such a manner as to create excessive dust or noise.

(c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, an off-highway vehicle ("OHV") may be operated on a designated trail even though the OHV is within six hundred sixty (660) feet of a resident dwelling structure or public place.

(Ord. No. 08-667, 9-2-2008)

(a) No person shall sponsor an off-road vehicle sporting event held wholly or partially within the City without first securing an off-road vehicle sporting event permit as set forth in this article. As used herein, an "off-road vehicle sporting event" means an organized race, competitive event, or organization rally involving more than ten off-road vehicles upon a closed course conducted under the auspices of a sponsor.

(b) The sponsor shall file an application for permit at least ninety (90) days prior to the conduct of an off-road vehicle sporting event within the City. Applications shall contain the following:

(1) The sponsor's name;

(2) The date and hours of the proposed event;

(3) The location of the proposed event, including the course layout;

(4) The estimated number of participants;

(5) The estimated number of spectators;

(6) The estimated number of participants and/or spectators who will dwell overnight within the City;

(7) The measures proposed for food distribution, waste and refuse collection, and medical services;

(8) The measures proposed for crowd control;

(9) Evidence of the sponsor's financial responsibility;

(10) Written permission from private landowners over whose land the proposed event is to traverse; and

(11) Such other matters as required by the City Manager or as may be deemed appropriate by the sponsor.

(c) The City Clerk shall forward copies of the application to the City Manager and the Chief of Police. The Chief of Police shall review the application to determine whether the crowd control measures described are adequate and review the planned course to identify and make recommendations for adequate traffic and crowd control. The City Manager shall review the application to determine whether the measures proposed for food distribution, waste and refuse collection, and medical services are adequate.

(d) After consulting with the Chief of Police, if the City Manager determines the measures described in the application are adequate to ensure the health and safety of the community during the event, the City Clerk shall issue the permit. If the City Manager determines the measures described in the application are not adequate to ensure the health and safety of the community during the event, the City Clerk shall deny the permit unless the proposal is modified at least thirty days prior to the event to satisfy the concerns of the City Manager and Chief of Police. The City Clerk shall post a notice of the action taken by the City Manager on the official bulletin board and shall inform the sponsor of the decision.

The permit for an off-road vehicle sporting event shall require:

(a) The sponsor guarantees the performance of the measures necessary to ensure proper food distribution, waste and refuse collection, medical services, and traffic and crowd control. Such guarantee may be provided by the furnishing of a performance bond or other appropriate deposit. The amount of such guarantee shall not exceed the total estimated cost of providing such services;

(b) The sponsor shall cause the City to be named as insured on the sponsor's liability insurance policy. The policy shall provide the City shall receive thirty days= prior written notice of cancellation or modification. The policy shall provide minimum coverages in an amount to be determined from time-to-time by the City Manager.

(c) The sponsor provides the City with written permission for the event from the owners of private land over which the event is traversed; and

(d) The permit fee is paid.

(a) An application fee shall be assessed to recover the cost of processing the application for off-road vehicle sporting events.

(b) A permit fee shall be levied upon the granting of the application. The fee shall be in an amount equal to the total estimated cost of the City to provide public services during the event, based upon the estimated number of nonresident participants and spectators.

(c) If the sponsor's estimate of the number of participants and spectators is more than 10% lower than the actual number of nonresident participants and spectators, the sponsor shall remit to the City the difference in the permit fee resulting from such variance within ten days of notice by the City. If the sponsor's estimate of the number of participants and spectators is more than ten percent (10%) higher than the actual number of participants, the City shall, within ten days after a notice by the sponsor, remit to the sponsor any difference in the permit fee resulting from such variance.

(d) The failure of the sponsor to provide the additional fees is sufficient to sustain a finding the sponsor is not a responsible sponsor and is barred for a period of two years from applying for another permit.

(a) The City may grant to the sponsor of an off-road vehicle sporting event the temporary use of City-owned property, including City streets, for the purpose of such event if the portion of the event occurring on the public property is open to the public to view without charge and the street is temporarily closed to general vehicular traffic for the duration of the event by order of the Council.

(b) The City may allow the temporary use of City-owned property, including City streets, by off-road vehicles not engaged in off-road vehicle sporting events, provided, no person shall operate an off-road motor vehicle on a City street which is temporarily closed without first securing a permit for such purpose. The Chief of Police shall prescribe the form of the permit application, review applications and issue such permits. Council shall from time-to-time establish fees for the issuance of permits under this section.

(c) The City may allow OHV use of designated shoulders and medians adjacent to the improved portions of City streets if a permit for such purpose is secured from the Chief of Police or designee.

(Ord. No. 08-667, 9-2-2008)

A person operating an off-road vehicle pursuant to this article shall comply with the following:

(a) The operator of a vehicle shall be able to reach and operate controls necessary to operate the vehicle.

(b) No person shall drive a vehicle at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of other persons or property.

(c) The prima facie speed limit for operation of a vehicle within fifty (50) feet of any campground or campsite or concentration of people or animals is fifteen (15) miles per hour except in areas where approved barriers have been established or approved crowd control arrangements have been made to the satisfaction of the Chief of Police.

(d) No person shall move an off-road motor vehicle that is stopped, standing or parked until such movement can be made with reasonable safety.

(e) No person shall turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left until such movement can be made with reasonable safety.

(f) No person shall drive a vehicle with a willful and wanton disregard for the safety of other persons or property.

(g) No person shall operate nor shall an owner permit the operation of a vehicle in such a manner as is likely to cause malicious or unnecessary damage to land, wildlife habitat or vegetative resources.

(h) No person shall throw or deposit, nor shall the registered owner or the driver, if the owner is not then present in the vehicle, aid or abet in the throwing or depositing, upon any area, public or private, any bottle, can, garbage, glass, nail, offal, paper, wire, or any substance likely to injure or kill wild or domestic animal or plant life or damage traffic using such area or any nauseam, nauseous or offensive matter of any kind.

(i) No person shall place, deposit or dump or cause to be deposited or dumped any rocks or dirt in or upon any area, public or private, without the consent of the property owner or the public agency having jurisdiction over the area.

(j) During darkness, no person shall operate a vehicle without using lighted headlamps and tail lights.

(k) OHV operators shall be at least sixteen years of age and possess a valid driver license provided a person under sixteen (16) years of age may operate an OHV of not more than one hundred fifty (150) CCs under the direct adult supervision of a family member.

(l) OHVs shall stop prior to crossing a private or public street or highway, yield to other traffic while crossing, and cross at a 90° angle to the center line.

(Ord. No. 08-667, 9-2-2008)

(a) Off-road vehicles shall conform to applicable State laws and regulations relating to registration, operation, and inspection of the vehicle.

(b) The vehicle shall be equipped with a brake system in good working order and adequate to control the movement of, and to stop and to hold to the limit of traction of, such vehicle or combination of vehicles under conditions of loading upon any grade on which it is operated.

(c) Vehicles shall be equipped with adequate mufflers and spark arrestors. No vehicle equipped with a muffler cut-out bypass or similar device or producing excessive noise may be operated.

A person aggrieved by the decision of the City Manager concerning the application may file an appeal in accordance with Title 1, Chapter 4.

(Ord. No. 07-656, 12-4-2007)