Chino Hills Municipal Code Art. XI Prohibited Acts and Enforcement

To protect public health, safety, and well-being, the keeping of refuse in collection containers or bins other than those provided by franchisee, or the keeping upon premises of refuse which is offensive, obnoxious, or unsanitary is unlawful, constitutes a public nuisance and may be abated in the manner now or hereafter provided by law for the abatement of nuisances.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.000; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

To protect public health, safety, and well-being, no person, other than the person in charge of any premises, or the collector authorized by the person in charge of any premises, shall remove any container or bin from the location where the container was placed for storage or collection by the person in charge of the premises, or remove any refuse or recyclables from any container or bin, or move the container or bin from the location in which it was placed for storage or collection, without prior written approval of the person in charge of such premises.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.005; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

To protect public health, safety, and well-being, to minimize interference with public rights-of-way, no person shall place bulky items adjacent to a street or public right-of-way for collection or removal purposes without prior approval and arrangements with the franchisee. Customers to provide franchisee with a minimum of one (1) business day's (excluding Saturday, Sunday and holidays) notice for the items which shall be collected on the customer's regular collection day. Bulky items may be placed at curb for collection on the collection day approved by franchisee, and only during the regular collection hours as designated in Section 13.20.130. Residential premises and multi-family premises bulky item collections shall be at a minimum as required by the franchise agreement.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.010; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

To protect public health, safety, and well-being, no person shall place or deposit institutional, commercial, industrial, special, or hazardous waste in any civic litter module.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.015; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

To protect public health, safety and well-being, no person shall burn any refuse within the City, except in an approved incinerator or transformation facility or other device for which a permit has been issued by the building official, and which complies with all applicable permit and other regulations of air pollution control authorities, and provided any such act of burning in all respects complies with all other laws, rules, and regulations.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.020; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

To protect public health, safety, and well-being, no person shall collect any solid waste, recyclable materials, and/or organic materials from premises within the City without a franchise, contract, permit, and/or or business license. It shall be a condition for the issuance of a franchise, contract, permit, and/or business license that the person or entity holding the franchise, contract, permit and/or business license furnish information required by the City to enable the City to meet its reporting requirements imposed by the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.025; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

To protect public health, safety, and well-being and to prevent the spread of vectors, it is unlawful for any person, other than a person holding a contract, franchise, permit, or license for the collection of solid waste, recyclables or organic materials to take, remove, or appropriate for his or her own use any solid wastes, recyclables or organic materials which have been placed for collection or removal, whether so placed in regular containers or not.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.030; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

To protect public health, safety, and well-being and to prevent the spread of vectors, it is unlawful, and a public nuisance, for any person to occupy, inhabit, maintain, or to be in day-to-day control of any property within the City for which appropriate arrangements have not been made for regular collection and removal services for solid wastes, recyclables, or organic materials.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.035; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

To protect public health, safety and well-being, and to prevent the contamination of solid waste and recyclables, it is unlawful for any person to place refuse in, or to otherwise use the refuse containers of another person, without the permission of such other person.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.040; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

The unauthorized removal of recyclables placed at a designated recycling collection location is prohibited by California Public Resources Code Section 41950.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.045; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

To protect public health, safety and well-being, all persons transporting solid waste, recyclables or organic materials shall clean up, or arrange for the cleanup, of any solid waste or refuse released, spilled or dumped during removal or transport within the City.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.050; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

It is unlawful for any person to deposit, release, spill, leak, pump, pour, emit, empty, discharge, inject, dump or dispose into the environment, including the abandonment of or discarding of barrels, containers and other closed receptacles of solid or liquid waste of any kind whatsoever, any solid or liquid waste upon any property within the City, or to cause, suffer, or permit such solid or liquid waste to come to be located upon any property in the City, without first having obtained a conditional use permit pursuant to the zoning laws of the City, as now or hereinafter amended, or pursuant to any other zoning law that may be hereinafter adopted in the place and stead of such zoning laws of the City.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.055; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

A. Pursuant to California Penal Code Section 836.5, the City Manager, and/or designee, and any City Code Enforcement Officer are authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter and as well as those of California Penal Code Sections 374, 374a, 374.2, 374.3, 374.4, 374d, 374.7, and 375; California Government Code Section 68055 et seq.; and California Vehicle Code Sections 23111 and 23112.

B. Violation. Unless otherwise specified, the violation of any provision of this chapter is grounds for the issuance of an administrative citation and assessment of a fine. The City's procedures on imposition of administrative fines in Chapter 1.18 of the Chino Hills Municipal Code are hereby incorporated in their entirety, as modified from time to time, and shall govern the imposition, enforcement, collection, and review of administrative citations issued to enforce this chapter and any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this chapter, except as otherwise indicated in this chapter.

C. Other remedies allowed by law may be used, including civil action or prosecution as misdemeanor or infraction. City may pursue civil actions in the California courts to seek recovery of unpaid administrative citations. City may choose to delay court action until such time as a sufficiently large number of violations, or cumulative size of violations exist such that court action is a reasonable use of City staff and resources.

D. Enforcement of SB 1383 regulations as included in this chapter.

1. City Code Enforcement Officers and/or their designee will monitor compliance with this chapter through compliance reviews, route reviews, investigation of complaints, and an inspection program. City may, at its option, use data, images, or other evidence gathered by franchisee' remote monitoring in its enforcement of this chapter. Section 13.20.390 establishes City's right to conduct inspections and investigations.

2. City may issue an official notification to notify regulated entities of its obligations under this chapter.

3. Prohibited Container Contaminants. City may issue a notice of violation to any generator found to have prohibited container contaminants in a container. Such notice will be provided in accordance with 14 CCR 18984.5(b). If the City observes prohibited container contaminants in a generator's containers on more than three (3) consecutive occasion(s) within a six-month period, the City or its designee may assess contamination processing fees on the generator.

4. All Other Violations of SB 1383 Regulations. With the exception of violations of the prohibited container contaminants provisions, beginning on January 1, 2024, violations of the SB 1383 regulations will be enforced as follows: (i) the City will issue a notice of violation requiring compliance within sixty (60) days of the issuance of the notice; (ii) absent compliance by the respondent within the deadline set forth in the notice of violation, the City will commence an action to impose penalties, via an administrative citation and fine, pursuant to Chapter 1.18 of the Chino Hills Municipal Code.

5. Notices of violation shall be affixed to the container containing the prohibited container contaminants, sent to "owner" at the official address of the owner maintained by the tax collector for the City or if no such address is available, to the owner at the address of the residential, multifamily or commercial premises, or to the party responsible for paying for the collection services, depending upon available information. The notice of violation may also be posted at the physical address where the violation occurred.

E. The penalty levels, unless otherwise specified in this chapter, are as follows:

1. For a first violation, the amount of the base penalty shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00) per violation.

2. For a second violation, the amount of the base penalty shall be two hundred dollars ($200.00) per violation.

3. For a third or subsequent violation, the amount of the base penalty shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00) per violation.

G. The City may extend the compliance deadlines set forth in a notice of violation issued for non-compliance with this chapter if it finds that there are extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the respondent that make compliance within the deadlines impracticable, including the following:

1. Acts of God such as earthquakes, wildfires, flooding, and other emergencies or natural disasters;

2. Delays in obtaining discretionary permits or other government agency approvals; or,

3. Deficiencies in organic waste recycling infrastructure or edible food recovery capacity and the City is under a corrective action plan with CalRecycle pursuant to 14 CCR Section 18996.2 due to those deficiencies.

H. Persons receiving an administrative citation containing a penalty for an uncorrected violation may request a hearing to appeal the citation pursuant to Section 1.18.100 of the Chino Hills Municipal Code.

I. Beginning January 1, 2022 and through December 31, 2023, City or their designee will conduct inspections, route reviews or waste evaluations, and compliance reviews, depending upon the type of regulated entity, to determine compliance with this chapter, and if City determines that organic waste generator, self-hauler, hauler, tier one commercial edible food generator, food recovery organization, food recovery service, or other entity is not in compliance, it shall provide educational materials to the entity describing its obligations under this chapter and a notice that compliance is required by January 1, 2022, and that violations may be subject to administrative civil penalties starting on January 1, 2024.

J. Beginning January 1, 2024, if the City determines that an organic waste generator, self-hauler, hauler, tier one or tier two commercial edible food generator, food recovery organization, food recovery service, or other entity is not in compliance with this chapter, unless otherwise specified in this chapter, it shall document the noncompliance or violation, issue a notice of violation, and take enforcement action, as needed.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.060; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, violations of this chapter are punishable as set out in Sections 1.36.010 through 1.36.060 of this Code.

(Ord. § 16.11.065; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

In addition to any other remedy provided for herein, a violation of this chapter may is punishable as a misdemeanor.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.070; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

The City Manager and/or designee shall have the authority to enforce the provisions of this chapter. This authority shall be in addition to the authority granted to police officers pursuant to this Code.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.075; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to limit the right of an authorized contractor to bring a civil action against any person who violates Section 13.20.270 of this Code, nor shall a conviction for such violation exempt any person from a civil action brought by an authorized contractor.

(Ord. 92-15 § 16.11.080; Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)

A. City representatives and/or its designee are authorized to conduct inspections and investigations, at random or otherwise, of any collection container, collection vehicle loads, or transfer, processing, or disposal facility for materials collected from generators, or source separated materials to confirm compliance with this chapter by organic waste generators, commercial premises, multifamily premises with bin service, property owners, commercial edible food generators, haulers, self-haulers, food recovery services, and food recovery organizations, subject to applicable laws. This section does not allow City to enter the interior of a private residential premises for inspection. For the purposes of inspecting commercial premises containers for compliance with Section 13.20.052(B) of this chapter, franchisee may conduct container inspections for prohibited container contaminants using remote monitoring on their collection vehicles.

B. Property owner, manager, or their designee shall provide or arrange for access during all inspections (with the exception of residential premises interiors) and shall cooperate with City representatives and/or designee during such inspections and investigations. Such inspections and investigations may include confirmation of proper placement of materials in containers, edible food recovery activities, records, or any other requirement of this chapter described herein. Failure to provide or arrange for: (i) access to an entity's premises; or (ii) access to records for any inspection or investigation is a violation of this chapter and may result in penalties described.

C. Any records obtained by a City or its designee during its inspections and other reviews shall be subject to the requirements and applicable disclosure exemptions of the Public Records Act as set forth in Government Code Section 6250 et seq.

D. City representatives, and/or designee are authorized to conduct any inspections or other investigations as reasonably necessary to further the goals of this chapter, subject to applicable laws.

City shall receive written complaints from persons regarding an entity that may be potentially non-compliant with SB 1383 Regulations. City shall receive written complaints from persons regarding an entity that may be potentially non-compliant with SB 1383 Regulations, including receipt of anonymous complaints.

(Ord. No. 377, § 3(Exh. A), 11-23-2021)