Chino Municipal Code Ch. 9.36 Loud and Unruly Gatherings

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. 2019-005, § 3, adopted June 4, 2019, repealed the former Ch. 9.36, §§ 9.36.010—9.36.070, and enacted a new Ch. 9.36 as set out herein. The former Ch. 9.36 pertained to loud or disorderly gatherings—police services and derived from Ord. 90-11 § 2, adopted 1990.

A. Some gatherings in the city become loud or unruly to the point that they constitute a threat to the peace, health, safety, or general welfare of the public through excessive consumption of alcohol, and increased incidents of fighting, litter, noise and other conditions detrimental to the community.

B. The city may be required to make multiple responses to such loud or unruly gatherings, or more than one such gathering at a particular premises, in order to restore and maintain the peace and protect public health, safety, or general welfare. Such gatherings diminish the quality of life in the city, create a burden on scarce city resources, and can result in police responses to regular and emergency calls being delayed and police protection to the rest of the city being reduced.

C. In order to discourage the occurrence of loud and unruly gatherings, the city seeks to penalize those responsible for such gatherings and to set forth penalties for repeat officer responses to such gatherings.

(Ord. 2019-005, § 3, 2019.)

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings.

"Gathering" means any party, gathering, or event on private property, regardless of the number of attendants.

"Loud or unruly gathering" means a gathering on any private property when such gathering constitutes a substantial disturbance of the quiet enjoyment of private or public property. Such a disturbance may include, but is not limited to: excessive noise or traffic, obstruction of public streets by crowds or vehicles, public drunkenness, the service of alcoholic beverages to minors, fights, disturbances of the peace, vandalism, and/or litter.

"Officer" means any individual employed or otherwise charged by the city to enforce codes, ordinances, mandates, regulations, resolutions, rules, or other laws adopted by the city, including a police officer and code enforcement officer.

"Person" includes individuals, corporations, businesses, and other entities.

"Person responsible for the gathering" means any of the following:

1. The owner(s) of record of the property where the gathering takes place;

2. The person(s) in charge or purportedly in charge of the premises where the gathering takes place;

3. The person(s) authorizing the use of the premises for the gathering;

4. The person(s) who organized the gathering; or

5. The person(s) who the responding officer believes is causing, performing, permitting to exist, or otherwise maintaining the gathering as a public nuisance, including, but not limited to, any other person in real or apparent charge or control of the real property.

"Subsequent officer response" means any officer response to the location of a loud or unruly gathering as a result of a call for service made within forty-eight hours after the distribution of a written warning to a person responsible for a gathering at that location, or within forty-eight hours after a prior subsequent officer response.

(Ord. 2019-005, § 3, 2019.)

It shall be unlawful and a public nuisance to host, permit, or allow a loud or unruly gathering.

(Ord. 2019-005, § 3, 2019.)

A. The first time an officer is required to respond to the scene of a loud or unruly gathering as a result of a call for service within a forty-eight-hour period, the officer shall leave a written warning with a person responsible for the gathering. If a person responsible for the gathering cannot be located, the officer shall either post the written warning on the front door or primary entrance to the property where the gathering is taking place, or at a location which is visible from the street and which is as close as reasonably possible to the front door or primary entrance to the property where the gathering is taking place.

B. The written warning shall:

1. Identify the date, time, and location of the officer's response;

2. Include an explanation of why the gathering qualifies as a loud or unruly gathering under this chapter; and

3. Include a general explanation of the consequences of a subsequent officer response, including the fact that an administrative citation may be imposed on each person responsible for the gathering.

C. The written warning provided or posted pursuant to this chapter shall qualify as a written warning for each possible person responsible for the gathering whether or not each person actually received the written warning.

(Ord. 2019-005, § 3, 2019.)

A. Whenever an officer makes a subsequent officer response to a loud or unruly gathering, the officer may issue an administrative citation to each person responsible for the gathering, and may require payment of a fine, as follows:

1. An administrative fine of two hundred fifty dollars shall be issued for the first subsequent officer response.

2. An administrative fine of five hundred dollars shall be issued for the second subsequent officer response.

3. An administrative fine of seven hundred fifty dollars shall be issued for the third subsequent officer response and any thereafter.

B. The officer shall have the authority to issue an administrative citation to any one or more persons responsible for the gathering.

C. A person responsible for a loud or unruly gathering as defined by this chapter shall be guilty of an infraction in the event a subsequent officer response is required, and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor in the event that more than one subsequent officer response is required. Criminal penalties may be imposed in lieu of or in addition to administrative fines.

(Ord. 2019-005, § 3, 2019.)

The provisions of this chapter are in addition to the authority of the police or other city officials to regulate events or enforce this code or other applicable law, and shall supplement, and not supplant, the exercise of any other power available to the city or the enforcement of any other law within the jurisdiction of the city. The remedies included in this chapter are intended to be cumulative of other available remedies, and the city may pursue any other remedy allowed by law to enforce this chapter, including, but not limited to, injunctive relief. All such remedies may be pursued individually, consecutively, or in conjunction with each other.

(Ord. 2019-005, § 3, 2019.)