El Cerrito Municipal Code Ch. 8.08 Health Regulations

As used in this chapter:

A. "Health officer," unless otherwise modified, means the health officer of the county of Contra Costa, acting in his/her capacity as health officer of the city, or his/her duly authorized representative.

B. "Garbage" means and includes all animal and vegetable refuse and household waste and all empty receptacles used as food containers, but shall not include recyclable material as hereinafter defined.

C. "Trash" means and includes all refuse other than garbage; trash includes, but is not limited to, paper, rags, leaves, grass, vines, sawdust, products, cans, ashes, and tree trimmings, but shall not include empty receptacles used as food containers or recyclable material.

D. "Recyclable material" means and includes newspapers, magazines, empty aluminum cans, foil containers, and empty glass bottles, and other glass or metal objects which are disposed of for recycling purposes.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

It is unlawful and a nuisance for any owner or occupant of real property within this city to maintain or permit to remain on any such property any materials, structures, foliage or substances in such manner as to be dangerous to the health or safety of any inhabitants of this city.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

No person shall establish, conduct or maintain any factory or business that will generate any odoriferous, unwholesome, offensive or deleterious gas or exhalation or any deposit that is dangerous or prejudicial to life or health, without providing gas consumers or other means of consuming or destroying such gas, exhalation or deposit, or without causing such gas exhalation or deposit to be consumed or destroyed therein.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

No person shall erect, establish, operate or maintain any business liable to allow dust to escape without a special permit from the health officer.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

No person shall fail, refuse or neglect to keep the sidewalk in front of his house, place of business or premises in a clean condition.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

A. No person owning, renting, acting as agent for, or occupying any premises shall permit any accumulation of manure, garbage, offal, rubbish, stagnant water, or filthy or offensive matter of any kind to be or remain upon such premises, or shall fail, refuse or neglect to keep such premises in a clean and wholesome condition. Not included are compost and deodorized fertilizers used for garden enrichment, and properly maintained to not cause odors.

B. Any artificial alteration of property, excluding water, from its natural condition, that results in that property's supporting the development, attraction, or harborage of vectors is a public nuisance.

C. Any water that is a breeding place for vectors is a public nuisance.

D. Any activity that supports the development, attraction, or harborage of vectors, or that facilitates the introduction or spread of vectors, is a public nuisance.

E. The presence of vectors in their developmental stages shall be prima facie evidence that a public nuisance exists.

F. For the purposes of this section, "vector" means any animal capable of transmitting the causative agent of human disease or capable of producing human discomfort or injury, including without limitation mosquitoes, flies, mites, ticks, other arthropods, and rodents and other vertebrate animals.

(Ord. 2003-6 Div. 1, 2003: Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

No person shall use any vehicle or other receptacle for hauling any offal, or the contents of a privy vault, septic tank, cesspool or sink, or any nauseous or offensive substance, unless such vehicle or other receptacle shall be sufficiently strong and tight to prevent any of the contents from leaking or spilling therefrom, and the same shall be so tightly covered as to prevent any odors from escaping therefrom. No person shall permit any such vehicle to be in a filthy or offensive condition, or fail to thoroughly clean any such vehicle after every use thereof.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

No person shall maintain a privy within the city. Sanitary, chemical toilets may be temporarily placed during a period of work at a particular site. Such toilets shall be constructed in a manner approved by the health officer and shall be removed immediately upon the proper installation of operating toilet fixtures, or as directed by the city engineer.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

Upon the abandonment of use of any privy vault, septic tank or cesspool, by reason of connection of plumbing to a public sewer, or for any other reason, such privy vault, septic tank or cesspool shall be disinfected and filled in with earth, to the satisfaction of the health officer.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

No person shall permit the contents, or any part thereof, of any septic tank, privy vault, cesspool, toilet, urinal or of any other sink or cistern containing any nightsoil, slop water or other filthy substance, to flow, or be discharged upon the surface of any premises, or of any public street or other public place, or into any storm drain. The emptying or cleaning of any privy vault, septic tank, cesspool or sink shall be in such a manner approved by the health officer.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

No person shall deposit in any storm drain or manhole any dead animal, offal or solid garbage, or deposit or cause or permit to be deposited any solid substance in any public sewer, or manhole.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

Every cellar or basement in any public dwelling, apartment, eating place or food establishment shall be kept thoroughly drained, ventilated and in a clean condition.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

Every person owning, leasing or occupying any building or any part thereof, which is used or intended to be used as a factory, workshop, store, or other mercantile establishment, shall provide toilets for employees as required by the Uniform Plumbing Code and the Uniform Building Code, whichever is more stringent, incorporated within this code pursuant to Title 16. The location of all toilets in food handling establishments shall be approved by the health officer.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

Food-handling establishments must make any toilets available to their patrons.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

The owner, lessee, agent or manager of any store, factory, workshop or other structure or place of employment shall provide not less than five hundred cubic feet of air space for every person employed therein; and all such stores, factories, workshops, or other structures or places shall be provided with such means of ventilation that complete change of air may be made therein once in every thirty minutes.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

The health officer is authorized and empowered to post or set up any notices which he/she shall deem necessary or expedient to secure or promote the enforcement or observance of any law of the state, or of any ordinance of the city, or of this code, relating to the quarantine regulations, or to the preservation of the public health, or to the sanitary regulations of the state or city, and he/she is authorized and empowered to post or set up any extraction or copy of any such law, code or ordinance whenever he/she shall deem the same to be necessary or expedient.

No person shall destroy, deface, mutilate, conceal or remove any such notice, or its surface, or any part thereof, without prior permission of the health officer.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)

Any person who obstructs, hinders or interferes with the entry upon any land mentioned in this title, of any officer or employee of the city in the performance of his/her duty, and any person who obstructs, interferes with, molests or damages any work performed by the city or its health officer, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Ord. 92-13 Divs. 1, 2 (part), 1992.)