Grand Terrace Municipal Code Ch. 8.08 Vehicle Abatement and Removal Program

A. Pursuant to the authority cited in this Code, California Vehicle Code Section 22660, California Government Code Section 25845, and the authority granted by the State and California Constitution Article XI, Section 7, the City Council authorizes the City Manager to enforce the provisions of this Chapter within the incorporated area of the City and to enforce the provisions of City ordinances relating to abatement and removal of vehicles. 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 City or contracted service employee performing duties under this Chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

For the purposes of this Chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, phrases used in this Chapter are defined as follows:

"Abandoned vehicle" means 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 hours or longer.

"Administrative board" means a body appointed by the City Manager to hear appeals under this Chapter and shall consist of three persons.

"DEHS" means the department of environmental health services of the county.

"Director" means the City Manager.

"Fee" means any amount of money charged, fined or paid to the city relating to the administrative and/or enforcement costs incurred for the purpose of enforcing this Chapter.

"Licensed dismantler's yard" means premises used for dismantling or wrecking of vehicles, where there is buying, selling or dealing in such vehicles, their integral parts, or component materials thereof, and the sale of dismantled, partially dismantled, wrecked or inoperative vehicles.

"Lien sale" means a sale of a vehicle to obtain legal ownership of a vehicle under title or requiring registration under the California Vehicle Code.

"Owner" means any person or entity having legal or rightful title in any personal property or real property subject to the provisions of this Chapter.

"Owner of the vehicle" means the last registered owner and legal owner of record.

"Person" means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation.

"Private property" means property owned by a person other than a public entity.

"Public property" means property owned by a public entity.

"Unattended vehicle" means a vehicle for which the licensed driver responsible for the same is not within an audible distance and immediately available for moving said vehicle.

"Vehicle" means 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.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

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 city's constitutional police power authority, the City Council makes the following findings and declaration:

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 conditions 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 city 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.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

This chapter shall not apply to any vehicle (or parts thereof) which is completely enclosed within a structure consisting of four walls and a roof in a lawful manner, where such vehicle is not visible from the street or other public or private property, or a vehicle which is stored or parked in a lawful manner on property used in connection with the business of a licensed dismantler, garage, vehicle dealer or junkyard.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

This chapter is not the exclusive regulation of dismantled, wrecked, junked, abandoned, inoperative or unused vehicles or parts thereof, or public nuisances within the city. 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.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

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 hours in residential, commercial or industrial sites (except licensed vehicle impound storage yards, garages, vehicle dealers, junk yards 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.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

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 city. It is the duty of every owner, and/or occupant, in control of any land located within the city to remove, abate and prevent the recurrence of open storage of such a vehicle.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

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 in this Chapter allow, the City Manager, 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 the city, in writing, to remove junked, wrecked, abandoned, dismantled, inoperative, or unused vehicles or parts thereof, the city is authorized to provide processing and removal for a fee which covers all the city's 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 the city and such will be the responsibility of the city to dispose of according to law.

C. Complaints. The city 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.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

A ten-day "Notice to abate" shall be given to the property owner to remove 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 the City of Grand Terrace 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, the city 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.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

When abatement has been completed, the City Manager shall render to the city finance director an itemized statement covering work necessary for the abatement. The finance director shall pay the same from the funds of the agency causing said work to be done, and the City Manager shall present to the owner a demand for payment by mail. If payment is not made on behalf of the owner within sixty days after mailing of such bill, the City Manager shall file a notice of pendency and certify to the finance director the remaining unpaid cost. The finance director 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 city taxes are collected, and are subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary city 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 abatement, as confirmed, relating to such property shall be transferred to the secured roll for collection from the person who was the property owner at the time of the abatement.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

Upon written request by the legal owner of the vehicle under title or requiring registration under the California Vehicle Code, received by the city within ten 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 vehicles(s) and nuisance. The administrative board shall hear and act on appeals within sixty days of filing and its determination shall be conclusive. Except as provided in this Chapter, the provisions of Section 33.029 of the San Bernardino County Code are incorporated herein by reference.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

Any appeal from charges for the cost of removal and abatement must be filed within sixty 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 the San Bernardino County Code, and the administrative board's decision shall be conclusive.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

All or any portion of any such special assessment, penalty or costs heretofore entered, shall on order of the administrative board, be canceled by the finance director if uncollected, or except in the case provided for in subsection E of this Section, suspended by the finance director if collected, if it or they were entered, charged, or paid:

A. More than once;

B. Through clerical error;

C. Through the error or mistake of the administrative board, the City Manager or the person designated by them to give notice to abate regarding any material fact relevant to the determination of a charge;

D. Illegally;

E. The owner of the land was not responsible for the vehicle(s);

F. 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.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

No order for a refund under Section 8.08.130 shall be made except on a claim:

A. Verified by the person who paid the special assessment, their guardian, executor, or administrator;

B. Filed within three years after making the payment sought to be refunded.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

If a vehicle is of a value of three hundred dollars or less, it may be disposed of at a dismantler, scrap yard or other suitable site determined by the city 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 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 city 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 city.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

The City Manager and his designated employees are authorized to remove abandoned and unattended vehicles pursuant to the provisions of Vehicle Code Section 22669 and San Bernardino County Code Section 53.036. In exercising this authority they shall follow all procedural and legal requirements applicable to said sections.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

For lien sale purposes, the City Manager 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. The City Manager shall determine whether the value of a vehicle is three hundred dollars or less; or over one thousand dollars. All regularly employed and salaried employees of the city (including contract employees) are authorized to make appraisals to determine the value of vehicles abated or removed under this Chapter.

(Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)

Any person or entity who violates any provision of this Chapter, other than the provisions of Section 8.08.010(B), shall be guilty of an infraction. Such convicted person or entity may, in the discretion of the court, be adjudged, in addition to the above penalties, to be liable to the City for all necessary costs incurred in investigation, discovery, analysis, inspection, clean-up, and other actual costs incurred by the City or its agents pertaining to the violation.

(Ord. No. 369, § 25, 7-22-2025; Ord. 123 § 1(part), 1990)