Hemet Municipal Code Art. I Disorderly Conduct

(a) Purpose. This section is intended to protect the public health, welfare, and safety by reserving open spaces and facilities within the city limits for their intended purposes. Public property within the city should be readily accessible and available to residents and the general public at large. Use of public property for camping or storage of personal property interferes with the rights of others to make use of such shared public spaces for their intended purposes and causes blight, pollution, and damage to public property. This section is intended to avoid unsafe and potentially disorderly conditions, unsanitary and unhealthful conditions, and the degradation or destruction of open spaces and facilities within the city, and preserve such open spaces and natural resources.

(b) Definitions. The following words and phrases, when used in this section, shall have the below meanings unless it is readily apparent from the context that another meaning is intended.

Camp or camping means the conduct of more than one of the following activities on public property, when it reasonably appears, in light of all circumstances, that a person is using such public or private property for living accommodation purposes:

(1) Sleeping or preparing to sleep (including the laying down of bedding for the purpose of sleeping), including undertaking such activities in a vehicle (including any motorhome, camp trailer, camper, coach, fifth wheel travel trailer, house car, recreational vehicle, mobile home), or obscuring some or all of the vehicle's windows;

(2) Erecting or using any tent, camp facilities, or building any other form of shelter;

(3) Unattended storage of personal belongings (including but not limited to clothing, sleeping bags, bedrolls, blankets, sheets, luggage, backpacks, kitchen utensils, cookware) or camp paraphernalia;

(4) Making or using any fire, for purpose of heating or cooking, or using any flame, grill, portable stove, or similar flame producing device for cooking of meals on public property, except for in city parks with designated barbeque and cooking areas while using city-provided cooking facilities designed for such purposes; or

(5) Doing any digging or earth breaking activities for purpose of creating or improving a shelter.

Camping shall be deemed to occur regardless of whether a full night is actually spent occupying any specific location on public property.

Camp facilities include, but are not limited to, tents, huts, or similar temporary shelters consisting of any material with a top or roof or any other upper covering or that is otherwise enclosed by sides that is of sufficient size for a person to fit underneath or inside while sitting or lying down and includes the use of a tarp or other material tied or affixed to a structure or bush to create an enclosed area.

Camp paraphernalia includes, but is not limited to, tarpaulins, cots, beds, sleeping bags, hammocks, or non-city designated cooking or heating equipment.

Public property means any publicly owned property in the city, whether improved or unimproved, including, but not limited to, any of the following: public alleyways; public parking lots; public passageways; public streets; public rights-of-way; park playgrounds; state highways; publicly owned, maintained, or operated parks; publicly owned, maintained, or operated landscaped areas or greenbelts; publicly owned fences, trees, light poles, or equipment boxes; publicly owned, maintained, or operated open spaces including, but not limited to, public facilities or buildings of any kind; public sidewalks, curbs, and gutters; public educational institutions; or other government owned, maintained, or operated properties located within the city.

(c) Camping prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person to camp on any public property within the city, except as otherwise provided herein.

(d) Storage of personal property prohibited.

(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to store any personal property, including camp facilities and camp paraphernalia, on any public property within the city, except as otherwise provided herein.

(2) Before removing any personal property, the enforcement officer, or their designee, shall attempt to provide any readily apparent owners with notice of the intent to remove the personal property and a reasonable opportunity to remove the personal property from public property. If there is no readily apparent owner, or if the readily apparent owner refuses to remove the personal property from public property, then the enforcement officer, or their designee, may cause the personal property to be removed from public property. The enforcement officer, or their designee, shall post a notice on or near the personal property so as to reasonably communicate the notice to the owner the following information:

a. The location of where the personal property was located;

b. The date and time notice was served or posted;

c. A statement that the storage of personal property violates this section;

d. An advisement that the city has impounded the personal property for at least 30 days, the location where the personal property is impounded, and that the personal property will be discarded after 30 days if not claimed.

e. The address, phone number, and operating hours of the location where the personal property will be stored and may be retrieved, and that the city will charge no fee for storage or retrieval.

f. Information about any housing or shelter and homeless services available for the owners of the personal property, the phone number and address to contact in order to obtain the housing or shelter or other health and human services;

(3) The enforcement officer, or their designee, may immediately discard, without impounding or retaining for 30 days, any items which constitute an immediate threat to the health or safety of the public or items that constitute evidence of a crime or contraband that may be seized, as permitted by law.

(e) Exceptions. The provisions of this section shall not apply in the event of a declared state of emergency, nor to any persons participating in an event subject to a permit issued in conformity with this Code, nor to camping in public accommodations that are properly zoned, legally established and designated for camping purposes.

(f) Enforcement.

(1) Any person causing, permitting, aiding, abetting, suffering or concealing a violation of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may, in the discretion of the city attorney, be prosecuted as a misdemeanor and upon conviction be subject to a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment in the city or county jail for a period of not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(2) The city attorney, in his or her sound discretion, may prosecute a violation of this section as an infraction, rather than a misdemeanor, or reduce or agree to the reduction of a previously filed misdemeanor to an infraction. Any person convicted of an infraction under this section shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100.00 for the first violation, a fine not exceeding $200.00 for a second violation within one year, and a fine not exceeding $500.00 for a third violation within one year. A fourth violation of this section within one year shall be charged as a misdemeanor and may not be reduced to an infraction.

(3) This section may be enforced by injunction issued by the superior court upon a suit brought by the city attorney.

(Ord. No. 2040, § 2, 8-13-24)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 2040, § 2, adopted August 13, 2024, in effect repealed § 53-1 and enacted a new § 53-1 as set out above and as may later be amended. Former § 53-1 pertained to definitions and derived from Ord. No. 1687, adopted July 8, 2003 and Ord. No. 1990, adopted January 11, 2022.

(a) No person shall obstruct a street, sidewalk, or other public right-of-way in any manner, including but not limited to, by sitting or lying, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:

(1) In a manner that impedes passage by reducing the width of a sidewalk to fewer than 48 inches, as provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L, No. 101-336, 104 Stat. 328 (1990), as amended from time to time;

(2) Within 20 feet of any:

a. Operational or utilizable driveway or loading dock;

b. Operational or utilizable building entrance or exit;

c. Any fire hydrant, fire plug, or other fire department connection;

(3) Within the public right-of-way in a manner that obstructs or unreasonably interferes with the use of the right-of-way for any activity for which the city has issued a permit.

(b) No person shall obstruct any portion of any street or other public right-of- way open to use by motor vehicles, or any portion of a bike lane, bike path, or other public right-of-way open to use by bicycles, by sitting or lying, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property, anywhere within the street, bike lane, bike path, or other public right-of-way.

(c) Except as limited by subsection (d), no person shall obstruct, including to sit or lie, or store, use, maintain, or place personal property, in or upon any street, sidewalk, or other public right-of-way or public property:

(1) Within 500 feet of a sensitive use. As used in this chapter, "sensitive use" means a property used as a school, day care center, public park, or public library;

(2) Within 500 feet of a tunnel, bridge, pedestrian bridge, wash, flood control channel, domestic water well or pump station, common area landscaping maintained by the city, fire station, police station, reservoir, or spreading ground;

(3) Within 500 feet of a facility that provides shelter, safe sleeping, or safe parking to homeless persons, or that serves as a homeless services navigation center;

(4) That has been posted with signage prohibiting sitting or lying, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property. In order to designate a section of street, sidewalk, or other public right-of-way or public property as prohibited under this subdivision, the city manager shall determine, based on specific documentation, that the circumstances of continued sitting or lying, or storing personal property, or otherwise obstructing the public right-of-way at that location poses a particular and ongoing threat to public health or safety.

(5) In or upon any parking area or path of travel open to the public that has been posted with signage prohibiting sitting or lying, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property and referencing this chapter.

(d) No person shall be found to be in violation of any prohibition set forth in subsection (c), unless and until either: (i) signage is posted at the designated area indicating that sitting or lying, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property is prohibited, or (ii) the person has been provided with a warning that sitting or lying, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property is prohibited in the designated area.

(e) Each and every violation of this chapter shall constitute a separate violation and shall be subject to all remedies and enforcement measures authorized by this Code.

(Ord. No. 1687 § 2, 7-8-03; Ord. No. 1780, § 4(Exh. C), 5-22-07; Ord. No. 1990, § 2, 1-11-22)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 1990, § 2, adopted January 11, 2022, amended the title of section 53-2 to read as herein set out. The former section 53-2 title pertained to sleeping in public places.

No person shall use or occupy or permit the use or occupancy of any vehicle as defined by California Vehicle Code § 670 for human habitation, including but not limited to sleeping, eating or resting in any public place within the city. For purposes of this section, "habitation" shall mean the use of a vehicle for a dwelling place, and shall not mean the use of a vehicle for amelioration of sickness or other temporary physical inabilities causing an inability to operate such a vehicle.

Exception: Vehicle habitation is permissible as provided for in section H(2)(b)-(c).

(Ord. No. 1687 § 2, 7-8-03)

No person shall willfully make or continue, or cause to be made or continued, any loud, unnecessary, and unusual noise which is greater than the level permissible for the applicable zone or which unreasonably disturbs the peace or quiet of any neighborhood or which would cause discomfort or annoyance to any reasonable person of normal sensitiveness residing in the area.

The word "unreasonably" as used herein shall include but not be limited to, consideration of the hour, place, nature, and circumstances of any loud, unnecessary, and unusual noise.

(Ord. No. 1687 § 2, 7-8-03)

No person shall be drunk or intoxicated in any public place within the city.

(Ord. No. 1687 § 2, 7-8-03)

It is unlawful for any person to obstruct the entrance or exit to any building, facility, property, or public place.

Exemptions.

(1) Any conduct which is in conformity with the terms of any permit granted pursuant to this Code;

(2) Any conduct in public places that are privately owned where such conduct is in conformity with permission granted by the owner of said premises or by the person entitled to the possession of said premises;

(3) Persons lying down due to a medical emergency.

(Ord. No. 1687 § 2, 7-8-03)

No person shall urinate or defecate in a public place or in an area on private property exposed to viewing by the public from said public places, provided that this section shall not be applicable to the act of urinating or defecating in a proper human waste disposal receptacle that is located within an enclosed and permitted restroom or bathroom.

(Ord. No. 1687 § 2, 7-8-03)

No person shall camp on any private property within the city except where otherwise permitted by the City Code or other relevant law.

Exceptions.

(1) Camping in the yard of a residence with the consent of the owner or occupant of the residence, where the camping is in the rear yard, or in an area of a side yard that is separated from view from the street by a fence, hedge or screen. In no case shall camping under this provision be permitted for more than three days during any one calendar month;

(2) Inside of a licensed and registered vehicle in a residential off-street driveway with written consent of the business owner or the owner of the residence, where the driver/occupant of such vehicle is in possession of a valid driver's license and that the vehicle is currently registered with the department of motor vehicles for the state that issued the license plates affixed thereon the vehicle, provided that no more than two vehicles shall be permitted at any one location. In no case shall camping under this provision be permitted for more than three days during any one calendar month;

(3) Camping shall not be permitted under this subsection where it violates state, county or city health, building, electrical, plumbing, fire or other codes or relevant law.

(Ord. No. 1687 § 2, 7-8-03; Ord. No. 1990, § 3, 1-11-22)

(a) Littering prohibited. No person shall place, throw, drop, sweep, track, spill, pour, discharge, deposit, or otherwise cause or permit any litter to be or remain:

(1) In or upon any public place;

(2) Upon any private property without the consent of the owner or lawful occupant; or

(3) Into any municipal separate storm sewer system facility ("MS4"), waterway, gutter, inlet, catch basin, storm drain, channel, or appurtenance.

(b) Dumping prohibited.

(1) General prohibition. No person shall place, deposit, leave, or cause to be left any solid waste, recyclables, organics, bulky item, household or business waste, construction or demolition debris, green waste, hazardous waste, e-waste, or other discarded material in or upon any public place or private property without both:

a. The owner's or lawful occupant's consent; and

b. Lawful collection arrangements with the city or its authorized hauler.

(2) Unauthorized use of receptacles.

a. No person shall deposit any household, business, construction, demolition, landscaping, or other accumulated waste into a public litter basket or similar receptacle. Public litter baskets are for incidental pedestrian waste only.

b. No person shall deposit any material into a private or shared receptacle (including commercial dumpsters, carts, or compactors) without the receptacle owner's or account holder's consent.

c. No person shall deposit materials into any receptacle in a manner that prevents closure of the lid or causes overflow, spillage, windblown displacement, or access by animals or scavengers.

d. No person shall place materials on the ground, pavement, alley, parkway, or adjacent to any receptacle, bin, cart, or enclosure in a manner that results in or risks overflow, spillage, windblown displacement, or access by animals or scavengers, unless expressly authorized in writing by the city or as part of a scheduled bulky-item pickup compliant with a program operated by the city's franchised hauler.

(c) Duty to maintain property free of litter.

(1) Commercial and residential premises. All private property within the city, including but not limited to adjacent sidewalks, parkways, landscaped areas, alleys, parking lots, loading areas, drive aisles, and all other areas visible from the public right-of-way, shall be maintained at all times free of litter, with any litter promptly abated.

(2) Containers.

a. All private property within the city shall be equipped with adequate refuse, recycling, and organics containers and, where required, enclosures, in number, size, and type sufficient for the use conducted.

b. Containers shall be serviced at a frequency sufficient to prevent overflow, leakage, spillage, odors, or windblown litter. Lids or closures shall remain closed except when actively in use.

c. Container enclosures and collection areas shall be kept clean, sanitary, and in good repair. Any spills shall be promptly cleaned and surfaces maintained to prevent tracking or stormwater conveyance of debris.

(3) Outdoor commercial. Drive-through, take-out, sidewalk vending, outdoor dining, special events, and similar operations shall:

a. Provide conveniently located, clearly visible containers for patrons;

b. Inspect and empty such containers as needed to prevent overflow and windblown litter; and

c. Conduct daily litter patrols of associated seating, parking, drive aisles, landscaping, and frontage areas, and promptly remove litter.

(d) Enforcement.

(1) Strict liability; responsible person.

a. Violations of this section are strict-liability offenses. Intent, knowledge, mistake, or negligence are not elements.

b. Violations of this section may be cited or charged against any "responsible person," as defined in section 1-20 of this Code. Each responsible person is jointly and severally liable for compliance and for all administrative penalties, civil penalties, fines, fees, and costs (including inspection, investigation, abatement, cleanup, and enforcement) imposed or incurred under this section and chapter 1, article II.

(2) Orders to abate.

a. An enforcement official may issue an order or notice requiring immediate abatement of any violation of this section, including on-scene cleanup, temporary controls, or other measures necessary to protect public health or safety.

b. Upon issuance of such order or notice, the responsible person shall immediately abate the violation or, if immediate abatement is not safely feasible, shall commence and diligently pursue abatement to completion within the time specified.

c. Failure to comply with an order or notice to abate is a separate and distinct violation for each day or portion thereof the condition remains unabated after the deadline.

(3) Misdemeanor offense. In addition to any enforcement action authorized by this Code (including but not limited to chapter 1, article II) any violation of this section is a misdemeanor, enforceable by citation issued by an enforcement official or by criminal complaint filed by the city attorney, and punishable as provided in chapter 1, article II. In the discretion of the city attorney, a violation may be charged or reduced to an infraction, whether at filing or thereafter.

(4) Continuing violations. Each day (or portion thereof) a violation continues, and each separate act in violation, constitutes a separate offense.

(5) Cumulative. The remedies and penalties in this section are cumulative, not exclusive, and are in addition to any other remedies provided by this Code, permit, franchise, contract, or applicable state or federal law.

(Ord. No. 2069, § 1, 1-13-26)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 2069, § 1, adopted January 13, 2026, set out provisions intended for use as §§ 53-15—53-17. Inasmuch as §§ 53-16 and 53-17 already exist, these provisions have been included as § 53-9, as set out above and as may later be amended, at the editor's discretion.

Editor's note— Ord. No. 1990, § 4, adopted January 11, 2022, repealed former § 53-9 which pertained to storage of personal property in public places and derived from Ord. No. 1687, adopted July 8, 2003.

(a) Purpose and intent. This section shall be known as the prohibition of unsanctioned transport of homeless persons ordinance. The purposes of this section are to:

(1) Help preserve the city's limited homelessness-related resources (including shelter and outreach) for the benefit of individuals residing in the city;

(2) Encourage the appropriate government agencies to provide shelter, care, outreach, and other homelessness-related resources to the persons experiencing homelessness within their jurisdictions, rather than simply just transporting these individuals to the city; and

(3) Prevent government agencies from engaging in cruel and inhumane treatment of unhoused individuals.

(b) Prohibition.

(1) No person shall transport and drop-off an individual on public property, or private property that is accessible to the public, within the city, when the person being transported and dropped-off lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.

(2) A person "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence" within the meaning of subdivision (a) above when that person:

a. Has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not meant for habitation; or

b. Lives in a publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including congregate shelters, transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, state, and local government programs); or

c. Is exiting an institution where they have resided for 90 days or less and who resided in an emergency shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that institution.

(3) The prohibition contained in subsection (b)(1) above shall not be interpreted to prohibit the following authorized activities:

a. Transporting a person to be booked into a county jail or admitted to a county-designated custody alternative facility (e.g. a county-designated sobering center);

b. Transporting a person to be treated at a hospital or other medical facility;

c. Transporting a person to reside at a shelter, temporary housing, or permanent housing, when the officer, agent, or employee has independently verified that the individual being transported has already been accepted to reside at the facility;

d. Transporting a person to attend a verified appointment with a governmental or non-profit social service provider;

e. Transporting a person to attend a verified hearing at the county superior court;

f. Any transportation or drop-off activities undertaken by the city within the city; or

g. The operations of a governmental provider of public transportation, such as the Riverside Transit Agency.

(c) Penalty. Any person causing, permitting, aiding, abetting, suffering or concealing a violation of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may, in the discretion of the city attorney, be prosecuted as a misdemeanor and upon conviction be subject to a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment in the city or county jail for a period of not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. The city attorney, in his or her sound discretion, may prosecute a violation of this section as an infraction, rather than a misdemeanor, or reduce or agree to the reduction of a previously filed misdemeanor to an infraction. Any person convicted of an infraction under this Code shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100.00 for the first violation, a fine not exceeding $200.00 for a second violation within one year, and a fine not exceeding $500.00 for a third violation within one year. A fourth violation of this section within one year shall be charged as a misdemeanor and may not be reduced to an infraction.

(Ord. No. 2045, § 2, 10-22-24)