Huntington Beach Municipal Code Art. VIII Miscellaneous

Elective officers and elective officers whose offices are made appointive of the City shall continue to hold such offices until the completion of their current terms and the election or appointment and qualification of their respective successors under this Charter. All boards, commissions and committees presently in existence shall continue to act in accordance with their original grant of authority until such time as the City Council adopts appropriate ordinances pertaining to their activities or for one year, whichever occurs first. All lawful ordinances, resolutions, rules and regulations, and portions thereof, in force at the time this Charter takes effect and not in conflict or inconsistent herewith, are hereby continued in force until the same shall have been duly repealed, amended, changed or superseded by proper authority.

Unless the provisions or the context otherwise requires, as used in this Charter:

(a) "Shall" is mandatory, and "may" is permissive.

(b) "City" is the City of Huntington Beach and "department," "board," "commission," "agency," "officer," or "employee" is a department, board, commission, agency, officer or employee, as the case may be, of the City of Huntington Beach.

(c) "County" is the County of Orange.

(d) "State" is the State of California.

(e) The masculine includes the feminine and the feminine includes the masculine.

(f) The singular includes the plural and the plural the singular.

(g) "Person" includes firm and corporation.

The violation of any provision of this Charter shall be a misdemeanor.

(a) The City shall not enact or enforce any measure which mandates the price or other consideration payable to the owner in connection with the sale, lease, rent, exchange or other transfer by the owner of real property. Any such measure is hereby repealed.

(b) The word "mandates" as used in subsection (a) includes any measure taken by ordinance, resolution, administrative regulation or other action of the City to establish, continue, implement or enforce any control or system of controls on the price or other terms on which real property in the city may be offered, sold, leased, rented, exchanged or otherwise transferred by its owner. The words "real property" as used in subsection (a) refer to any parcel of land or site, either improved or unimproved, on which a dwelling unit or residential accommodation is or may be situated for use as a home, residence or sleeping place.

(c) This Section 803 shall not apply to:

(1) any real property which contains serious health, safety, fire or building code violations, excluding those caused by disasters, for which a civil or criminal citation has been issued by the City and remains unabated for six months or longer;

(2) any real property owned by a public entity, and real property where the owner has agreed by contract with the public entity, including the City and any of its related agencies, to accept a financial contribution or other tangible benefit including without limitation, assistance under the Community Redevelopment Law;

(3) any planning or zoning power of the City as relates to the use, occupancy or improvement of real property and to any real property which the City or any of its related agencies may acquire by eminent domain, purchase, grant or donation;

(4) any power of the City to require a business license for the sale or rental of real property, whether for regulation or general revenue purposes;

(5) any dwelling unit or accommodation in any hotel, motel or other facility when the transient occupancy of that dwelling unit or accommodation is subject to a transient occupancy tax; or

(6) to impair the obligation of any contract entered into prior to the enactment of this Section 803 or otherwise required by State law.

The City Council shall determine if there is a need to convene a citizen's Charter Review Commission to conduct a review of the City Charter no less frequently than every ten years.

It shall be lawful to possess, sell, display, use or discharge within the City, those fireworks that are defined and classified as Safe and Sane Fireworks (a.k.a. "state-approved fireworks") in the California State Fireworks Law (sections 12500 et seq. of the Health and Safety Code and the relevant sections of Code of Regulations Title 19, Subchapter 6) subject to regulation by City Council.

Except as otherwise provided herein, the City shall only fly or display at or on any of the City's properties the following flags: the American flag, the POW/MIA flag, the State of California flag, the Huntington Beach City flag, the County of Orange flag, or any of the flags of the six branches of service: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Space Force. During the Summer Olympic Games, the Mayor is authorized to order the display of the official Olympic flags for four weeks prior to the dates of the games, and for up to two weeks thereafter. The City may display any other flag in addition to those already enumerated, but only if authorized by a unanimous vote of all members of the City Council.

No City initiated general plan amendment or zoning change may be approved by the City where the related environmental review (EIR) finds the same proposed general plan update or zoning change presents significant and unavoidable negative impacts to the environment, without first receiving approval by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the electors voting on such proposition at a general or special election at which such proposition is submitted. City Planning and Zoning is a local, municipal affair, beyond the reach of State control or interference, a local activity reserved for the City and its people, not the State.

Municipal Code