La Palma Municipal Code Ch. 1 General Provisions

Footnotes:

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State Law reference— Local government generally, Const. of Cal., art. XI, § 1 et seq.

The ordinances embraced in the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated "The Code of the City of La Palma, California," and may be so cited. This Code may also be cited as the "La Palma City Code" or as the "City Code".

(Code 1975, § 1-1)

State Law reference— Authority of City to recodify code of ordinances, Government Code § 50022.10.

In the construction of this Code and of all ordinances of the City, the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the City Council or the context clearly requires otherwise:

(1) Generally. All general provisions, terms, phrases and expressions contained in this Code shall be liberally construed in order that the true intent and meaning of the City Council may be fully carried out. In the interpretation and application of any provisions of this Code, they shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience, and general welfare. Where any provision of the Code imposes greater restrictions upon the subject matter than another more general provision imposed by the Code or other law, the provision imposing the greater restriction or regulation shall be controlling.

(2) California Codes. Any reference to the codified statutes of the State, including but not limited to Business and Professions Code, Civil Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Commercial Code, Corporations Code, Education Code, Elections Code, Evidence Code, Family Code, Financial Code, Fish and Game Code, Food and Agricultural Code, Government Code, Harbors and Navigation Code, Health and Safety Code, Insurance Code, Labor Code, Military and Veterans Code, Penal Code, Probate Code, Public Contract Code, Public Resources Code, Public Utilities Code, Revenue and Taxation Code, Streets and Highways Code, Unemployment Insurance Code, Vehicle Code, Water Code, or Welfare and Institutions Code, are to such codes as adopted and now or hereafter amended. Any reference to a State law or State act by title is to such law or act as amended.

City. The term "the City" or "this City" shall be construed as if followed by the words "of La Palma, California."

Code. The term "Code" or "City Code" means "The Code of the City of La Palma, California" or the "La Palma City Code."

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 50022.1.

Computation of time. The time in which any act provided by law is to be done is computed by excluding the first day and including the last, unless the last day is a holiday, and then it is also excluded.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code §§ 6707, 6800.

Conjunctions. In a provision involving two or more items, conditions, provisions, or events, which items, conditions, provisions, or events are connected by the conjunction "and," "or" or "either . . . or," the conjunction shall be interpreted as follows, except that in appropriate cases the terms "or" and "and" are interchangeable:

(1) "And" indicates that all the connected terms, conditions, provisions, or events apply.

(2) "Or" indicates that the connected terms, conditions, provisions, or events apply singly or in any combination.

(3) "Either. . . or" indicates that the connected terms, conditions, provisions, or events apply singly but not in combination.

Council orCity Council. The term "Council" or "City Council" means the City Council of the City of La Palma.

County. The term "County" means Orange County, California.

Day. The term "day" means the period of time between any midnight and the midnight following.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 6806.

Daytime, nighttime. The term "daytime" means the period of time between sunrise and sunset. "Nighttime" is the period of time between sunset and sunrise.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 6807.

Gender. The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 12.

Goods. The term "goods" includes wares or merchandise.

Includes orincluded. The term "includes" or "included" means "includes" without excluding other items.

Joint authority. All words giving a joint authority to three or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.

Month. The term "month" means a calendar month.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 6804.

Must. The term "must" is to be construed as being mandatory.

Number. The singular number includes the plural, and the plural includes the singular.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 13.

Oath. The term "oath" includes affirmation.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 15.

Officers, departments, etc. Officers, departments, boards, commissions, and employees referred to shall mean officers, departments, boards, commissions and employees of the City of La Palma, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Official time. Whenever certain hours are named in this Code, they shall mean Pacific Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time, as may be in current use in the City.

Operate. The term "operate" includes carry on, keep, conduct, or maintain.

Owner. The term "owner," applied to a building or land, includes any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant, or tenant by the entirety of the whole or of a part of such building or land.

Person. The term "person" includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, or company.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 17, Civil Code § 17.

Personal property. The term "personal property" means and includes every species of property, except real property, as herein defined.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Civil Code §§ 14, 663.

Preceding, following. The terms "preceding" and "following" mean next before and next after, respectively.

Process. The term "process" means and includes a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings of either a civil or criminal nature.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 22.

Property. The term "property" means and includes real and personal property.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Civil Code § 14, Code of Civil Procedure § 481.195, Government Code § 180.

Real property. The term "real property" means and includes lands, tenements, and hereditaments.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Civil Code §§ 14, 658.

Sale. The term "sale" means and includes any sale, exchange, barter, or offer for sale.

Shall, may. The term "shall" is mandatory and the term "may" is permissive.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 14.

Signature or subscription by mark. The term "signature" or "subscription by mark" means and includes a mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer's or subscriber' s name being written near the mark by a witness who writes his or her own name near the signer's or subscriber's name; but a signature or subscription by mark can be acknowledged or can serve as a signature or subscription to a sworn statement only when two witnesses so sign their own names thereto.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 16.

State. The term "State" means the State of California.

Street. The term "street" means and includes all public ways, alleys, lanes, courts, and sidewalks and those parts of public squares and places which form traveled parts of highways.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Vehicle Code § 590.

Tenant oroccupant. The term "tenant" or "occupant," applied to a building or land, includes any person holding a written or an oral lease of or who occupies, the whole or a part of such building or land, either alone or with others.

Tenses. The present tense includes the past and future tenses, and the future includes the present.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 11.

Week. The term "week" means seven consecutive days.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 6805.

Writing. The term "writing" means and includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, statement, or record is required or authorized by this Code, it shall be made in writing in the English language unless it is expressly provided otherwise.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 8.

Year. The term "year" means a period of 365 days.

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 6803.

(Code 1975, § 1-2; Ord. No. 19, § 1)

The provisions appearing in this Code, so far as they are the same in substance as those of ordinances existing at the time of the effective date of this Code, shall be considered as continuations thereof and not as new enactments.

(Code 1975, § 1-3)

(a) The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinance in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.

(b) The repeal of an ordinance shall not affect any punishment or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, nor any suit, prosecution, or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal, for any offense committed under the ordinance repealed.

(c) This section shall extend to all repeals, either by express words or implication, whether the repeal is in the ordinance making any new sections upon the same subject or in any other ordinance.

(Code 1975, § 1-4)

It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, and phrases of this Code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, division, article, or section of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid by the valid judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and sections of this Code.

(Code 1975, § 1-5)

State Law reference— Similar provision, Government Code § 23.

The headings of the several sections of this Code are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the section, and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such sections, nor as any part of the section, nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including the headings, are amended or reenacted.

(Code 1975, § 1-6)

Whenever a notice is required to be given under this Code, unless different provisions herein are otherwise specifically made, such notice may be given pursuant to applicable provisions of State law.

(Code 1975, § 1-9; Ord. No. 19, § 1)

(a) Each bill which proposes an ordinance to repeal, amend, or add to any portion of this Code and each bill which proposes an ordinance of a general and permanent nature suitable for inclusion in this Code, though constituting new subject matter not therein contained, shall be drafted so as to specify the specific section numbers, subsections, etc., of this Code which are to be repealed or amended and, with respect to additions and to new subject matter, so as to provide appropriate chapter, article, section, etc., numbers therefor and each amendment of and addition to this Code shall be set out in full and appropriate chapter and article headings and section headings shall be included.

(b) Upon the adoption of an ordinance to repeal, amend, or add to any portion of this Code or to include new subject matter in this Code, the City Clerk shall separate the several chapters, articles, sections, etc., of such ordinance and enter them in their proper places in each file copy of this Code and shall remove therefrom any portion so repealed or amended and in the margin of each insertion in the file copies of this Code he or she shall note and initial the date of passage, effective date, and number of the amending or repealing ordinance.

(c) Items removed from the file copies of this Code pursuant to subsection (b) of this section shall be maintained by the City Clerk in a reasonably accessible manner. The volume in which such repealed and amended items are to be included shall be known as the "Record of Repealed and Amended Portions of the Code of La Palma, California," the purpose of which is to enable the City Council and other persons interested to ascertain the statutes of this Code at any given time in the past.

(Code 1975, § 1-10)

All references to chapters or sections are to the chapters and sections of this Code, unless otherwise specified.

The history notes appearing in parentheses after sections of this Code are not intended to have any legal effect, but are merely intended to indicate the source of matter contained in the section.

References and editor's notes following certain sections are inserted as an aid and guide to the reader and are not controlling or meant to have any legal effect.

(a) By contract or by City personnel, supplements to this Code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the City. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive permanent and general parts of ordinances passed by the City Council or adopted by initiative and referendum during the period covered by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the Code during that period. The pages of a supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into the Code and will, where necessary, replace pages that have become obsolete or partially obsolete, and the new pages shall be so prepared that, when they have been inserted, the Code will be current through the date of the adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.

(b) In preparing a supplement to this Code, all portions of the Code that have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code by the omission thereof from reprinted pages.

(c) When preparing a supplement to this Code, the codifier, meaning the person, agency or organization authorized to prepare the supplement, may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances included in the supplement, insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody them into a unified Code. For example, the codifier may:

(1) Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions;

(2) Provide appropriate section headings and titles for sections and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement and make changes in section headings, titles for sections and headings for other subdivisions of the Code;

(3) Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material, change existing section or other subdivision numbers;

(4) Change the term "this ordinance" or terms of the same meaning to "this chapter," "this article," "this division," etc., as the case may be, or to "sections _____ through _____." The inserted section numbers will indicate the sections of the Code which embody the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated into the Code; and

(5) Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of ordinance sections inserted into the Code; but in no case shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance material included in the supplement or already embodied in the Code.

It shall be unlawful for any person in the City to change or amend by additions or deletions, any part or portion of this Code or to insert or delete pages, or portions thereof, or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever except pursuant to ordinance or other official act of the City Council which will cause the law of the City to be misrepresented thereby. Any person violating this section shall be punished as provided in sections 2-350 through 2-352.

(a) Unless otherwise provided for, all rates, charges, or fees necessary for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this Code shall be as currently established or as hereafter adopted by motion, resolution or ordinance of the City Council, from time to time. Any rates, charges, or fees established by the City pursuant to the regulations or requirements established herein may be changed from time to time by the City Council, and such changes shall both be considered an amendment to this Code.

(b) Whenever any provision of this Code provides that a rate, charge, or fee shall be established by the City Council, from time to time, and the amount of such rate, charge, or fee is not expressed in this Code in any dollar amount, then the amount of such rate, charge, or fee shall be the most recent and latest amount established, set or fixed by the City Council by ordinance, resolution, or motion.

(a) Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall be construed to repeal or otherwise affect the validity of any of the following:

(1) Any offense or act committed or done or any penalty or forfeiture incurred or any contract or right established or accruing before the effective date of this Code;

(2) Any ordinance or resolution promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the City or authorizing the issuance of any bonds of the City or any evidence of the City's indebtedness;

(3) Any contract or obligation assumed by the City;

(4) Any ordinance or resolution fixing the salary of any City officer or employee, unless superseded;

(5) Any ordinance or resolution establishing and prescribing employment and personnel policies and procedures;

(6) Any right of franchise granted by the City to any person, firm, or corporation;

(7) Any ordinance or resolution dedicating, naming, establishing, locating, relocating, closing, opening, paving, widening, vacating, etc., any street or public way in the City;

(8) Any ordinance or resolution establishing and prescribing the street grades of any street in the City;

(9) Any appropriation ordinance;

(10) Any ordinance or resolution which, by its own terms, is effective for a stated or limited term;

(11) Any ordinance or resolution providing for local improvements and assessing taxes therefor;

(12) Any zoning ordinance or amendments thereto, and any ordinance establishing a board of zoning appeals or planning commission, including joint commissions;

(13) Any ordinance or resolution dedicating or accepting any subdivision plat or providing for subdivision regulations;

(14) Any ordinance or resolution describing or altering the boundaries of the City or annexing property to the City;

(15) The administrative ordinances or resolutions of the City not in conflict or inconsistent with the provisions of this Code;

(16) Any ordinance levying or imposing taxes not included in this Code;

(17) Any ordinance or regulation prescribing traffic regulations for specific locations concerning through streets, parking limitations, parking prohibitions, one-way traffic, limitations on loads of vehicles or loading zones, not in conflict or inconsistent with this Code;

(18) Any ordinance or resolution of agreement with another political subdivision; and

(19) Any other ordinance or resolution, or part thereof, which is not of a general and permanent nature; or which is referred to elsewhere in this Code as continuing in effect.

(b) Nor shall the repeal of any such ordinance or resolution be construed to revive any ordinance, resolution or part thereof that has been repealed or superseded by a subsequent ordinance or resolution which is repealed or superseded by this chapter. All such ordinances are hereby recognized as continuing in full force and effect to the same extent as if set out at length in this Code.