La Palma Municipal Code Art. VI Camping and Storage of Personal Property

Public areas within the City should be accessible and available to residents and the public at large for their intended uses. The unauthorized use of public areas for camping and the storage of personal property interferes with the rights of other members of the public to use public areas for their intended purposes and can create a public health or safety hazard that adversely affects residential and commercial areas. The purpose of this chapter is to maintain public areas in clean, sanitary and accessible condition to prevent the misappropriation of public areas for personal use, and to promote the public health and safety by ensuring that public areas remain readily accessible for their intended uses.

(Ord. No. 2020-04, § 1, 10-6-2020)

The following terms used in this chapter shall have the meanings indicated below:

Camp or camping means to pitch or occupy camp facilities and/or to use camp paraphernalia for living accommodation or habitation purposes.

Camp facilities include, but are not limited to, tents, huts, or temporary shelters.

Camp paraphernalia includes, but is not limited to, tarpaulins, cots, beds, sleeping bags, hammocks, or non-City designated cooking facilities and similar equipment.

City means the City of La Palma, a municipal corporation of the State of California, in its present incorporated form or in any later reorganized, consolidated, enlarged or re-incorporated form.

Highway means a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.

Parkway means the area of the street between the back of the curb and the sidewalk that typically is planted and landscaped.

Personal property means any and all tangible property, and includes, but is not limited to, goods, materials, merchandise, tents, tarpaulins, bedding, sleeping bags, hammocks, personal items such as luggage, backpacks, clothing, and household items.

Public area means all property that is owned, managed or maintained by a public entity, and shall include, but not be limited to any public street, building, grounds, lot, parcel, park, plaza or parking lot dedicated to the authorized use and enjoyment of the public.

Public street means and includes but is not limited to any street, road, highway, alley, sidewalk, parkway, bridge, culvert, drain, and all other facilities or areas necessary for the construction, improvement, and maintenance of streets and roads.

Roadway means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.

Sidewalk means that portion of the public right-of-way provided for the primary use of pedestrians along or adjacent to a street.

Store or storing means to put aside or accumulate for use when needed, to put for safekeeping, and/or to place or leave in a location; which does not include any personal property that clearly has been abandoned or discarded and which clearly has no value.

Tent means any tarp, cover, structure or shelter, made of any material that is not open on all sides and which hinders an unobstructed view behind or into the area surrounded by the tarp, cover, structure or shelter.

(Ord. No. 2020-04, § 1, 10-6-2020; Ord. No. 2022-09, § 4, 10-4-2022)

It shall be unlawful for any person to camp, erect or occupy camp facilities or use camp paraphernalia in any public area within the City, except as otherwise provided in Section 28-129, as may be permitted under Section 30-2, or as mandated by applicable law.

(Ord. No. 2020-04, § 1, 10-6-2020)

It shall be unlawful for any person to store personal property, including camp facilities and camp paraphernalia, in any public area within the City, except as otherwise provided in Section 28-129, as may be permitted under Section 30-2, or as mandated by applicable law.

(Ord. No. 2020-04, § 1, 10-6-2020)

(a) This chapter shall not apply to any person camping, occupying camp facilities or using camp paraphernalia, or to any person storing personal property, including camp facilities and camp paraphernalia, in any public area designated by the City for such purposes. The City Council may, by resolution or ordinance, establish one or more specified areas of public property for such purposes.

(b) Absent exigent circumstances relating to immediate threats to the public health, safety, or welfare, the provisions of this chapter will not be enforced against indigent homeless persons sitting, lying, or sleeping on public property when no alternative shelter is available in accordance with the holding in Martin v. City of Boise (9th Cir. 2018) 902 F.3d 1031. This exception in this subsection is only valid during the timeframe that the case of Martin v. City of Boise (9th Cir. 2018) 902 F.3d 1031 is applicable law within the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit.

(Ord. No. 2020-04, § 1, 10-6-2020)

In addition to any other remedy available to the City, any violation of this chapter may be prosecuted as a misdemeanor, pursuant to Section 2-322 of this Code.

(Ord. No. 2020-04, § 1, 10-6-2020)