Laguna Woods Municipal Code Ch. 7.10 Peace Disturbances in Residential Areas During Sleep Hours

(a) The City Council finds that the Police Department responds to numerous disturbances in residential areas during normal sleeping hours involving unreasonably loud, raucous or jarring noises and/or conduct constituting disturbing the peace or unlawful assembly in violation of the Penal Code. The City Council further finds that such disturbances are extremely disruptive to the peace and quiet of residential neighborhoods and often constitute an immediate and significant threat and detriment to the public health, welfare and safety.

(b) The City Council finds that the Police Department often is required to respond a second or third time in the same night to a disturbance at the same location because the officer's directions to cease the disturbance go unheeded. The necessity for repeated responses to the same disturbance creates a serious drain on available law enforcement manpower, leaving police personnel unavailable to perform other duties and, therefore, creates a significant threat and detriment to public health, welfare and safety.

(c) It is the intent of the City Council, in enacting this chapter, to enhance the Police Department's ability to abate disturbances which constitute public nuisances and which are immediate threats to public health or safety without making repeated responses to the scene of the same disturbance.

(d) It is further the intent of the City Council, in enacting this chapter, to enable the City to recover the excessive costs it incurs when repeated responses to the same disturbance constituting a public nuisance are necessary to abate it.

(e) It is further the intent of the City Council, in enacting this chapter, to provide the Police Department with a procedure for quelling disturbances in residential areas during normal sleeping hours by means less drastic than resort to criminal process.

(OCC § 3-15-1)

(a) The procedures set forth in this chapter for summary abatement of nuisances, and for making the costs of such abatement up to $500.00 a special assessment against the parcel on which the nuisance existed, are adopted pursuant to Government Code § 38773.5 and Article XI, Section 7 of the California Constitution.

(b) The procedures set forth in this chapter are not exclusive and are in addition to the procedures for abatement which are conferred upon the City by Civil Code § 3494, Code of Civil Procedure § 731 and any other applicable provision of law.

(OCC § 3-15-2)

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

(05) Residence means a structure providing complete independent living facilities for one or more persons including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.

(10) Residential area means any area within 300 feet of any single-family or multi-family residence, other than commercial hotels, motels and similar establishments for temporary lodging, measured by a straight line between the closest structural wall of the residence and the location of the behavior described in Section 7.10.040(1) or the source of the noise described in Section 7.10.040(2).

(OCC § 3-15-3)

The following acts or conditions are hereby declared to be public nuisances:

(1) Behavior constituting violation of Penal Code § 407 or 415 in a residential area between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.; or

(2) Noise that is unreasonably loud, raucous or jarring to persons within the area of audibility in a residential area between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

(OCC § 3-15-4)

The following acts or conditions are exempt from the provisions of this chapter:

(1) Activities conducted on the grounds of any public or private nursery, elementary, intermediate or secondary school or college;

(2) Outdoor gatherings, public dances and shows, provided said events are conducted pursuant to a license issued by the City pursuant to Title 6 of this Code;

(3) Any mechanical device, apparatus or equipment used, related to or connected with emergency machinery, vehicles or work;

(4) All mechanical devices, apparatus or equipment which are utilized for the protection or salvage of agricultural crops during periods of potential or actual frost damage or other adverse weather conditions;

(5) Any activity or noise for which the City Council has granted a variance pursuant to Sections 7.08.130 or 7.08.140 of this Code;

(6) Any activity to the extent regulation thereof has been preempted by State or Federal law.

(7) Any activity or noise for which a variance had been granted pursuant to Section 3-15-5 of the Codified Ordinances of the County of Orange prior to the County ordinance from which this chapter is derived having become a City ordinance.

(OCC § 3-15-5)

(a) Any person who owns, leases or otherwise controls property on which said person knows a nuisance as defined in Section 7.10.040 exists and who fails to take immediate and reasonable steps to abate said nuisance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(b) Any person who creates a nuisance as defined in Subsection 7.10.040(2) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(c) Each person shall be guilty of a separate offense for each and every period between 10:00 p.m. of one day and 7:00 a.m. of the following day during any portion of which any violation of this section is committed or continued by such person and shall be punishable accordingly.

(d) The term "person" as used in this section includes corporations, partnerships and any other entity which owns, leases or controls property.

(OCC § 3-15-6)

The Chief of Police Services and the Police Department are directed to enforce the provisions of this chapter.

(1) Criminal process. The Chief of Police Services and the Police Department are authorized, pursuant to Penal Code § 836.5, to arrest any person without a warrant when they have reasonable cause to believe that such person has committed a misdemeanor in their presence.

(2) Summary abatement of public nuisances.

a. First response/determination of nuisance. On the first response to a disturbance in a residential area between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., the Police Department shall determine whether the disturbance constitutes a public nuisance as defined in this chapter and if said public nuisance constitutes an immediate threat to public health or safety. If the Police Department determines that the disturbance constitutes a public nuisance and an immediate threat to public health or safety, the Police Department, as an alternative to immediate arrest of the persons responsible for the nuisance, may proceed as set forth in this subsection.

b. First notice. The Police Department shall advise the persons creating the disturbance, the occupant of the property where the disturbance is located, and the owner of the property if he is present that:

1. The disturbance violates this chapter;

2. Unless they voluntarily stop the disturbance, the Police Department will be required to take appropriate action to stop it, including arrest or citation of those violating the law; and

3. If the Police Department is required to expend additional man hours and/or use equipment after the first response to stop the disturbance, the owner and the occupant of the property may be charged the costs of such additional Police Department man hours and equipment, up to $500.00.

c. Second and subsequent responses. If, after giving the first notice, the Police Department receives any additional complaints about a disturbance at the same location prior to 7:00 a.m. on the date specified in the first notice, the Police Department shall respond again to the location of the disturbance. If the Police Department determines that the disturbance continues to constitute a public nuisance as described in this chapter and an immediate threat to public health or safety, the Police Department shall take appropriate actions to immediately abate the nuisance, including arrest and/or citation of persons violating the law. Said notice shall be given to the occupant of the property and to the owner if he is present in written form substantially as follows:

NOTICE

FIRST RESPONSE-DISTURBANCE IN RESIDENTIAL AREA DURING SLEEPING HOURS

This NOTICE OF VIOLATION given to (Name)__________________________ (DOB)________________________ at (Location)______________________ (Phone Number)_______________ on (Date)_______ at (Time)_______ is the result of a disturbance in a residential area between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in violation of Chapter 7.10 of the Laguna Woods Municipal Code/California Penal Code § 407/California Penal Code § 415 (delete inapplicable provision(s)).

If it is necessary for the Police Department to respond a second or subsequent time to stop a disturbance at this location prior to 7:00 a.m. on (Date)_________ (either the next day or the same day, depending on time of the first response), the Owner of the property and the occupant of the property may be charged for all personnel and equipment costs incurred in such second and subsequent responses, up to $500.00, and all violators of statutes or ordinances will be subject to arrest and/or citation.

_____

(Signature of party to whom notice given)

_____

(Signature of Deputy)

d. Nuisance remedy not exclusive. Nothing herein shall affect the authority of the Chief of Police Services and the Police Department to make lawful arrests at any time, including on the first response to a disturbance constituting a nuisance as defined in this chapter.

(OCC § 3-15-7)

(a) The Chief of Police Services shall keep an itemized account of the costs involved in abating a nuisance as described in this chapter. The Chief of Police Services shall mail by certified mail, return receipt requested to the owner and the occupant of the property on which the nuisance was located a statement showing the costs of the abatement and an invoice demanding payment to the City of said costs or $500.00 whichever is less.

(b) The statement shall be accompanied by a notice to the owner and occupant that the amount set forth in the invoice may be protested as set forth in Section 7.10.090. If the amount set forth in the invoice is not protested within ten calendar days after service, it shall be deemed final, due and payable.

(OCC § 3-15-8)

(a) The owner or occupant may protest payment of the amount set forth in the invoice by making a written request to the Chief of Police Services, within ten calendar days of service of the statement of costs and invoice described in Section 7.10.080, for a hearing before a hearing officer. Upon receipt of such a request, the Chief of Police Services shall schedule a hearing upon at least ten calendar days notice to the owner and occupant. Said notice of the hearing shall be personally served if possible. If personal service is not possible, the notice of hearing shall be served by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner of the property as shown on the latest equalized assessment roll and to the occupant of the property at the address of the property.

(b) At the time fixed for the hearing, the hearing officer shall consider the statement of costs of abatement and the protest and objections raised by the protesting party or parties and shall hear the testimony of all competent persons, subject to reasonable limitations of cumulative testimony and other procedures as set forth in Section 7.10.160, desiring to testify respecting the cost of abating the nuisance and any other matter which may be pertinent.

(c) The hearing officer may revise, correct or modify the invoice as he considers just and thereafter shall confirm the invoice. The hearing officer shall excuse the owner or the occupant of the property from payment of the amount set forth in the invoice if the hearing officer determines that the owner or occupant was not in possession of the property at the time of the disturbance or could not reasonably have prevented the disturbance, unless the person responsible for the disturbance was the minor child of the owner or occupant of the property. The hearing officer shall excuse the owner or occupant of the property from payment of the amount set forth in the invoice if the hearing officer determines that the owner or occupant took reasonable steps to stop the disturbance following the first response by the Police Department thereto.

(d) The decision of the hearing officer shall be in writing and shall be served by certified mail return receipt requested on the owner and occupant of the property. The decision shall be final upon mailing.

(OCC § 3-15-9)

If the owner of the property does not pay the amount set forth in the invoice within 30 calendar days after the invoice becomes final or the hearing officer confirms the invoice or after the invoice has been confirmed by the Planning Commission or the City Council, if appealed, the City Council shall order that the amount set forth in the invoice shall become a special assessment against the property on which the nuisance was abated and that a notice of lien shall be filed. Notice, by certified mail, shall be given at the time of imposing the assessment to the property owner, if the property owner's identity can be determined from the County Assessor's or County Recorder's records and shall specify that the property may be sold after three years by the Tax Collector for unpaid delinquent assessments. The assessment shall continue until it is paid, together with interest at the rate of seven percent per year computed from the date of confirmation of the invoice until payment. The assessment may be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary municipal taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedures and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary taxes. All acts applicable to levy, collection and enforcement of property taxes shall apply to this special assessment.

(OCC § 3-15-10)

In the event of an assessment pursuant to Section 7.10.100, the City Council shall file in the office of the County Recorder a notice in substantially the following form:

"Under the authority of California Government Code § 38773.5, the City of Laguna Woods did on_______________, 20_____, abate a nuisance upon the real property hereafter described and then on_______________, 20_____, did assess the cost of the abatement not to exceed $500.00 upon the real property. The record owner of such property was________________________________________ _____________________________________(name and address). The City claims a special assessment on the real property for the costs of abatement in the amount of $________. This amount is a special assessment against the real property until it is paid, with interest at the rate of seven percent per year from______________, 20__ (insert date of confirmation of invoice), and discharged of record. The real property referred to above, and upon which the special assessment is claimed is that certain parcel of land situated within the City of Laguna Woods, County of Orange, State of California, more particularly described as follows: _____

_____ .

(OCC § 3-15-11)

If the owner of the property is not the occupant of the property, and if the occupant of the property does not pay the amount set forth in the invoice within 30 calendar days after the invoice becomes final or the hearing officer confirms the invoice or after the invoice has been confirmed by the Planning Commission or the City Council, if appealed, the Auditor shall take appropriate steps to collect the amount set forth in the invoice from the occupant of the property, including causing a lawsuit to be filed on behalf of the City against the occupant for the amount set forth in the invoice.

(OCC § 3-15-12)

If the owner and occupant of the property are different persons, they shall be jointly and severally liable for the amount set forth in the invoice.

(OCC § 3-15-13)

(a) The City Council shall constitute the Board of Appeals for any decision of the hearing officer. The decision of the Board of Appeals is final.

(b) Any decision of the hearing officer may be appealed to the Board of Appeals by the owner or occupant of the property or by any member of the City Council. Notice of the appeal shall be filed with the City Clerk within ten days after the decision becomes final. Late notices of appeal will not be considered. Hearings on appeal shall be limited to those issues raised in the notice of appeal. The Chief of Police Services shall give notice of the hearing on the appeal in the manner and to the persons described in Section 7.10.090 not less than ten calendar days prior thereto.

(c) The filing of a timely notice of appeal shall stay any further proceedings under the determination appealed from until the Board of Appeals has made its determination.

(d) The Board of Appeals may uphold, reverse or modify any determination appealed. The decision of the Board of Appeals shall become final upon service thereof by registered mail upon those persons described in Section 7.10.090.

(OCC § 3-15-14)

A hearing officer shall be appointed by the City Council to conduct hearings pursuant to this chapter as necessary.

(OCC § 3-15-15)

The rules of evidence set forth in this Code shall apply to hearings conducted pursuant to this chapter, and the Chief of Police Services, the hearing officer, the Planning Commission, and the owner or occupant of the property may request the City Council to issue subpoenas as set forth therein.

(OCC § 3-15-16)