Los Angeles Municipal Code Art. 5 Maintenance and Repair of Hazardous Private Streets

(Added by Ord. No. 141,406, Eff. 1/6/71.)

Section 65.00 Maintenance of Private Streets. 65.01 Repair of Private Streets – Declaration of Purpose. 65.02 Definitions. 65.03 Hazardous Private Street Defined. 65.04 Hazardous Private Street – Nuisance. 65.05 Order to Repair – Persons Entitled to Copy. 65.06 Order to Repair – Service. 65.07 Order to Repair to Be Posted. 65.08 Order to Repair – Form And Content. 65.09 Director May Order The Summary Closure or Closing of a Hazardous Private Street. 65.10 Appeal From Order. 65.11 Order of The Board. 65.12 Violations – Penalties For Removing Any Notice or Order. 65.13 Failure to Comply With Order – Bureau of Street Maintenance May Repair Private Streets. 65.14 Failure to Comply With Order – Owner Loses Right to Repair After Department of Public Works Has Begun Work. 65.16 Collection of Cost of Repair. 65.18 Interference Prohibited.

All private streets shall be maintained by persons having ownership thereof and by the owners of property contiguous or adjacent thereto in such a manner that adequate access by vehicular traffic is provided at all times so that fire, police, health and sanitation, and public utility vehicles can serve the properties contiguous or adjacent thereto, and so that said vehicles will have adequate turning areas.

It is the purpose of the provisions of this article to provide equitable and practicable methods, to be cumulative with and in addition to any other remedy available at law, whereby private streets located within the City of Los Angeles, which are a menace to the life, limb, health, property safety and general welfare of the people of the city, may be required to be repaired.

For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases are defined as follows:

“Director” shall mean the Director of the Bureau of Street Maintenance

“Private Street” shall mean a parcel of land not dedicated as a public street over which a private easement for road purposes has been granted to the owners of property contiguous or adjacent thereto which intersects or connects with a public street or another private street, and the instrument creating same has been duly recorded or filed in the office of the recorder of Los Angeles County.

Hazardous private street shall mean any private street, either improved or unimproved, which is open for access for vehicular traffic and which the Director has determined to contain any or all of the following defects:

(a) A roadway, the surface material of which has loosened, buckled, split, crumbled, eroded or in any other way whatsoever deteriorated so as to make it unsafe for vehicular traffic or so as to constitute a

roadway obstruction to the adequate access by fire, po- lice, health and sanitation, and public utility vehicles.

(b) A roadway, the surface of which has become blocked in whole or in part by the deposit of earth or other materials thereon, or by reason of any other cause.

(c) A roadway, all or any portion of which is likely to collapse because of deterioration, decay, faulty construction, or by reason of the removal or movement of any portion of the ground necessary for the support

thereof.

All hazardous private streets within the terms of Section 65.03 of this article are hereby declared to be public nuisances and shall be repaired in the manner hereinafter provided.

(Amended by Ord. No. 181,595, Eff. 4/10/11.)

When the Director determines that any private street is a hazardous private street, the Director shall serve an order requiring the correction of the hazardous condition. One copy of the order shall be served on each owner of the land constituting the private street and upon the owner of each contiguous or adjacent parcel of property having an easement in the private road as such owners are shown on the last equalized assessment roll of Los Angeles County or as known to the City Engineer.

(a) Method of Service. The order to repair shall be served upon all persons entitled thereto, either personally or by certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, at the address of such persons as the same appears either on the last equalized assessment roll of the County, or as known to the City Engineer, or as disclosed in any search of title. If no such address appears, or is disclosed, or is known to the City Engineer, then a copy shall be addressed to such person at the lot or parcel involved in the proceedings. The failure of any owner or other person to receive such notice shall not affect in any manner the validity of any proceedings taken hereunder. (Amended by Ord. No. 181,595, Eff. 4/10/11.)

(b) Affidavit of Service. The officer or employee of the Department of Public Works, upon giving notice as provided herein, shall file an affidavit thereof with the board certifying to the time and manner in which such notice was given. The officer or employee shall also file therewith any receipt card which may have been returned to the officer or employee in acknowledgement of the receipt of such notice by certified mail.

A true copy of the order shall be posted in a conspicuous place upon each parcel of property involved.

The order shall be given upon a form prescribed by the Board and shall set forth the street address and the legal description, sufficient for identification of the parcel or parcels constituting the private street. It shall contain a brief statement specifying the defects causing the street to be a hazardous private street and their location. It shall also contain a statement of the work required to be done in order to correct said defects and place the street in a reasonable state of repair in light of its original construction and that no work shall be commenced without first obtaining a written permit pursuant to Sections 62.106–62.111 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code. The Director shall specify therein the time in which the work required to be done must be commenced, which shall not be later than 60 days following the issuance of the order, and shall further specify a reasonable time within which the work shall be completed.

The Director may extend the time for completion for good cause upon written request for such an extension.

In addition to ordering the repair of a hazardous private street, the Director may order the immediate closing thereof until the repair work has been satisfactorily completed if the Director deems that the hazard is extreme.

Any person served with an order to repair may, at any time prior to the date specified in the order for the work to be commenced, file a written appeal to the Board of Public Works, upon such form as the Board shall prescribe, for a review of any of the requirements of said order. The filing of such an appeal shall stay all requirements of the order until a determination of the matter is rendered by the Board. The Board shall promptly set a date for the hearing of the appeal and shall at least 10 days prior thereto, serve and post notice of the date thereof in the manner, prescribed by Sections 65.05, 65.06 and 65.07. The Board shall make such investigations as it deems necessary and shall upon the date set for hearing of the appeal from the order to repair, hear and consider evidence offered by any interested person. Thereafter, but in no event later than 45 days from receipt of the appeal, the Board shall make written findings of fact as to whether or not the private street is a hazardous private street within the terms of this division, and may affirm, change or modify any of the requirements of the repair order.

The order of the Board affirming, changing or modifying the requirements of the order of the Director shall be served and posted in the manner specified by Sections 65.05, 65.06 and 65.07. If the order of the Board requires the performance of any work, it shall specify the time within which the work required to be done must be commenced, which shall be not later than 60 days following the issuance of said order, and shall further specify a reasonable time within which the work shall be completed. The Director may extend the time for completion for good cause upon written request for such an extension.

Any person who removes any notice or order posted as required in this division shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Amended by Ord. No. 175,596, Eff. 12/7/03.)

Whenever an order to repair any private street has not been complied with within the time set by the Board or Director, or within any additional time the Director extends for good cause, the Board may cause the private street to be repaired by the means the Board deems advisable.

Whenever the Board has undertaken action to make those repairs required by its order or the order of the Director, upon the failure of the owner or other interested party to comply with such order, the owner, person served with the order to repair, or other persons having charge or control over the parcels upon which the hazardous private street is located shall be deemed to have forfeited all further rights and privileges to do such work and are thereafter prohibited from doing any such work on said hazardous private street, except as the Board may otherwise allow.

(Repealed by Ord. No. 175,596, Eff. 12/7/03.)

(Amended by Ord. No. 175,596, Eff. 12/7/03.)

All costs incurred to repair the hazardous private street shall be a personal obligation against the owner of the real property upon which the private street is located, recoverable by the City in an action before any court of competent jurisdiction. These costs shall include an amount equal to 40 percent of the cost to perform the actual work, but not less than the sum of $100.00, to cover the City’s costs for administering any contract and supervising the work required. In addition to this personal obligation and all other remedies provided by law, the City may collect any judgment, fee, cost, or charge, including any permit fees, fines, late charges, or interest, incurred in relation to the provisions of this section as provided in Los Angeles Administrative Code Sections 7.35.1 through 7.35.8.

(Repealed by Ord. No. 175,596, Eff. 12/7/03.)

It shall be unlawful for any person to obstruct, impede or interfere with any representative of the Board of Public Works or with the inspector of any department of this city whenever any such representative of the board or inspector is engaged in preparing such private street pursuant to the provisions of this division or is performing any necessary act preliminary to or incidental to such work.