Los Angeles Municipal Code Art. 1 Street Tree Planting and Maintenance District Procedures

Section 6.223 Power of Council. 6.224 Ordinance of Intention. 6.225 Report of Board of Public Works. 6.226 Approval of Report. 6.227 Notice of Adoption of Ordinance of Intention. 6.228 Protests. 6.229 Limitations. 6.230 Transmittal of Diagram and Assessment. 6.231 Accordation of Diagram and Assessment. 6.232 Publication of Notice of Sale. 6.233 Certificate of Sale. 6.234 Redemption of Property. 6.235 Preparation of Deeds. 6.236 Effect of Deed. 6.237 Creation of Special Fund. 6.238 Contracts for Improvement. 6.239 Interdepartmental Purchase Orders. 6.240 Intention of Council. 6.241 Effect of Article. 6.242 Definitions. 6.243 Board of Public Works to Perform All Functions. 6.244 Title of Article.

Whenever the public interest or convenience may require, the Council of the City of Los Angeles, acting under the authority conferred upon it by the City Charter, shall have full power and authority to order the planting of trees and the care and maintenance thereof in public streets in said City; and to determine and declare the District to be benefited by said improvement, and to assess, either partly or wholly, the costs and expenses (including all incidental expenses) of such improvement, or of any one or more of the items thereof, upon the lands in said District all in the manner and under the proceedings hereinafter provided.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

Before ordering any improvement to be made which is authorized by Section 6.223, of this article, the City Council shall adopt an ordinance declaring its intention to do so, briefly describing the proposed improvement and containing a description of the District to be benefited thereby and to be assessed to pay the cost and expenses thereof, and to be known as the Assessment District. Such District may be described by stating the exterior boundaries thereof, or by referring to the diagram provided for in Section 6.225 thereof. The City Council, in its discretion, may order, in said Ordinance of Intention, that a portion of said costs and expenses shall be paid out of the City Treasury from such fund as the City Council may designate, the amount of which shall be specified in said Ordinance of Intention. The City Council shall, in said Ordinance of Intention, provide that the planting of said trees and the maintenance thereof shall be for a period stated in said Ordinance of Intention but not exceeding five years. Said ordinance shall also contain those matters required by Section 6.226 of this article.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

Before adopting such Ordinance of Intention, the City Council shall order the Board of Public Works to make and file with the City Clerk a report in writing, presenting the following:

(a) Plans and specifications of the proposed improvement and an estimate of the cost and expenses of said improvement; which

plans, specifications and estimate shall be prepared by the Board of Public Works for inclusion in said report; a diagram or map showing:

(1) The boundaries of the District proposed to be assessed and the public streets, or other public ways therein, in, or along

which such improvement is to be made;

(2) each lot, piece, or parcel of land benefited by such improvement, each of which shall be given a separate number in red

ink or other distinctive color upon said diagram. The said diagram, as approved by the City Council shall govern in all details as to the lots, pieces or parcels of land determined to be benefited by said improvement.

(b) A proposed assessment of the total amount of the estimated costs and expenses of the proposed improvement upon the several lots, pieces or parcels of land shown on the diagram referred to above, in proportion to the estimated benefits to be received by each such lot, piece or parcel of land, respectively; provided, that whenever any portion of the costs and expenses of such improvement is ordered to be paid out of the City Treasury, as hereinabove provided, the amount of such portion shall first be deducted from the total estimated costs and expenses of such improvement and the assessment proposed in said report shall include only the remainder of said costs and expenses. Said assessment shall refer to such lots, pieces or parcels of land upon said diagram by the respective number thereon.

Whenever any lot, piece or parcel of land belonging to the United States, or to the State of California, or to the County of Los Angeles, or to the City of Los Angeles, or to any public agent, mandatory of the government, whether federal, state, county or municipal, and being used in the performance of any public governmental function shall front upon the work to be done hereunder or shall be included within the District declared by the City Council in the Ordinance of Intention to be the District benefited thereby and to be assessed to pay the costs and expenses thereof the City Council may, in said Ordinance of Intention, declare that said lots, pieces or parcels of land, or any of them, so owned and in use shall be omitted from the assessment thereafter to be made to cover the costs and expenses of said work and improvement. In the event that said lots, pieces or parcels of land, or any of them, shall by said Ordinance of Intention, be omitted from the assessment, then the total expense of all work to be done shall be assessed upon the remaining lots, pieces or parcels of land lying within the limits of the Assessment District, without regard to such omitted lots, pieces or parcels of land. In the event that the City Council shall, in such Ordinance of Intention, declare that said lots, pieces or parcels of land so owned as aforesaid, or any of them, shall be included in the assessment, or in the event that no declaration is made respecting such lots, pieces or parcels of land, or any of them, then the City shall be liable for such sum or sums as may thereafter be assessed against any such lots, pieces or parcels of land so owned and used, and so included in the assessment by reason of the aforesaid declaration, or such lots, pieces or parcels of land so owned and used respecting which the Ordinance of Intention makes no

declaration, which shall be payable by the City out of such fund as the City Council may designate; provided, however, that any sum or sums which may be assessed against any such lots, pieces or parcels of land so owned and used, shall not be payable by the City when such sum or sums are paid by the owner of or the governing body controlling such lots, pieces or parcels of land.

Plans and specifications shall be deemed sufficient with respect to the location, number, kind, or type of trees to be planted and maintained, if such plans and specifications show and describe the approximate location of such trees.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

Upon the filing of said report, the City Clerk shall present the same to the City Council for consideration, and the City Council may approve, correct or modify the same in any respect; and shall fix a time and place when and where protests relative to the proposed improvement and report will be heard by the Council. In case of such correction or modification, the report as corrected or modified shall be the report for all subsequent proceedings. When said report has been approved, or approved as modified and corrected, immediately thereupon the City Council shall be deemed to have acquired jurisdiction to adopt an Ordinance of Intention. Said Ordinance of Intention in addition to the matters required in Section 6.224, shall refer to the report of the Board of Public Works on file in the office of the City Clerk, and shall contain also a notice of the time and place when and where protests relative to the proposed improvement will be heard by the City Council as the time said report of the Board of Public Works, as provided for in Section 6.225 of this article, was before the City Council for consideration, and be not less than twenty (20) days from the adoption of the Ordinance of Intention, and shall also direct the City Clerk to publish said Ordinance of Intention by one insertion in a daily newspaper printed and published in the City of Los Angeles and designated by the City Council for that purpose.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

After the adoption of the Ordinance of Intention, the Board of Public Works shall cause to be conspicuously posted along the line of the proposed improvement, at not more than three hundred feet apart, but at not less than three places in all, notices of the adoption of said Ordinance of Intention. In every case all posting must be completed at least fifteen days before the day set for hearing protests as provided for in Section 6.226, hereof. Said notices shall be headed, “Notice of Street Tree Maintenance,” in letters of not less than one inch in length; and shall, in legible characters state the fact of the adoption of the Ordinance of Intention, its date and briefly describe the proposed improvement and refer to the Ordinance of Intention for further particulars. Said Board shall also cause a notice, similar in substance, to be published by two successive insertions in a daily or weekly newspaper of general circulation, printed and published in the City and designated by the City Council for that purpose. Said notices shall contain also a statement of the time and place when and where protests relative to the proposed improvement will be heard by the City Council. Whenever the proposed improvement includes the planting of trees, said notices shall be headed “Notice of Street Tree Planting and Maintenance.” No proceeding shall ever be held invalid for failure to comply herewith, if these provisions have been substantially complied with.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

At any time prior to the day set for hearing protests in relation to the proposed improvement, as hereinbefore provided, any person interested and affected by the proposed assessment may file a written protest stating the person’s objections thereto, with the City Clerk. Such protests must contain a description of the property in which each signer thereof is interested, sufficient to identify the same, and be delivered to the City Clerk, and no other protests than those presented in the form and within the time specified shall be considered. The City Clerk shall endorse on every such protest the date of its reception by the City Clerk, and shall, at the time appointed for said hearing, present the same to the City Council. The City Council shall hear and consider said protests at the time appointed therefor, as above provided, or at any time to which the hearings thereof may be continued, and pass upon the same, and may confirm, correct or modify said assessment as may be necessary in its judgment to the end that the costs thereof may be properly and justly charged against the property benefited in accordance with said benefit and its decision shall be final and conclusive. If such protests are sustained, the proceedings shall be abandoned but may be renewed any time. If such protests are denied, or in case no protests have been filed, the proposed assessment shall be confirmed and the City Council shall be deemed to have acquired jurisdiction to further proceed in accordance with the provisions of this article. Thereafter the City Council shall, by ordinance, order the proposed improvement to be made and declare its confirmation of the said assessment, which ordinance shall be final and conclusive on all persons in all particulars and the assessment shall thereafter be levied upon the lots, pieces or parcels of land within the Assessment District, as provided in Section 6.231.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

The validity of any assessment levied under the provisions of this article shall not be contested in any action or proceeding unless the same is commenced within thirty days after the time said assessment is levied, and any appeal from a final judgment in such action or proceeding must be perfected within thirty days after the entry of such judgment.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

Upon the confirmation of such assessment as provided for in Section 6.228 hereof, the City Clerk shall transmit the diagram and assessment upon which the levy is based to the Board of Public Works.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

After receipt of the said diagram and assessment referred to in the last preceding section, the Board of Public Works shall record the same in a suitable book to be kept for that purpose in the Bureau of Engineering and append thereto its certificate of the date of such recording. Such recording shall constitute the Assessment Roll. Upon such recording, the assessments shall be deemed to be levied and from the date of such recording all persons shall be deemed to have notice of the contents of the Assessment Roll.

Thereafter, at any time prior to the beginning of the period of the improvement specified in the Ordinance of Intention, the Bureau of Engineering shall give notice by publication, by one insertion in a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated within the City of Los Angeles, that said diagram and assessment have been recorded and that all sums so assessed therein are due and payable immediately and that payments of said sums be made to the Bureau of Engineering within thirty (30) days after the publication on said notice, which date shall be stated therein. Said notice shall also contain the statement that all assessments not paid before expiration of the said thirty days shall be delinquent, and thereupon ten per cent of the amount of each such assessment shall be added thereto.

Immediately upon publication of the recording, the several assessments contained in such Assessment Roll, shall become due and payable, and each of the assessments shall be a lien upon property against which it is made, paramount to an other liens except liens for State, County and municipal taxes, and shall only be discharged by the payment of the assessment or by redemption of the property after sale for delinquency. All such assessments remaining unpaid after thirty (30) days from the date of the publication of the Notice of Recording, as herein provided for, shall become delinquent and ten per cent shall be added to the amount thereof.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450. Amended by: 1st and 2nd Para., Ord. No. 149,941*, Eff. 8-15-77.

• See note following § 6.38 of this Division regarding Ord. No. 149,941.

The Board of Public Works shall, within sixty (60) days after the date of such delinquency, begin the publication of a Notice of Sale of the property upon which the assessment have not been paid, which publication shall be made by two insertions in a newspaper of general circulation published and circulated in the City of Los Angeles. The date fixed for the sale of the property upon which assessments have not been paid, shall be not less than twenty (20) days from the date of the first publication of said Notice of Sale. The Notice of Sale so published shall constitute the delinquent list and contain a description of each lot or parcel of land delinquent, and opposite each description the name of its owner, if known, otherwise designating the owner as unknown, and the amount of the assessment, penalties and costs due, including the cost of advertisement. Said Board shall append to and publish with said delinquent list, a notice that unless each assessment delinquent,

together with the penalties and costs thereon, is paid, the property upon which each assessment is a lien, will be sold at public auction, at a time and place to be specified in said notice.

At any time after such delinquency and prior to the sale of any parcels of land assessed and delinquent, any person may pay the assessment thereon, together with the penalties and costs due thereon, including the cost of advertising, if such payment is made after the publication of Notice of Sale.

At the time and place fixed in said notice, the Board of Public Works shall proceed with such sale, commencing at the head of the list of lands contained in such notice and continuing in the numerical order thereof, until all property is sold; provided, that said Board may postpone, or continue, the sale from day to day until the sale is completed. The Board of Public Works shall separately sell each parcel of land described in said notices, or so much thereof as shall be necessary to realize the amount assessed against the same, including the penalties and costs aforesaid and $7.00 for a Certificate of Sale. In case there is no other purchaser, the same shall be struck off to the City as purchaser, or the City may bid thereon in the interests of the property owners, to the exclusion of all other bidders.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450. Added by Ord. No. 149,299, Eff. 2-17-77.

The Board of Public Works shall issue for each parcel an original and duplicate Certificate of Sale, referring to the proceedings, describing the parcel sold, and giving the name of the purchaser and the amount for which said parcel was sold. The original certificate shall be delivered to the purchaser and the duplicate shall be kept on file. When the City is the purchaser, said certificate shall be filed with the City Engineer.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450. Amended by: Ord. No. 181,595, Eff. 4-10-11.

At any time after the date of sale and prior to the issuance and delivery of a deed to said property as provided for in Section 6.235 of this article, any property sold under the provisions of this article may be redeemed by the payment to the Board of Public Works of the amount for which the property was sold, with an additional penalty of one per cent per month, until paid, of said amount of sale, together with such other penalties as may be payable as provided for in Section 6.235 of this article. Said one per cent penalties shall be added on the first day of each month following the date of sale of said property.

Money paid in on such redemptions shall be paid by the Board of Public Works to the person holding the original Certificate of Sale, upon the person surrendering the same and upon giving a receipt for the amount received from the Board of Public Works therefor. Upon redemption of any parcel of land the Board of Public Works shall enter the fact and date of such redemption upon the original and upon the duplicate Certificate of Sale therefor.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

At any time after the expiration of twelve months from the date of sale, the Board of Public Works must execute to the purchaser, or the purchaser’s assignee on the purchaser’s application if such purchaser or assignee has complied with the provisions of this section, a deed of the property sold, in which shall be recited substantially the matters contained in the certificate, also any assignment thereof and the fact that no person has redeemed the property. The Board of Public Works shall receive from the applicant one dollar for making such deed, unless the City is the purchaser, in which case no charge shall be made therefor. The purchaser or the purchaser’s assignee, must, at least thirty days before the purchaser or assignee applies for a deed, serve upon the owner of the property, and upon the occupant of such property, if the same is occupied, a written notice setting forth a description of the property, stating that said property has been sold for a delinquent assessment; specifying the improvement for which the same was made, the amount for which the delinquent property was sold, the amount necessary to redeem at the time of giving notice, and the time when such purchaser or the purchaser’s assignee will apply to the Board of Public Works for a deed. If said owner cannot be found, after due diligence, said notice must be posted in a conspicuous place upon said property at least thirty days before the time stated therein at which the application for a deed will be made. The person applying for a deed must file with the Board of Public Works an affidavit or affidavits showing that such notice of such application has been given or posted as herein required, and if the notice was not personally served on the owner of the property, that due diligence was used to find said owner before such posting; and such affidavit or affidavits must be filed in the office of the Board of Public Works. If redemption of the property is made after affidavits are filed,

the person making such redemption must pay, in addition to the other amounts required, three dollars for the service of notice and the making of such affidavits, which amount shall be paid over to the purchaser or the purchaser’s assignee in the same manner as other sums paid for redemption. No deed for any property sold for delinquent assessment shall be made until the purchaser or the purchaser’s assignee has complied with all the provisions of this section, and filed the proper affidavits with the Board of Public Works.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

The deed of the Board of Public Works shall be prima facie evidence of the truth of all matters recited therein, and of the regularity of all proceedings prior to the execution thereof, and of title in the Grantee.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

The funds collected by the Board of Public Works under the proceedings herein provided for, shall be paid by said Board of Public Works, as fast as collected, to the City Treasurer, who shall place the same in a special fund, as designated by the City Controller, and payment shall be made, out of such special fund only for the purpose provided for in this article. To expedite the making of any such improvement the City Council may at any time, transfer into said special fund, out of any money in the General Fund, such sums as it may deem necessary, and the sums so transferred shall be deemed as a loan to such special fund, and shall be repaid out of the proceeds of the assessments provided for in this article.

If for any reason there shall be a deficiency in the funds derived from the assessment for any improvement under this article, including all incidental expenses thereof, the City Council may meet such deficiency by appropriation out of the General Fund or by ordering a supplemental assessment in the same manner and as nearly as may be as the preceding assessment except that protests may only be made against such supplemental assessment. Any unexpended balance remaining in the special fund provided for in Section 6.237 hereof, at the expiration of the period specified in the Ordinance of Intention, shall be credited to the fund to be raised for the next ensuing period of the improvement. Whenever the City Council, in its discretion, does not reorder the said improvement to be made, any such unexpended balance may be retained in such fund to be used by the Department of Public Works to defray the costs and expenses of maintaining such trees until such unexpended balance is exhausted.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

At any time after the confirmation of the assessment the City Council may let the contract or contracts for such improvement. Every such contract shall be let to the lowest bidder, after notice published by two insertions in a daily or weekly newspaper published and circulated in the City of Los Angeles. Every bid shall be accompanied by a certified check amounting to ten per cent of the bid, payable to the order of the City and the same shall be forfeited to the City in case the bidder depositing the same does not within fifteen days after the notice that the contract has been awarded to the bidder, enter into a contract with the City for the work, the faithful performance of which shall be secured by an undertaking in such sums as the City Council shall require, with sureties satisfactory to said Council. The contract must provide that the improvement shall comply and the improvement must comply strictly with the plans and specifications contained in the report provided for in this article.

Performance of any contract hereunder shall be under the supervision of the Board of Public Works and no work, material or supplies shall be paid for until it has been accepted by said Board.

If the contractor abandons the improvement, or fails to proceed with the same as rapidly or in the manner as required by the contractor’s contract, the City Council may re-let the work in the same manner as in the case of the first letting thereof, and retain the amount of the cost of the same and of any expense incidental to the re-letting out of any funds due or to become due to the original contractor, and also hold the original contractor and the original contractor’s sureties responsible for such cost and expense, and for any damages resulting from such abandonment or failure upon the original contractor’s bond; provided, however, that the City Council in its discretion, at any time within ten days after the award of any contract as above provided, or at any time within ten days after the time fixed for the opening of bids, if no bids have been received, order by resolution adopted by a vote of two-thirds of all its members, that the said proposed contract be not made, and that the municipality itself execute the work embraced therein in accordance with the plans and specifications adopted for such work, and employ the labor and provide the trees and materials necessary therefor; and the cost and expenses of such work shall be paid out of the

aforesaid funds; and provided further, that the amount appropriated and used from said funds for said purpose shall not exceed the amount of the bid upon which the award of contract aforesaid was made, or, if no bids have been received and the work is to be executed by the City itself, as herein provided, such cost and expense shall not exceed the amount of the estimate thereof provided for in Section 6.225 of this article, and if such cost and expense shall exceed the amount of said bid, or of said estimate in case no bids are received, then such excess shall be met out of any moneys in the General Fund in the City Treasury; or by supplemental assessment as provided for in Section 6.237 hereof; and provided, further, that at any time after the funds for the proposed improvement, or any part thereof, shall be in the hands of the City Treasurer, the City Council in its discretion may, without calling for bids, order by resolution adopted by a vote of two-thirds of all its members, that the municipality itself perform the work of such improvements, or the respective parts thereof, in accordance with the specifications and plans adopted for such work, and employ the labor, and provide the trees and materials necessary therefor; in which case the cost and expense of such work shall be paid out of the aforesaid funds and if such cost and expense shall exceed the amount of such estimates, then such excess shall be met out of any moneys in the General Fund of said Treasury or by supplemental assessment as provided for in Section 6.237 hereof.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450. Amended by: 1st Para., Ord. No. 181,595, Eff. 4-10-11.

In lieu of any other procedure provided herein, the City Council in its Ordinance of Intention or in the ordinance directing the work to be done, may direct the Board of Public Works, instead of calling for bids and entering into a contract as above provided, to furnish trees and maintain the same during the period specified in the Ordinance of Intention; and said Board of Public Works may, instead of entering into a contract as above provided, issue an interdepartmental purchase order for the furnishing of said trees and the maintenance thereof in said streets upon such terms as may be agreed upon between said Board and the Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners; provided, however, that such agreement must be approved by a majority vote of the City Council. A separate interdepartmental purchase order shall be placed for each tree planting or tree maintenance improvement. Each such order shall state the date on which said improvement shall be started and it shall continue in force thereafter for the period specified in the Ordinance of Intention; provided, however, that any such interdepartmental purchase order may run to the end of the next fiscal year and be renewed at that time for the balance of the period upon the same rates, terms and conditions as the original.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

The City Council hereby declares that it is the intention in adopting this procedural ordinance to exercise and make use of the power and authority granted and conferred upon it by the City Charter and declares that this procedure shall be additional or alternative to any procedure established by State law. The election of the City Council to proceed under the provisions of this article shall be expressed in this Ordinance of Intention of the improvement to be made.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

The provisions of this article shall be liberally construed to promote the objects thereof, if any section, sentence, clause or phrase of this article is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, void or invalid, the validity of the remaining portions of this article shall not be affected thereby, it being the intent of the Council of the City of Los Angeles in adopting and of the Mayor in approving this article, that no portion thereof nor provision contained therein shall become inoperative or fail by reason of any unconstitutionality or invalidity of any other portion or provisions.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.

The words “Work” or “Improvement” as used in this article shall include the planting, maintenance or removal of trees, and any and all acts necessarily incident thereto. The word “Trees” as used herein shall include all varieties of trees, shrubs, lawn and other ornamental vegetation. The word “Occupant” as used herein shall include any and all persons holding any estate or interest in real property less than the fee thereof and in physical occupation of any lot, piece or parcel of land. The word “Maintenance” as used herein shall include clipping, spraying, fertilizing, irrigating, propping, replacing, treating for disease or injury, and other similar acts which promote the life, growth, health, and beauty of trees.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450. Amended by: Ord. No. 96,090.

This article shall be read and interpreted as directing that the Board of Public Works shall proceed in the exercise of all powers, duties and obligations provided for, conferred or imposed upon it my the Charter of the City of Los Angeles in relation to work or improvement ordered by the Council in proceedings hereunder.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450. Amended by: Ord. No. 107,276.

This procedural article may be designated and indicated for all purposes by the title of “Street Tree Planting and Maintenance District Ordinance of 1945.” Except in the description in the Ordinance of Intention and in the Notice required to be posted by Section 6.227, hereof, the District within which the work shall be done and which is to be assessed to pay for the costs of such work or improvement may be described generally by a designation or designations adopted the report of the Board of Public Works, which designation shall thereafter be approved in the Ordinance of Intention.

SECTION HISTORY

Based on Ord. No. 89,450.