Mendocino County Municipal Code Ch. 15.16 Protection of County Roads

No tractor of any kind or description, excepting rubber-tired tractors, shall be operated or driven over or along any unimproved County highway or road in the County of Mendocino, except upon permit issued by the County Road Commissioner, except that the foregoing provisions shall not apply to the performance of any road maintenance work of and by the County of Mendocino.

(Ord. No. 249, Sec. 2, adopted 1936, Ord. No. 343, adopted 1953; Ord. No. 3859, adopted 1993.)

For the purposes of Sections 15.16.010 to 15.16.050, inclusive, an unimproved highway is hereby defined to be any road or highway which is not paved with cement, concrete or asphaltic concrete, or a highway not having a hard surface and distinct roadway of at least four (4) inches thick, made up of a mixture of rock, sand or gravel, bound together by an artificial binder other than natural soil; and an unimproved County highway is hereby defined as being an unimproved highway which is under the jurisdiction of Mendocino County and is being maintained thereby.

(Ord. No. 249, Sec. 3, adopted 1936.)

Pursuant to Section 35712 of the California Vehicle Code, the use of all highways hereinafter designated by any commercial vehicle exceeding a gross weight of fourteen thousand (14,000) pounds is hereby prohibited.

(A) The foregoing prohibition shall apply to each of the following designated highways, which have been officially accepted into the Mendocino County road system, each of which is deemed located in an unincorporated residential or subdivision area:

(1) Each highway located within the Brooktrails Vacation Village Subdivision, which is located near Willits, as said subdivision is defined in and described by those certain Tract Maps identified as follows and located in the following case and drawer numbers of the Official Records of the County of Mendocino.

a. Tract No. 55, located in Case 2, Drawer 2.

b. Tract No. 86, located in Case 2, Drawer 7.

c. Tract No. 126, located in Case 2, Drawer 13.

(B) "Highway" is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained, and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street.

(C) A "commercial vehicle" is a vehicle of a type required to be registered under the California Vehicle Code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. Passenger vehicles which are not used for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit and house cars are not commercial vehicles.

(D) The foregoing prohibition shall not apply to any commercial vehicle coming from an unrestricted highway having ingress and egress by direct route to and from the restricted highway when necessary for the purpose of making pickups or deliveries of goods, wares, and merchandise from or to any building or structure located on the restricted highway; nor shall the foregoing prohibition apply to any of the other vehicles or uses specifically exempted by Section 35714 of the California Vehicle Code.

(Ord No. 1100, adopted 1973.)

Any person violating any of the provisions of Sections 15.16.010 to 15.16.040, inclusive, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment in the County jail not to exceed the term of six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(Ord. No. 249, Sec. 4, adopted 1936.)

No vehicle shall be driven or moved upon any public highway or County road, except the California State Highway, in the County of Mendocino, which has a tire thereon, the periphery of which has any block, stud, flange, cleat, ridge, bead or any other protuberance of metal or wood which projects beyond the tread of the traction surface of the tire, as a part thereof or attached thereto; but this section shall not be construed as to prohibit the use of tire chains of reasonable proportions on vehicles when required for safety because of snow or ice or other conditions tending to cause such vehicle to slip or skid. The provisions of this section shall not apply to vehicles actually engaged in the construction or repair of such public highways and County roads, and this section shall not apply to traction engines or tractors, or any other vehicles when such traction engines or tractors or other vehicles are moved or operated under the conditions of a permit first obtained from the Board of Supervisors of Mendocino County.

(Ord. No. 228, Sec. 1, adopted 1930.)

Any person, firm, company, association or corporation who violates any of the provisions of Section 15.16.050 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by confinement in the County jail of Mendocino County for a period not to exceed six (6) months, or by a fine not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(Ord. No. 228, Sec. 1, adopted 1930.)

No person shall construct any improvement or cause or maintain any condition within or adjacent to a County road right-of-way which undermines the safe operation or integrity of the County roadway or which interferes with County road drainage. The Road Commissioner, or authorized designee, shall determine whether or not an improvement or condition is undermining a roadway or interfering with road drainage.

(Ord. No. 4436, § 1, 9-10-2019)

The Road Commissioner, or authorized designee, may enforce Section 15.16.070 by taking enforcement action as prescribed in Chapters 1.08 and 8.75 of this Mendocino County Code, such as by imposing administrative penalties. The remedies in this section are in addition to those provided by any other law.

(Ord. No. 4436, § 2, 9-10-2019)