Mission Viejo Municipal Code Ch. 1.01 Code Adopted

The city council finds that it is desirable and in the public interest to establish a Municipal Code in order to provide a scheme of organization for the classification and grouping of ordinances which the council may adopt. The council intends in adopting ordinances of a general and permanent nature to provide for their placement in accordance with the scheme of the Code. This will provide the user with a convenient and logical compilation of the ordinances of the city.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.001)

This Code shall be known as the "Mission Viejo Municipal Code." It shall be sufficient to refer to this Code as the Mission Viejo Municipal Code in any prosecution for the violation of any provision of this Code. It shall also be sufficient to designate any ordinance adding to, amending or repealing provisions of this Code as an addition or amendment to, or a repeal of, the Mission Viejo Municipal Code or any portion thereof.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.002)

The Mission Viejo Municipal Code shall consist of all ordinances adopted by the city council which are of a general and permanent nature. An ordinance relating to any of the following subject matters is not considered an ordinance of general and permanent nature and need not be included within the Municipal Code:

(1) The naming of streets or roads.

(2) Granting, altering or withdrawing franchises.

(3) Levying real property taxes.

(4) Calling an election.

(5) Annexation proceedings.

(6) Interim zoning measures.

(7) Zoning or rezoning a particular parcel of property.

(8) Such other ordinances of a special or particular subject matter which the council considers inappropriate to a compilation of laws of a general and permanent nature.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.003)

(a) The ordinances of the city which are of a general and permanent nature shall be organized and grouped according to subject matter.

(b) Ordinances which are adopted from time to time shall be classified and organized under the following scheme of titles:

(1) General Provisions.

(2) Administration and Personnel.

(3) Revenue and Finance.

(4) (Reserved).

(5) Business Regulations.

(6) Health and Sanitation.

(7) (Reserved).

(8) Buildings and Construction.

(9) Planning and Zoning.

(10) Animals.

(11) Peace, Morals and Safety.

(12) Traffic.

(13) Parks and Recreational Facilities.

(14) Streets and Sidewalks.

(15) Water and Sewers.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.004)

(a) At least one copy of this Code, duly certified by the city clerk, shall be maintained on file in the office of the city clerk as an official copy of this Code. Additional copies of this Code shall be distributed to the departments of the city as prescribed by the city manager.

(b) Duly certified copies of each ordinance making a change in this Code shall be filed in the office of the city clerk in books for such purpose, duly indexed for ready reference.

(c) At least semiannually the city clerk shall cause the looseleaf pages of this Code in which changes have been made to be reproduced, including a notation as to the ordinance number and the date on which such change was adopted. Such reprinted pages shall be distributed in order that the looseleaf copies of this Code, prepared for the use and convenience of the officers and employees of the city and the general public, may be brought up to date.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.005; Ord. No. 17-324, § 10, 9-12-17)

(a) The provisions of this Code and all proceedings under it are to be construed to effect its purposes and to promote justice.

(b) All the provisions of this Code and all other city ordinances shall be interpreted to refer to the appropriate or designated officer or office of the city, and whether an ordinance, uniform Code, statute, or other matter which is adopted by reference refers to any department, officer, employee, inspection, police, or other functions, unless the context requires otherwise, all references shall be to the appropriate or designated office, officer, department, agency, employee or function of the city, or to the person or agency performing the function for the city.

(c) The Mission Viejo Municipal Code is intended to be a regulatory structure with the purpose of ensuring an orderly, safe, uniform and positive quality of life for the residents, visitors, vendors and commercial activities within the city. From time to time, unique circumstances arise that require the exercise of professional discretion, including, but not limited to, the relief from some or all fees or penalties, use of public facilities or equipment by third parties, denying or approving uses or activities and similar case by case management of issues to achieve the quality of life goals of the city as established by the city council.

The city council has previously established economic parameters defining the maximum amount of public funds the city manager can expend in his sole discretion. Consistent with that economic cap, and consistent with the existing powers of the city manager as defined in the Mission Viejo Municipal Code, the city manager, or his designated alternate, may grant waivers of economic obligations, grant the conditional use of city facilities and equipment, permit or deny actions or activities, or take any beneficial action, so long as the same has: material benefit to the city; enhances the quality of life within the city; is within the economic limits of the city manager; and promotes a public purpose. The foregoing conditions shall be reviewed and established by the city manager, in his sole reasonable discretion applying generally accepted management practices. The city manager shall advise the city council of the exercise of his authority as described herein.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.010; Ord. No. 17-324, § 9, 9-12-17)

Neither the adoption of this Code or any portion thereof, nor the repeal by this Code of any ordinance previously in effect in the city or within the territory currently comprising the city shall in any manner affect the prosecution for the violation of any ordinance, which violation was committed prior to the effective date of this Code, nor be construed as a waiver of any license fee or penalty due and unpaid under such ordinances on such effective date, nor be construed as affecting any of the provisions of such ordinances relating to the collection of any such license fee or penalty or the penal provisions applicable to any violation of such ordinances, nor to affect the validity of any bond or cash deposit required to be posted, filed, or deposited pursuant to any ordinances, and all vested rights and obligations pertaining to such ordinances shall continue in full force and effect.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.020)

If any chapter, section, sentence, clause or portion of this Code is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed a separate, distinct and independent provision and such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions thereof.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.030)

This Code shall refer only to the omission or commission of acts within the territorial limits of the City of Mission Viejo and that territory outside of the city over which the city has jurisdiction or control by virtue of the Constitution, or any law, or by reason of ownership or control of property.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.040)

All references in this Code to places, acts, persons or things and all else in relation to this Code shall be construed to mean that the same are applicable to this city, whether the city is mentioned in each particular section or not.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.050)

Unless the provisions of this Code otherwise specifically provide, or the context of this Code indicates to the contrary, the general provisions, rules of construction and definitions set forth in the following sections of this chapter shall govern the construction of this Code.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.100)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 5.

The title, chapter, article and section headings contained in this Code shall not be deemed to govern, limit, modify or in any manner affect the scope, meaning or intent of the provisions of any title, chapter, article or section of this Code.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.110)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 6.

"Section" shall mean a section of this Code, unless some other source is specifically set forth. "Subsection" shall mean a subsection of the section in which the term occurs, unless some other section is expressly set forth.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.120)

Whenever a power is granted to, or a duty is imposed upon, a public officer or employee, the power may be exercised or the duty may be performed by a deputy of such officer or employee or by a person otherwise duly authorized pursuant to law or ordinance, unless this Code expressly provides otherwise.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.130)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 7.

"Writing" includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means, including such matters as defined in Government Code § 6251.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.140)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 8.

Whenever any reference in this Code is made to an ordinance, the reference shall apply to such ordinance of the city, unless this Code expressly provides otherwise. Whenever any reference is made to any portion of this Code or to any ordinances of this city, the reference shall apply to all amendments and additions to this Code.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.150)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 9.

When a limitation or period of time prescribed in any existing ordinance or statute for acquiring a right or barring a remedy, or for any other purpose, has begun to run before this Code goes into effect, the time which has already run shall be deemed a part of the time prescribed as such limitation.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.160)

(a) As used in this Code, unless a different meaning is apparent from the context or is specified elsewhere in the Code:

(1) Calendar year shall mean from January 1 through December 31 of any given year.

(2) Chief of police shall mean the official designated by the city manager to perform the functions of chief of police.

(3) City shall mean the City of Mission Viejo.

(4) City manager shall mean the appointed official of the city who occupies the position of chief administrative officer of the city.

(5) Council shall mean the city council of the City of Mission Viejo.

(6) Councilmember shall mean a person duly elected to the council.

(7) County shall mean the County of Orange.

(8) Fire chief shall mean the official designated by the city manager to perform the functions of fire chief.

(9) Fiscal year shall mean from July 1 of any given year through June 30 of the following year.

(10) Gender. The masculine gender shall include the feminine and neuter genders.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 12.

(11) Goods shall mean and include wares and merchandise.

(12) Health officer shall mean the official designated by the city manager to perform the functions of health officer.

(13) May shall be permissive.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 14.

(14) Month shall mean a calendar month, unless otherwise specially expressed.

(15) Number. The singular number shall include the plural, and the plural number shall include the singular.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 13.

(16) Oath shall include affirmation.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 15.

(17) Official time standard. Wherever certain hours are named in this Code, they shall mean standard time or daylight saving time as may be in current use in the city.

(18) Operate shall mean and include carrying on, keeping, conducting, or maintaining.

(19) Owner, applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant, tenant in common, or joint tenant of the whole or a part of such building or land.

(20) Person shall include any person, firm, company, corporation, partnership, association, public corporation, city (except the City of Mission Viejo), the county, any district in the county, the state or the United States of America, or any department, agency or political subdivision of the above, unless this Code expressly provides otherwise.

(21) Personal property shall include money, goods, chattels, things in action and evidences of debts.

(22) Police shall mean the agency which performs the appropriate law enforcement function for the city. "Police chief" or "chief of police" shall mean the head of the agency or division which at the time involved has responsibility for performing the police function for, or within, the city.

(23) Property shall include real and personal property.

(24) Quarterly, where used to designate a period of time, shall mean the first three calendar months of any given year or succeeding period of three calendar months.

(25) Real property shall include land, tenements, and hereditaments.

(26) Sale shall include any sale, exchange, barter, or offer for sale.

(27) Shall shall be mandatory.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 14.

(28) State shall mean the State of California.

(29) Street shall include all streets, highways, avenues, boulevards, alleys, courts, places, squares or other public ways in the city which have been or may hereafter be dedicated and open to public use, or such other public property so designated in any law of the state.

(30) Tenant or occupant, applied to a building or land, shall include any person who occupies the whole or a part of such building or land, whether alone or with others.

(31) Tense. The present tense shall include the past and future tenses, and the future tense shall include the present tense.

(b) Words and phrases not defined in this Code shall be construed according to the approved usage of the language, or, when appropriate, by reference to definitions contained in state or federal law.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.170)

The city, pursuant to its general plan, its emergency response plans and its regional mutual aid commitments, has established, equipped and readied its emergency operations center ("EOC"). The EOC has the primary purpose of and is necessary to operate to preserve and protect life safety, public facilities and coordinate all emergency response operations of the city and county, state and federal governments, as necessitated by order or agreement. The EOC is to be prepared to respond to all emergency events, including, but not limited to, natural emergencies, environmental emergencies, declared emergencies, by city or county, state or federal or other entity.

At no time, and regardless of asserted right to use the EOC/civic center area, no person, firm or entity, including the equipment, possessions or merchandise possessed, controlled or utilized by the person, firm or entity, shall the EOC be used by non EOC authorized personnel or uses, or the equipment, possessions or merchandise of the non EOC use other than during the business hours of the regular city civic center. The city manager may allow short term public conducted or sponsored special event uses of the EOC area, upon his determination the EOC function will not be substantially impaired.

The EOC area is defined as the City Hall, the City Hall/library parking area, portions of the library internal and external grounds and, including but not limited to, the north campus of the civic center at 200 Civic Center, the Kershaw Garden, the Library Community Room and all access (pedestrian and vehicular) routes to the EOC designated area. The city council expressly finds that there are proximate, easy accessed public sites (Potocki Center and public parks) that can be used by non-EOC for lawful purposes and the public safety function of the EOC supersedes all other lawful use of the EOC.

(Ord. No. 17-324, § 19, 9-12-17)

(a) Misdemeanor; infractions. It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provision or to fail to comply with any of the requirements of this Code. Any person violating any of the provisions or failing to comply with any of the mandatory requirements of this Code shall be guilty of a misdemeanor unless:

(1) The violation is classified as an infraction by the state vehicle code or this Code in which case the person shall be guilty of an infraction; or

(2) The city attorney or any deputy district attorney files a complaint charging the offense as an infraction; or

(3) A public officer designated in subsection (b) issues a citation charging the offense as an infraction.

(b) Public officers authorized to issue infraction citations in addition to police officers. The public works director and the community development director, or any of their designated deputies or employees, shall, in enforcing the provisions of this Code within their regulatory responsibilities, have the authority to cite violators for infractions. Moreover, the city manager may authorize any employee or designated volunteer of the city or Orange County Sheriff's Department to issue parking citations pursuant to the California Vehicle Code.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.200; Ord. No. 06-244, § 1, 7-3-06)

Whenever any act or omission is made unlawful by this Code, it shall include causing, permitting, aiding, abetting, suffering or concealing the fact of such act or omission.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.210)

(a) Any conviction of a misdemeanor under the provisions of this Code shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(b) Any conviction of an infraction under the provisions of this Code shall be punishable for a first conviction by a fine of not more than $100.00, for a second conviction within a period of one year by a fine of not more than $200.00, and for a third or any subsequent conviction within a period of one year by a fine of not more than $500.00.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.230)

Each person convicted of a misdemeanor or infraction under the provisions of this Code shall be guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation of any provision of this Code is committed, continued, or permitted by such person and shall be punished accordingly.

In all cases where the same offense is made punishable or is created by different clauses or sections of this Code, the city attorney or any deputy district attorney may elect under which to proceed; but not more than one recovery shall be had against the same person for the same offense.

Imprisonment for violation of any city ordinance shall be in the county jail.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.240)

(a) In addition to other penalties provided by law, any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any provision of this Code, or any such threatened violation, shall be deemed a public nuisance and may be summarily abated as such by the city, and each day that such condition continues shall be regarded as a new and separate offense.

(b) Any such violation or threatened violation as referred to in subsection (a) of this section, or any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of the provisions of any Code adopted by reference by this Code, or of the provisions of any other city ordinance, shall be deemed a public nuisance which may be abated by the city attorney in a civil judicial action.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.250)

(a) Whenever any person creating, causing, committing or maintaining a public nuisance, as referred to in section 1.01.250 of this chapter, or other public nuisance, as defined under state law or other ordinances or regulations, has been given notice, by or on behalf of the city attorney or by any other city officer, employee or policing agent authorized to give such notice, to abate such nuisance or cease and desist from continuing such nuisance or violation of law, and such person fails, refuses or neglects to comply with the notice within the time specified therein, or if such a time is not specified, then within a time reasonably sufficient to enable such compliance, such noncomplying person shall be liable to the city for any and all costs and expenses to the city involved in thereafter abating the nuisance and in obtaining compliance with or enforcing the law as referred to or encompassed within the notice.

(b) Costs and expenses, as referred to in subsection (a) of this section, may include, but are not limited to, any and all direct costs and expenses related to such things as personnel salaries and benefits, operational overhead, rent, interest, fees for experts or consultants, legal costs or expenses, including attorneys' fees, claims against the city arising as a consequence of the nuisance or violation, and procedures associated with collecting moneys due hereunder.

(c) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall also apply to any person who received a notice, as specified therein, abated the nuisance or violation, but subsequently allowed or was responsible for a recurrence of the nuisance or violation.

(d) The liability of any person for the payment of the costs and expenses provided for in subsection (a) of this section may be waived in whole or in part by the city attorney in any case wherein he determines, in his sole discretion, that the failure of refusal of such persons to comply with the notice therein involved was based upon a good faith and bona fide issue of law or fact specially involved in the circumstances of the case. Any determination or decision of the city attorney in this regard shall be final and conclusive and shall not be subject to appeal as prescribed in chapter 2.04 of title 2 of this Code.

(e) Money due to the city pursuant to this section may be recovered in an appropriate civil action. Alternatively, such liability may be enforced by special assessment proceedings against the parcel of land upon which the nuisance existed, which proceedings may be conducted in a manner substantively similar to proceedings described in Government Code § 39574 et seq. relating to weed abatement assessments.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.260)

The violation of, or the failure or omission to perform in accordance with, any administrative provision of this Code by any officer or employee of the city shall generally not be considered a criminal act, but may be deemed a failure to perform the duties or to observe the rules or regulations of the department, office, commission or board within the meaning of the civil service ordinances and rules and regulations of the city, if applicable.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.270)

Whenever a notice is required to be given, or may be given, under any provision of this Code or any provision of any Code adopted by reference by this Code or any provision of any ordinance or resolution of the city not included within this Code, such notice may be given as herein provided. Unless different or special provisions are otherwise specifically made in this Code or in some other applicable enactment, any such notice may be given either by personal delivery thereof to the persons to be notified, or by deposit in the United States mail in a sealed envelope, postage prepaid, addressed to such person to be notified, at the person's last known residence or business address as the same appears in the public records or other records pertaining to the matters to which such notice is directed. Service by mail shall be deemed to have been completed at the time of deposit in the post office or in the official receptacle thereof.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.300)

Proof of giving any notice may be made by the certificate of any officer or employee of this city or by the affidavit or declaration under penalty of perjury of any person over the age of 18 years, which shows service in conformity with this Code or other provision of law applicable to the subject matter concerned.

(Code 1988, § 1.01.310)