Moorpark Municipal Code Ch. 8.48 Property Maintenance

The following identification of nuisances and abatement procedures pertain to this chapter only.

(Ord. 164 § 1, 1993)

It is declared a public nuisance and it is unlawful for any person owning, leasing or having charge of any structure or unattended land in the city to maintain such structure or unattended land in such manner that any of the following conditions are found to exist thereon:

A. Land, the topography or configuration of which, as a result of grading operations, excavation or fill, causes erosion, subsidence or surface water drainage problems of such magnitude as to be injurious or potentially injurious to health, or is indecent or offensive to the senses or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of the life or property or adjacent properties;

B. Structure which is abandoned, or partially destroyed, for a period of more than six months. A structure permitted to remain in a state of partial construction for a period of more than six months, in violation of Uniform Building Code Section 303(d);

C. Failure to close, after proper notice by such means as shall be acceptable to the community development director, all doorways, windows or other openings into a vacant structure. Proper notice is defined as the issuance of a letter requiring the correction within 10 working days of certified receipt of the letter;

D. Broken window constituting a hazardous condition or inviting trespassers or malicious mischief;

E. Overgrown vegetation likely to harbor rats, vermin or other animals;

F. Dead, decayed, diseased or hazardous tree, weeds or other vegetation dangerous to or injurious to health, or is unseemly or offensive to the senses;

G. Attractive nuisance dangerous to children or injurious to health, indecent, or offensive to the senses, in the form of abandoned and broken equipment, unprotected or hazardous pool, pond or excavation or neglected machinery;

H. Any discarded, used, secondhand, salvaged or abandoned boxcar, refrigerator car, motor bus body or similar means of conveyance or a structure of a similar nature or construction used for place of habitation, residence or business in the city;

I. Storage of equipment, machinery or vehicles (either operative or inoperative) in front yards, unscreened side yards or any other yard areas which are visible from any public right-of-way, except that fully operative vehicles may be parked on a paved driveway or on an additional paved area adjacent to the driveway;

J. Broken or discarded furniture or household equipment, stoves, refrigerators, freezers, trash, dirt or other debris, on the property for unreasonable periods and visible from any public right-of-way or from neighboring properties and having a tendency to depreciate the property values of neighboring properties;

K. The accumulation of dirt, litter or debris in the vestibule, doorway or the adjoining sidewalk of a commercial or industrial structure;

L. The maintenance of any sign or sign structure relating to a use no longer conducted or products no longer sold in a vacant commercial, industrial or institutional structure more than 30 days after such structure becomes vacant;

M. The maintenance of any structure in a state of substantial disrepair, such as a broken window, roof in disrepair, wood or paper sign in deteriorated condition, damaged or unsafe porch or wall, broken step, or other disrepair not otherwise constituting a violation and which is observed from a public right-of-way or observed from neighboring properties, where such condition would depreciate the property values of the surrounding properties;

N. The substantial lack of maintenance of the grounds upon which a structure exists, where such grounds are observed by the public from a public right-of-way or observed from neighboring properties, where such condition would depreciate the property values of surrounding properties;

O. Maintenance of a structure in such condition as to be detrimental, injurious to health, or has an offensive odor;

P. Recreational vehicles defined pursuant to the Health and Safety Code as a motor home, travel trailer, truck camper, or camping trailer, with or without motive power or trailer (as defined within the Vehicle Code) used as a place of habitation, as a residence, or as legal nonconforming pursuant to the city's Zoning Ordinance.

Q. Any property or any water, including water that has been artificially altered from its natural condition, which supports the development, attraction, or harborage of vectors or is a breeding place for vectors. "Vector" as used herein means any animal capable of transmitting the causative agent of human disease or capable of producing human discomfort or injury, including, but not limited to, mosquitoes, flies, mites, ticks, other arthropods, and other vertebrates.

(Ord. 164 § 1, 1993; Ord. 378 § 1, 2009)

A nuisance as defined in Section 8.48.020 is declared a violation and prosecution shall be as outlined within Chapter 1.12 of the Moorpark Municipal Code.

(Ord. 164 § 1, 1993)