Orange County Municipal Code Art. 10 Harbor Structures

(a) No person or agency shall build or maintain any advertising signs or any building or other structure extending beyond the bulkhead line, except as otherwise permitted by the Director.

(b) No person or agency shall build, maintain, extend or make structural alterations on any pier, dock, piling, bulkhead or seawall, or do any filling, excavating or dredging in a harbor, without first obtaining a written permit to do so from the Director.

(c) Within incorporated areas, however, the only signs, buildings, piers or other structures for which permits shall be required and which shall be governed by this article, are those for which permits are not required under city ordinances.

(d) Such signs, buildings, piers or other structures used in conjunction with a non-profit entity or a profit-making business or used in conjunction with adjoining frontage lands which are owned by the County, shall not be maintained, extended or constructed over tidelands or submerged lands owned by the County without the permission of the Board of Supervisors.

(Ord. No. 99-21, § 1, 8-31-99)

(a) Application for Permit or Transfer. Application for any permit or the transfer of any permit required by this article shall be made to the Director in writing on forms provided therefor. It shall be signed by the person or agency on behalf of which the work is to be performed and shall constitute an agreement by such person or agency to comply with all conditions imposed in the granting of the permit.

(b) Plans. The application shall be accompanied by plans and specifications setting forth in detail the work to be done.

(c) Fee. Each application shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable processing fee in an amount established by the Board by resolution.

(Ord. No. 99-21, § 1, 8-31-99)

(a) Director. The application, plans and specifications shall be submitted to the Director or designee. If the Director determines that the proposed work would be detrimental to commerce, navigation or fishing or would be detrimental to the present or future operation or development of the harbor or that it does not meet the standards adopted by the Board for such work, he/she shall deny said application.

(b) Conditions. In granting any such application, the Director or designee may impose conditions in the permit deemed necessary to protect commerce, navigation or fishing or the use, operation or development of the harbor.

(c) U.S. Corps of Engineers. Prior approval of the U.S. Corps of Engineers will be required when:

(1) Work extends beyond the U.S. Pierhead Line;

(2) Solid filling or a solid structure is constructed beyond the U.S. Bulkhead Line;

(3) Harbor lines have not been established in the area by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

(d) Appeal to Commission. Appeals must be submitted in writing to the Commission within ten (10) days after receiving a written decision of the Director.

(Ord. No. 99-21, § 1, 8-31-99)

(a) Grounds of Revocation. Any permit heretofore or hereafter granted for any structure or work in the waters of a harbor may be revoked by the Director upon any of the following grounds:

(1) The work or structure has become detrimental to commerce, navigation or fishing;

(2) The work or structure is detrimental to the use, operation or development of the harbor;

(3) The work or structure does not meet the standards adopted by the Board for such work or structure;

(4) The permittee has failed for a period of sixty (60) days to pay the fee or fees heretofore or hereafter imposed for the occupancy of tidelands, filled tidelands or submerged lands upon which such work or structures exists;

(5) The work or structure has fallen into a state of disrepair or unsafe conditions exist;

(6) The space occupied by such work or structure is over publicly owned land and such space is to be devoted to a public use.

(Ord. No. 99-21, § 1, 8-31-99)

Every structure maintained in or over the waters of a harbor or submerged lands owned or operated by the County without a current valid permit existing therefor when required by this article or maintained in a manner or for a purpose other than or different from that provided in the permit, shall constitute a nuisance and shall be immediately abated and may be removed. If, upon written notice to remove any such structure the owner thereof fails, refuses or neglects to do so within a reasonable time specified in the notice, in any case not less than five (5) days after such notice, the Director or designee may abate or remove it and collect the cost thereof from the owner of such structure. If the owner should refuse to pay said costs, and then the Director may take such action as he deems appropriate to recover said costs, including the commencement of a civil action.

(Ord. No. 99-21, § 1, 8-31-99)