Oroville Municipal Code Art. 7 Additional Nuisances

A. Purpose and Intent. It is the desire and intention of the city council to eliminate the unlawful selling, serving, storing, keeping or giving way of any controlled substance as defined under Health and Safety Code Section 11000 et seq., within any and every building or place in the city.

1. The city council finds that the unlawful selling, serving, storing, keeping or giving away of any controlled substance in any building or place in the city is injurious to the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the community, and interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property;

2. Section 11570 of the Health and Safety Code of California states that every building or place used for the purpose of unlawfully selling, serving, storing, keeping or giving away controlled substances as defined and every building or place wherein and upon which such acts take place is a nuisance which shall be enjoined, abated and prevented;

3. The laws of the state defining nuisance and the abatement thereof provides for civil and criminal enjoinment of such acts. The city council intends hereby to declare those activities set forth in this section as nuisances, provide a procedure for determining a nuisance exists, the necessary order of abatement thereof and civil and/or criminal prosecution for enforcement of any such findings and orders; and

4. The unlawful selling, serving, storing, keeping or giving away of any controlled substances as defined in the Health and Safety Code within any building or place in the city tends to debilitate family life in the city of Oroville.

B. Findings. The city council as the legislative authority finds and declares that every and any building or place used for the purpose of unlawfully selling, serving, storing, keeping or giving away of any drugs or controlled substances, as defined under the California Uniform Controlled Substance Act, Section 1000 et seq., of the Health and Safety Code, is a nuisance, whether public or private.

C. Direction to Abate. The city attorney or designee is directed to abate, prevent and enjoin the nuisance of unlawful selling, serving, storing, keeping or giving away of any controlled substance within any building or place in the city upon the order of the city council as provided in this section.

D. Presumption of Knowledge. Upon receiving notice through service of a certified copy of this section and order of abatement provided for in subsection (f) of this section, any and every person who legally or equitably owns, leases, maintains, manages, conducts or operates a building or place in the city which is declared to be a public or private nuisance, as set forth and stated in subsection B of this section, shall be presumed to be a person who has knowledge of such nuisance for the purpose of this section and is, thereafter, responsible for its maintenance and shall be liable therefor.

E. Notice of Hearing—City Council. The city council may, upon its own motion or upon written charges filed with council by the city attorney, set a public hearing before the council to determine if a nuisance as set forth in subsection B and any other appropriate state or local law, exists. The persons described in subsection D shall be given a 10-day written notice delivered personally or by deposit in first-class United States mail, certified mail, return receipt requested, an opportunity to appear, either personally or by counsel or both, to be heard, to present evidence and to call witnesses on their behalf.

F. City Council Resolution. Upon a specific finding that a nuisance, as defined in subsection B and any other appropriate state and local laws, exists in the city, the city council, in applying provisions of this section to such nuisance, may provide for the following by resolution:

1. Declare the fact that such nuisance exists;

2. Set forth the legal description and/or street address or location of the real property or place which constitutes a nuisance;

3. Set forth findings of fact considered by the city council in arriving at its determination that a nuisance exists, as defined in subsection B;

4. Order all persons named in subsection D to abate such nuisance immediately, by terminating the unlawful selling, serving, storing, keeping or giving away of any controlled substance as defined under the Health and Safety Code, as set forth in subsection B, within the specified building or place;

5. Order the city attorney to proceed as directed in subsection C and do all things necessary to abate, prevent or enjoin such nuisance, as defined in subsection B, through judicial proceedings;

6. Order that a certified copy of the resolution and a certified copy of this section be delivered by personal service or first-class certified mail, return receipt requested, to all persons of record having legal or equitable interest in the building or place where the nuisance exists and to any person who leases, maintains, manages, conducts or operates the building or place where the nuisance exists.

G. Eviction. A landlord may, or shall if required by subsection I give notice required by law and bring an action to recover possession of a rental unit upon the happening of any of the following events:

1. The tenant is using the rental unit, or allowing the rental unit to be used, for illegal drug dealing activities or purposes. "Drugs" are as defined in subsection B of this section.

The term "illegal drug dealing activities or purposes" includes, but is not limited to, possession for sale or sale of illegal drugs from the rental unit.

2. The tenant is committing or permitting to exist a drug-related nuisance in the rental unit or the appurtenances thereof, or the common areas of the complex containing the rental unit.

The term "drug-related nuisance" includes, but is not limited to, any activity commonly associated with illegal drug dealing such as complaints of noise, steady traffic day and night to a particular unit, barricaded units or sighting of weapons brought to the attention of the landlord by other tenants, persons within the community or law enforcement agencies.

H. Notification. The landlord shall state the reasons for the eviction in the written notice of termination served on the tenant pursuant to California Civil Code Section 1946.

When the termination of tenancy is for any ground set forth in subsection G, the landlord shall file with the district attorney or other county or city office designated by the city council a declaration, in a form and in the number proscribed by that office, setting forth the reasons for the termination with specific facts to permit a determination of the date, place, witnesses and circumstances concerning the reasons.

I. Failure to Institute Action. If a landlord does not commence an action when required under the provisions of this section to recover possession of the rental unit, the district attorney, or city attorney file an action to evict the tenant from the premises of the rental unit and name the landlord as a defendant in the action, if it can be established that the landlord aided or acquiesced to the illegal activity or nuisance described in subsection G. If the landlord is named as a defendant in the action, the court may impose a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed the amount outlined in the Master Fee Schedule against the landlord for his or her failure to comply with this section.

(Ord. 1837 § 2, 2019; Ord. 1838 § 2, 2019)