Pleasant Hill Municipal Code Art. I Generally

The city council finds, determines and declares as follows:

A. This city has a history and reputation for implementing aesthetic considerations in the development of land uses and encouraging well-kept properties and strict enforcing of zoning and building regulations. The property values and general welfare of this community are founded in large part upon the appearance and maintenance of properties.

B. There is a need for further emphasis on the maintenance of a number of properties because certain conditions which appear to constitute nuisances as hereafter set forth are found to exist in the city.

C. The existence of property in a condition constituting a nuisance as hereafter defined is injurious and inimical to the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of this city and contributes substantially and increasingly to the problems of and the necessity for excessive and disproportionate expenditures for protection against hazards and diminution of property values, prevention of crime, and the preservation of the public health and safety and the maintaining of adequate police, fire and accident protection. Such problems are becoming increasingly direct and substantial in significance and effect.

D. The existence of public nuisances of the type hereafter referred to, and the abatement of them, is reasonably related to the proper exercise of the police power in protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public, and the exercise of that power by this city is authorized by the constitution of the State of California and applicable laws.

E. Unless corrective measures of the type hereafter set forth are continued to be undertaken to alleviate such conditions, the public health, safety and general welfare and the property values and social and economic standards of this community will be substantially depreciated. The abatement of such conditions will enhance the appearance and value of such properties and will improve the tax base of the city.

(1991 code § 11-1.1; Ord. 706 § 1, 1996)

It is declared to be a public nuisance for any person owning, leasing, occupying, or having charge or possession of any real property in this city to:

A. Maintain property, the topography or configuration of which, whether in natural or improved state or as a result of grading operations, causes or will cause erosion, subsidence or surface water runoff problems which can or may be injurious to the public health, safety and welfare or to adjacent properties;

B. Maintain property in a manner which causes a hazard to the public by obscuring visibility of an intersection;

C. Maintain property so that it constitutes a fire hazard by reason of rank overgrowth of vegetation or the accumulation of debris;

D. Maintain property, a building or structure, or a required fence in such condition that it is defective, unsightly, or in such condition of dilapidation or disrepair that it causes or accelerates the substandard condition of the property or causes the depreciable diminution of the property values of surrounding properties, or is otherwise materially detrimental to adjacent properties and improvements;

E. Maintain a building or structure which has been defaced with paint or other liquid (e.g., graffiti) which defacement is visible from a public street or sidewalk, public park, school or public right-of-way (see also PHMC Chapter 7.30, Graffiti Control);

F. Maintain a building, structure, any artificial alteration of property, any activity or any water that supports the development, attraction or harborage of vectors, that facilitates the introduction or spread of vectors, or that is a breeding place for vectors. The presence of vectors in their developmental stages on the property is prima facie evidence that the property is a public nuisance. Vector means any animal capable of transmitting human disease or capable of producing human discomfort or injury, including, but not limited to, mosquitoes, flies, mites, ticks, other arthropods, and rodents and other vertebrates;

G. Maintain property with any of the following conditions in plain view:

1. The accumulation of garbage, litter, dirt, debris, junk, trash, salvage materials, lumber or other debris;

2. An attractive nuisance dangerous to children including, but not limited to: abandoned, broken or neglected equipment; machinery; a refrigerator, freezer or other appliance; or hazardous pool, pond or excavation;

3. Broken or discarded furniture, household equipment, goods and furnishings or shopping carts;

4. A dead, decayed or diseased, or hazardous tree, weeds or other vegetation which is dangerous to public safety and welfare or to property;

5. An unmounted camper or camper shell; abandoned, dismantled or wrecked trailer, camper, boat or similar form of personal property; or inoperable recreational vehicle; which is left on the property and is visible from a public street, unless it is in a carport or garage or behind a fence that screens it from view; or

6. Any other condition which is a hazard to health or property.

(1991 code § 11-1.2; Ord. 706 § 1, 1996; Ord. 728 § 2, 1998; Ord. 782 § 4, 2004)

A building or structure which has one or more of the following conditions is deemed to be a public nuisance and an unsafe, substandard and dangerous building, if the conditions exist to the extent that the life, health, property, or safety of the public or occupants is endangered.

A. Inadequate sanitation;

B. Structural hazard;

C. Hazardous electrical wiring;

D. Hazardous plumbing;

E. Hazardous mechanical equipment;

F. Faulty weather protection;

G. Fire hazard;

H. Use of faulty construction materials;

I. Hazardous or unsanitary premises;

J. Inadequate exits;

K. Inadequate fire protection or firefighting equipment;

L. Improper occupancy;

M. Any other violation of the most current adopted building codes;

N. Any other violation which is set forth in the most current edition of any of the following code sections:

1. Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings, Section 302, Dangerous building.

2. California Building Code, Section 102, Unsafe buildings or structures.

3. California Health and Safety Code section 17920.3, Substandard buildings.

(1991 code § 11-1.3; Ord. 728 § 4, 1998; Amended during 2005 recodification)

All or any part of any parcel of real property, or a building or structure located on it, found to constitute a public nuisance shall be abated by rehabilitation, demolition, or repair under the procedures set forth in this title, Community Preservation.

(1991 code § 11-1.4; Ord. 706 § 1, 1996; Ord. 728 § 5, 1998)