Pomona Municipal Code § 1-10 Code does not affect prior offenses or rights

The ordinances embraced in this and the following chapters shall constitute and be designated "Pomona City Code" and may be so cited. The Code may also be cited as the "Pomona, California, City Code."

(Code 1959, § 1-1)

Charter reference— Codification of ordinances, § 511(b).

State Law reference— Codification of ordinances, Government Code § 50022.1 et seq.

The following definitions and rules of construction shall apply to this Code and to all ordinances unless the context requires otherwise:

Generally. When provisions conflict, the specific shall prevail over the general. All provisions shall be liberally construed so that the intent of the city council may be effectuated. Words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of the language, but technical words, technical phrases and words and phrases that have acquired peculiar and appropriate meanings in law shall be construed according to such meanings. This Code shall be interpreted and applied so as to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience and general welfare.

City. The term "city" means the City of Pomona, Los Angeles County, California.

City council. The terms "city council" and "council" mean the city council of the City of Pomona, California.

Code. The term "Code" means the Pomona City Code, as designated in section 1-1.

Computation of time. The time in which any act provided by law is to be done is computed by excluding the first day and including the last, unless the last day is a holiday, and then it is also excluded.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 6800.

Conjunctions. In a provision involving two or more items, conditions, provisions or events, which items, conditions, provisions or events are connected by the conjunction "and," "or" or "either … or," the conjunction shall be interpreted as follows:

(1) "And" indicates that all the connected terms, conditions, provisions or events apply.

(2) "Or" indicates that the connected terms, conditions, provisions or events apply singly or in any combination.

(3) "Either … or" indicates that the connected terms, conditions, provisions or events apply singly but not in combination.

County. The term "county" means Los Angeles County, California.

Delegation of authority. A provision that authorizes or requires a city officer or city employee to perform an act or make a decision or authorizes such officer or employee to act or make a decision through subordinates.

Gender. Words of one gender include all other genders.

In the city. The term "in the city" means all territory within the city limits and all territory outside of the city over which the city has jurisdiction.

Includes. The term "includes" does not limit a term to a specified example.

Joint authority. Words giving a joint authority to three or more persons give such authority to a majority of such persons.

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

May. The term "may" is to be construed as being permissive and not mandatory.

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

Month. The term "month" means a calendar month.

Must. The term "must" is to be construed as being mandatory.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 6804.

Number. Words in the singular include the plural. Words in the plural include the singular.

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

Oath. A solemn affirmation is the equivalent to an oath, and a person shall be deemed to have sworn if such person makes such an affirmation.

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

Officers, departments, etc. References to officers, departments, boards, commissions or employees are to city officers, city departments, city boards, city commissions and city employees.

Owner. The term "owner," as applied to property, includes any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety of the whole or part of such property.

Person. The term "person" means any human being; any governmental or political subdivision or public agency; any public or private corporation; any partnership; any firm, association or other organization; any receiver, trustee, assignee, agent, or other legal representative of any of the foregoing; or any other legal entity.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 17.

Personal property. The term "personal property" means any property other than real property.

Premises. The term "premises," as applied to real property, includes land and structures.

Property. The term "property" includes real property, personal property and mixed property.

Real property. The term "real property" includes land, tenements and hereditaments.

Shall. The term "shall" is to be construed as being mandatory.

Sidewalk. The term "sidewalk" means that portion of the street between the curbline and the adjacent property line intended for the use of pedestrians.

Signature or subscription by mark. The terms "signature" and "subscription" include a mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer's or subscriber's name being written near the mark by a witness who writes his own name near the signer's or subscriber's name; but a signature or subscription by mark can be acknowledged or can serve as a signature or subscription to a sworn statement only when two witnesses so sign their own names thereto.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 16.

State. The term "state" means the State of California.

Street. The term "street" includes any alley, avenue, boulevard, lane, road, highway, viaduct or other public thoroughfare dedicated and open to public use as such.

Tenant and occupant. The terms "tenant" and "occupant," as applied to premises, include any person holding a written or oral lease or who actually occupies the whole or any part of such premises, alone or with others.

Tenses. The present tense includes the past and future tenses. The future tense includes the present tense.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 11.

Week. The term "week" means a period of seven consecutive days.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 6805.

Writing. The term "writing" includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report or statement is required or authorized by this Code, it shall be made in writing in the English language.

Year. The term "year" means a calendar year.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Government Code § 68031.

(Code 1959, §§ 1-2, 1-12)

(a) The catchlines of the several sections of this Code printed in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the section and are not titles of such sections, or of any part of the section, nor unless expressly so provided shall they be so deemed when any such section, including the catchline, is amended or reenacted.

(b) A history appearing in parentheses after a section in this Code indicates the legislative history and is a declaration by the city council that the section to which the history note applies is a restatement or reenactment of an original ordinance or amendment thereof. Editor's notes, charter references, cross references and state law references that appear in this Code after sections or subsections or that otherwise appear in footnote form are provided for the convenience of the user of the Code and have no legal effect.

(Code 1959, § 1-7)

(a) Unless specifically provided otherwise, the repeal of an ordinance does not revive any previously repealed ordinance.

(b) The repeal or amendment of an ordinance does not affect any punishment or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, nor does such repeal or amendment affect any suit, prosecution or proceeding pending at the time of the amendment or repeal.

(Code 1959, § 1-4)

(a) All ordinances adopted subsequent to this Code that amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code may be numbered in accordance with the numbering system of the Code and printed for inclusion in the Code.

(b) Amendments to provisions of this Code may be made with the following language: "Section (chapter, article, division or subdivision, as appropriate) of the Pomona City Code is hereby amended to read as follows: …."

(c) If a new section, subdivision, division, article or chapter is to be added to the Code, the following language may be used: "Section (chapter, article, division or subdivision, as appropriate) of the Pomona City Code is hereby created to read as follows: …."

(d) All provisions desired to be repealed should be repealed specially by section, subdivision, division, article or chapter number, as appropriate, or by setting out the repealed provisions in full in the repealing ordinance.

Charter reference— Ordinance adoption procedures, § 508 et seq.

(a) Supplements to this Code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the city. A supplement to this Code shall include all substantive permanent and general parts of ordinances adopted during the period covered by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the Code. The pages of the supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into the Code and will, where necessary, replace pages that have become obsolete or partially obsolete. The new pages shall be so prepared that, when they have been inserted, the Code will be current through the date of the adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.

(b) In preparing a supplement to this Code, all portions of the Code that have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code by the omission thereof from reprinted pages.

(c) When preparing a supplement to this Code, the person authorized to prepare the supplement may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts or ordinances included in the supplement, insofar as necessary to do so in order to embody them into a unified code. For example, the person may:

(1) Arrange the material into appropriate organizational units.

(2) Supply appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for chapters, articles, divisions, subdivisions and sections to be included in the Code and make changes in any such catchlines, headings and titles or in any such catchlines, headings and titles already in the Code.

(3) Assign appropriate numbers to chapters, articles, divisions, subdivisions and sections to be added to the Code.

(4) Where necessary to accommodate new material, change existing numbers assigned to titles, chapters, articles, divisions or sections.

(5) Change the words "this ordinance" or similar words to "this chapter," "this article," "this division," "this section" or "sections _____ to _____" (inserting section numbers to indicate the sections of the Code that embody the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated in the Code).

(6) Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of the ordinances inserted in the Code.

(a) In this section "violation of this Code" means any of the following:

(1) Doing an act that is prohibited or made or declared unlawful, an offense, a violation, an infraction or a misdemeanor by ordinance or by rule or regulation authorized by ordinance.

(2) Failure to perform an act that is required to be performed by ordinance or by rule or regulation authorized by ordinance.

(3) Failure to perform an act if the failure is prohibited or is made or declared unlawful, an offense, a violation, an infraction or a misdemeanor by ordinance or by rule or regulation authorized by ordinance.

(b) In this section "violation of this Code" does not include the failure of a city officer or city employee to perform an official duty unless it is specifically provided that the failure to perform the duty is to be punished as provided in this section.

(c) Any person violating or causing the violation of any of the provisions of the Pomona Municipal Code for which no punishment is specified or for which punishment is specified as a misdemeanor may be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or an infraction at the discretion of the City Attorney, City Prosecutor or the District Attorney of Los Angeles County. Any conviction of a misdemeanor violation of this code shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed the amount allowable pursuant to California Penal Code Section 19, imprisonment in the city or county jail for not more than six months or both fine and imprisonment.

(d) A person convicted of a violation of this Code that is an infraction shall be punished by:

(1) A fine not exceeding $100.00 for a first violation.

(2) A fine not exceeding $200.00 for a second violation of the same provision within one year.

(3) A fine not exceeding $500.00 for each additional violation of the same provision within one year.

(e) When a person under the age of 18 is charged with a violation of this Code and a peace officer issues a notice to appear in superior court to that minor, the charge shall be deemed an infraction unless the minor requests that a petition be filed under Welfare and Institutions Code §§ 601, 602.

(f) Except as otherwise provided by law or ordinance, with respect to violations of this Code:

(1) That are continuous with respect to time, each day that the violation continues is a separate offense.

(2) That are not continuous with respect to time, each act constitutes a separate offense.

(g) The imposition of a penalty does not prevent suspension or revocation of a license, permit or franchise or other administrative sanctions.

(h) Violations of this Code that are continuous with respect to time are a public nuisance and may be abated by injunctive or other equitable relief. The imposition of a penalty does not prevent injunctive relief.

(Code 1959, § 1-8; Ord. No. 3945, § 1(16-48), 2-11-2002; Ord. No. 4165, § 1, 8-6-2012; Ord. No. 4166, § 1, 9-10-2012; Ord. No. 4200, § 1, 4-6-2015)

State Law reference— Penalties for ordinance violations, Government Code § 36900 et seq.

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, provision or portion of this Code, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions or provisions of this Code or their applicability to distinguishable situations or circumstances. In enacting this Code, it is the desire of the city council to validly regulate to the full measure of its legal authority in the public interest, and to that end, the city council declares that it would have adopted this Code and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, provision, or portion thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases or portions thereof might be declared invalid or unconstitutional in whole or in part, as applied to any particular situation or circumstances, and to this end the provisions of this Code are intended to be severable.

(Code 1959, § 1-5)

The provisions of this Code, insofar as they are substantially the same as legislation previously adopted by the city relating to the same subject matter, shall be construed as restatements and continuations thereof and not as new enactments.

(Code 1959, § 1-3)

(a) Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code affects any offense or act committed or done, any penalty or forfeiture incurred, or any contract or right established before the effective date of this Code.

(b) The adoption of this Code does not authorize any use or the continuation of any use of a structure or premises in violation of any city ordinance on the effective date of this Code.

Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code affects the validity of any ordinance or portion of an ordinance listed in this section. Such ordinances continue in full force and effect to the same extent as if published at length in this Code.

(1) Annexing property into the city.

(2) Deannexing property or excluding property from the city.

(3) Promising or guaranteeing the payment of money or authorizing the issuance of bonds or other instruments of indebtedness.

(4) Authorizing or approving any contract, deed, or agreement.

(5) Making or approving any appropriation or budget.

(6) Granting any right or franchise.

(7) Providing for salaries or other employee benefits not codified in this Code.

(8) Dedicating, establishing, naming, locating, relocating, opening, paving, widening, repairing or vacating any street.

(9) Establishing the grade of any street or sidewalk.

(10) Levying or imposing any special assessment.

(11) Providing traffic or parking regulations for specific locations.

(12) Levying, imposing or otherwise relating to taxes not codified in this Code.

(13) Adopting or amending the comprehensive plan or a master plan of streets.

(14) Amending the zoning map or zoning atlas or rezoning specific property.

(15) Dedicating, accepting or vacating any plat or subdivision.

(16) That is temporary, although general in effect.

(17) That is special, although permanent in effect.

(18) The purpose of which has been accomplished.