Portola Valley Municipal Code Ch. 8.12 Nuisance Abatement

A nuisance is anything which (1) is injurious or threatening to health or safety, (2) obstructs the customary free use or passage of any stream, park, street, pathway, public easement, or highway, or (3) is specifically declared by this code or state law to be a nuisance. Examples of a nuisance include, but are not limited to:

A. Any explosives, flammable liquids or hazardous materials which are stored in a manner or an amount contrary to state law or this code.

B. Any building, structure, or grading which is made, erected, altered, maintained, partially destroyed or abandoned contrary to state law or this code.

C. Any obstruction or excavation which interferes with the ordinary use of public streets, ways, alleys, thoroughfares, sidewalks, pathways, public easements, public hiking, biking or equestrian trails, or public grounds unless otherwise permitted by law.

D. The existence of any dead, diseased, infested, or dying tree on any private property so near to any street tree as to constitute a danger to street trees, or streets, or portions thereof.

E. Any tree or shrub on any private property of a type or species apt to destroy, impair or otherwise interfere with any street improvements, sidewalks, curbs, approved street trees, gutters, sewers, other public improvements, including utility mains or services.

F. The existence of any branches or foliage which interferes with visibility on, or free use of, or access to, any portion of any street improved for vehicular or pedestrian travel, or to any ways, alleys, thoroughfares, sidewalks, pathways, public easements, public hiking, biking or equestrian trails, or public grounds.

G. Any accumulation of debris, garbage, refuse, weeds, over-growth, livestock waste, or machine or equipment parts which constitute:

1. A fire hazard;

2. A hazard to pedestrian or vehicular traffic;

3. A harborage for rats, vermin, or insect infestation; or

4. Any other hazard to public health or safety.

H. Any vehicle that is inoperative, abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or unregistered or is registered with a certificate of planned nonoperation, unless the vehicle is wholly parked or stored in a garage or carport or wholly screened from off-site view.

I. Auto repair or maintenance being performed on vehicles registered to someone living off the premises where the vehicle is located, except for repair or maintenance being performed by a licensed auto repair or maintenance facility in conformance with the town's code.

J. Any recreational vehicle, trailer or boat parked or stored for more than thirty days out of any consecutive forty-five days in driveways or in the areas between setback lines and property lines.

K. Any and all machinery or wrecked or dismantled motor vehicles or parts thereof located in any public place, or located on private property adjacent to public streets or sidewalks or so as to be visible to public view.

L. Any swimming pool, pond, well, or other body or container of water, stagnant, polluted or otherwise maintained in an unhealthy or unsafe condition.

M. A drainfield that fails and causes flow of effluent above ground.

N. Maintenance of any premises in such condition as to be detrimental to the public health, safety or general welfare or in such manner as to constitute to a public nuisance as defined by Civil Code Section 3480.

O. Property, including but not limited to, building exteriors which are maintained in such condition as to become so defective, unsightly, or in such condition of deterioration or disrepair that the same causes appreciable diminution of the property values of surrounding property or is materially detrimental to proximate properties and improvements. This includes but is not limited to the keeping or disposing of or the scattering over the property or premises of any of the following:

1. Junk, trash or debris;

2. Abandoned, discarded or unused appliances, furniture, machinery or equipment;

3. Any device, decoration, design, fence or structure which is unsightly by reason of its condition or its inappropriate location;

4. Permitting or allowing any graffiti to remain on any building, wall, fence or structure.

P. Unshielded outdoor light sources which are directly visible from offsite.

Q. A commercial cannabis activity emitting odors that are detectible off site.

(Ord. 2018-422, § 2, 2018; Ord. 1998-310 § 2 (part), 1998)

Notwithstanding Section 8.12.010 above, natural material obstructing a stream where the obstruction (1) occurred during events that led to the declaration of a local emergency, state of emergency or state of war emergency, all as defined in Section 2.24.020, and (2) was not caused by a property owner's negligence or a property owner's failure to obtain a legally required permit from a local, state and/or federal agency shall not be considered a nuisance.

(Ord. 2002-343 § 1 (part), 2002)

A. Whenever the town administrator or his/her designee determines that a nuisance exists on private property, that town officer may serve notice as provided in municipal code Section 1.12.020(J) to abate the nuisance by certified mail upon the owner of the property and anyone known to the town officer to be in possession of the property.

B. The notice shall specify the property address, describe the nuisance and instruct the owner and/or possessor to abate that condition or activity. The notice shall further inform the owner and the possessor that if the nuisance is not abated within thirty calendar days of service of the notice, the town may abate the nuisance and require the owner and/or possessor to pay the cost of the abatement. Cost of abatement includes the cost for actual removal or correction of the nuisance plus the administrative costs for the removal or correction. In addition, if the town gives notice at the initiation of the action, the prevailing party shall be entitled to an award of reasonable attorneys' fees.

C. If the owner and/or possessor fail to pay such costs, those costs may be collected by the town attorney, or be specially assessed to the parcel and shall be subject to the same collection procedures, including any lien, penalty and sale procedures that are provided for delinquent taxes.

D. The notice shall further state that either the owner or the possessor, or both, may request a hearing to contest the abatement action and/or assessment of cost by filing a written request for a hearing within fifteen days of service of the notice to abate with the town officer who ordered the abatement. Failure to request this hearing within this time period shall waive any right to appeal the town's action.

(Ord. 1998-310 § 2 (part), 1998)

Upon a timely request for a hearing, and providing that there is no immediate threat to public health and safety, the town shall postpone any abatement action and assessment of costs until the owner and any possessor is given an opportunity to be heard and present evidence to the town council as to why the abatement and assessment of costs should not proceed. The town clerk shall mail a notice of the date, time and place of the hearing to the owner and any possessor and all property owners within five hundred feet of the subject property at least ten days prior to the hearing date. After the hearing, the council shall issue and serve a written decision upon the owner and any possessor of the property. The decision of the council shall be final and conclusive in the matter.

(Ord. 1998-310 § 2 (part), 1998)

A. If, after notice of abatement and no request for hearing is timely made under Section 8.12.030 of the code, and corrective action to abate the nuisance has not occurred within the time for requesting a hearing or any extension granted in writing by the town administrator, then the town administrator or his/her designee may order abatement to be done by town personnel, or by a private licensed contractor.

B. Town personnel or private contractors can enter on private property in a reasonable manner to abate the public nuisance.

(Ord. 1998-310 § 2 (part), 1998)

A. The town council authorizes the town administrator or his/her designee to file and record a notice of abatement lien on behalf of the town in the event the owner and/or possessor of the property fails to pay the costs of abatement upon a thirty day written demand for payment.

B. The notice of abatement lien shall identify and set forth the last known address of both the recorded owner and the possessor of the parcel. The notice shall further set forth the date upon which the abatement of the nuisance was ordered and the date the abatement was completed. Finally, the notice shall describe the real property subject to the lien and the amount of the cost of abatement.

C. Recordation of a notice of abatement lien under this provision shall have the same force and effect as recordation of an abstract of a money judgment governed by Section 697.340 of the Code of Civil Procedure and may be extended as provided in Sections 683.110 to 683.220, inclusive, of the Code of Civil Procedure. The lien created shall have the same priority as a judgment lien on real property and shall continue in effect until released. An abatement lien created under this section may be released or subordinated in the same manner as any judgment lien on real property.

D. The town council authorizes the town administrator or his/her designee to compromise, subordinate or settle any lien imposed under this section in the amount of ten thousand dollars or less.

E. Once payment in full is received by the town for outstanding penalties and costs, the town administrator shall either record a notice of satisfaction or provide the property owner or financial institution with a notice of satisfaction so that this notice may be recorded with the office of the county recorder. Such notice of satisfaction shall cancel the town's lien.

(Ord. 1998-310 § 2 (part), 1998)

Nothing in this chapter shall affect, prevent or prejudice any other remedy or penalty, civil or criminal, for the creation or maintenance of a nuisance. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the summary and immediate abatement of a nuisance upon the order of the town council or any town officer as authorized by law if the council or officer determines that the nuisance constitutes an immediate threat to the public health or safety.

(Ord. 1998-310 § 2 (part), 1998)