Rancho Santa Margarita Municipal Code Ch. 11.04 News Racks

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

News rack means any self-service or coin-operated box, container, storage unit, or other dispenser installed, used, or maintained for the display and sale of newspapers or news periodicals.

Parkway means the area between the sidewalks and the curb of any street, and where there is no sidewalk, the area between the edge of the roadway and the property line adjacent thereto. Parkway also includes any area within a roadway that is not open to vehicular travel.

Roadway means that portion of a street improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.

(OCC § 6-1-90; Ord. No. 2845, § 1, 6-10-1975)

(a) No person shall install, use, or maintain any news rack or other structure that projects onto, into, or over any part of the roadway of any public street, or which rests, wholly or in part, upon, along, or over any portion of the roadway of any public street.

(b) No person shall install, use, or maintain any news rack that, in whole or in part, rests upon, in, or over any public sidewalk or parkway when such installation, use, or maintenance endangers the safety of persons or property, when such site or location is used for public use, when such news rack unreasonably interferes with or impedes the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, including any legally parked or stopped vehicle, the ingress into or egress from any residence or place of business, or the use of poles, posts, traffic signs or signals, hydrants, mailboxes or other objects permitted at or near the location, or when such news rack interferes with the cleaning of any sidewalk by the use of mechanical sidewalk cleaning machinery.

(c) No person shall install, use, or maintain any news rack that, in whole or in part, rests upon, in, or over any public sidewalk or parkway without first obtaining an encroachment permit from the City Engineer.

(OCC § 6-1-91; Ord. No. 2845, § 1, 6-10-1975)

Any news rack that, in whole or in part, rests upon, in, or over any public sidewalk or parkway shall comply with the following standards:

(1) No news rack shall exceed five feet in height, 30 inches in width, or two feet in thickness.

(2) News racks shall only be placed near a curb or adjacent to the wall of a building. Newsracks placed near the curb shall be placed no less than 18 inches nor more than 24 inches from the edge of the curb. News racks placed adjacent to the wall of a building shall be placed parallel to such wall and not more than six inches from the wall. No news rack shall be placed or maintained on the sidewalk or parkway opposite a newsstand or another news rack.

(3) No news rack shall be chained, bolted or otherwise attached to any property not owned by the owner of the news rack or to any permanently fixed object.

(4) News racks may be chained or otherwise attached to one another; however, no more than three news racks may be jointed together in this manner, and a space of no less than 18 inches shall separate each group of three (3) news racks so attached.

(5) No news rack or group of attached news racks allowed under this section shall weigh, in aggregate, in excess of 125 pounds when empty.

(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 11.04.020, no news rack shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:

a. Within three feet of any marked crosswalk;

b. Within 15 feet of the curb return of any unmarked crosswalk;

c. Within three feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box, police call box, or other emergency facility;

d. Within three feet of any driveway;

e. Within three feet ahead of, and 15 feet to the rear of, any sign marking a designated bus stop;

f. Within three feet of any bus bench;

g. At any location whereby the clear space for the passageway of pedestrians is reduced to less than six feet;

h. Within three feet of any area improved with lawn, flowers, shrubs or trees or within three feet of any display window of any building abutting the sidewalk or parkway or in such manner as to impede or interfere with the reasonable use of such window for display purposes.

(7) No news rack shall be used for advertising signs or publicity purposes other than that dealing with the display, sale or purchase of the newspaper or news periodical sold therein.

(8) Each news rack shall be maintained in a clean, neat, and attractive condition and in good repair at all times.

(OCC § 6-1-92; Ord. No. 2845, § 1, 6-10-1975)

Every person or other entity which places or maintains a news rack on the streets of the City shall have his or its name, address and telephone number affixed thereto in a place where such information may be easily seen.

(OCC § 6-1-93; Ord. No. 2845, § 1, 6-10-1975)

(a) Any news rack installed, used, or maintained in violation of the provisions of this chapter may be summarily removed and stored in any convenient place by the Sheriff. The Sheriff shall, prior to removal, take reasonable steps to notify the owner thereof. Upon failure of the owner, following notice, to claim such news rack and pay the expenses of removal and storage within 30 days after such removal, such news rack shall be deemed to be unclaimed property in possession of the Sheriff's Department and may be disposed of pursuant to law.

(b) In the case of violations of this chapter relative to restrictions upon attachments of news racks to property other than that owned by the owner of the news rack, to fixed objects or each other, and upon location of news racks, the Sheriff may, as an alternative to removal under this section, remove such attachment and/or move such rack or racks in order to restore them to a legal condition.

(OCC § 6-1-94; Ord. No. 2845, § 1, 6-10-1975)

In the event any news rack installed pursuant to this chapter is not serviced with the publication it is designed to disseminate for a period of over seven days, the City reserves the right to remove such pursuant to the procedure set out in Section 11.04.050. For purposes of this section, abandonment shall include, but is not limited to, circumstances in which no publication is in the rack for a period of over seven days.

(OCC § 6-1-95; Ord. No. 2845, § 1, 6-10-1975)

No person shall sell, offer for sale, or keep or maintain any newspaper or news periodical in any news rack on any sidewalk in such manner as to expose to the public view any photograph, cartoon, or drawing contained within such publication that displays any obscene matter, as such term is defined in Penal Code Section 311(a), or any of the following:

(1) The genitals, pubic hair, buttocks, natal cleft, perineum, anal region or pubic hair region of any person other than a child under the age of puberty;

(2) Any portion of the breast, at or below the areola thereof, of any female person, other than a child under the age of puberty.

(OCC § 6-1-111; Ord. No. 2844, § 1, 6-10-1975; Ord. No. 98-15, § 62, 12-8-1998)