Sacramento Municipal Code Ch. 8.116 Limitation on Engine Idling and the Operation of Transport…

A. Air pollution is a major public health concern in California. The Sacramento Region is currently designated as nonattainment for the one-hour federal ozone standard, as well as the more stringent state ozone standard. Air pollution can cause or aggravate lung illnesses such as acute respiratory infections, asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and lung cancer. In addition to health impacts, air pollution imposes significant economic costs and negative impacts on our quality of life.

B. Exhaust from vehicles (both on- and off-road) is a substantial source of ozone precursors in the Sacramento Region. Vehicle exhaust also is a source of carbon monoxide, particulate matter, toxic air contaminants, and greenhouse gases. Although new engines have become cleaner due to improved emission control technologies, the slow turnover in vehicle inventory and the number of miles/hours vehicles idle each year is hindering progress in improving regional air quality.

C. Public agencies can play an important role in improving air quality by limiting the amount of time engines are allowed to idle within their jurisdictions and leading the effort to improve air quality by adopting ordinances that are cost effective in reducing ozone precursor emissions and toxic air contaminants.

D. A study of idling exhaust emissions conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA420-R-02-025, October 2002) indicates that a typical 1980s to 2001 model year truck operating on diesel fuel emits one hundred forty-four (144) grams per hour of nitrogen oxide and eight thousand two hundred and twenty-four (8224) grams per hour of carbon dioxide emissions and consumes about 0.82 gallons of diesel fuel while idling.

E. TIAX, a consultant for the Sacramento metropolitan air quality management district, estimated that the total idling exhaust emissions in the Sacramento Region is 4.01 tons per day of nitrogen oxide emissions and 0.247 tons per day of reactive organic gas emissions (Episodic Strategies document, April 2002). The maximum potential emissions reductions from full implementation of limitations on engine idling by all jurisdictions in the Sacramento nonattainment area was estimated to be 3.08 tons per day of nitrogen oxides emissions and 0.186 tons per day of reactive organic gas emissions (assuming seventy-five (75) percent compliance).

F. This chapter is adopted under authority of the city's police power in furtherance of the public health, safety, and welfare and is authorized under Health and Safety Code Section 40717 (h) that permits local agencies to exercise their police authority to adopt transportation control measures that exceed local air district requirements. The purpose of this chapter is to achieve emission reductions by discouraging the excessive idling of engines in the city of Sacramento. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

"Bus" means a vehicle designed, used, or maintained for carrying more than ten (10) persons, including the driver, that is used to transport persons for compensation or profit.

"Driver" means any person who drives, operates, or is in actual physical control of a vehicle.

"Dwelling unit" means a group of rooms or a single room within a dwelling, with kitchen facilities, and occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters by a family or other group of persons living together, or by a person living alone. All rooms within a dwelling unit must have their principal entrance from inside the dwelling unit.

"Emergency" means a sudden, urgent, usually unforeseen, occurrence.

"Gross vehicle weight rating" means the weight specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a single vehicle.

"Heavy-duty vehicle" means any on-road motor vehicle with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating greater than fourteen thousand (14,000) pounds.

"Idling" or "to idle" means the engine is running while the vehicle is stationary or the piece of off-road equipment is not performing work.

"Off-highway vehicle" means a two-stroke or four-stroke air-cooled, liquid-cooled, gasoline, diesel, or alternate fuel powered engine that is designed for powering off-road recreational vehicles, including, but not limited to, off-road motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, and golf carts.

"Official traffic control device" means any sign, signal, marking or device, consistent with Section 21400 of the Vehicle Code, placed or erected by authority of a public body or official having jurisdiction, for the purpose of regulating, warning, or guiding traffic, but does not include islands, curbs, traffic barriers, speed humps, speed bumps, or other roadway design features.

"Official traffic control signal" means any device, whether manually, electrically, or mechanically operated, by which traffic is alternately directed to stop and proceed and that is erected by authority of a public body or official having jurisdiction.

"Off-road equipment" means any nonstationary device powered by an internal combustion engine and used primarily off the highways to propel, move, or draw persons or property, including any device propelled, moved, or drawn exclusively by human power, including, but not limited to, marine vessels, construction equipment, utility engines, and lawn and garden equipment, but excluding off-road motorcycles and off-highway vehicles.

"Off-road motorcycle" means any two- or three-wheeled vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine and weighing less than one thousand four hundred and ninety-nine (1,499) pounds. An off-road motorcycle is primarily designed for use off highways for recreational riding on dirt trails, but is not limited to this purpose.

"Operator" means any person who is in actual physical control of off-road equipment or vehicle equipped with a transport refrigeration unit.

"School" means any public or private school used for the purposes of education and instruction of more than twelve (12) school pupils at or below the twelfth (12th) grade level, but does not include any private school in which education and instruction is conducted primarily in private homes. The term "school" includes any building or structure, playground, athletic field, or other area of school property, but excludes unimproved school property.

"Transport refrigeration unit" or "TRU" means a refrigeration system powered by an engine designed to control the environment of temperature sensitive cargo.

"Vehicle" means any on-road, self-propelled vehicle that is required to be registered and have a license plate by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

"Vehicle/equipment/TRU owner" means the registered owner, owner, lessee, licensee, or bailee of any heavy-duty vehicle, piece of off-road equipment, or TRU who operates or directs the operation of the vehicle, equipment, or TRU on either a for-hire or not-for-hire basis. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

This chapter shall apply only to the operation of vehicles with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating greater than fourteen thousand (14,000) pounds, all TRUs, and off-road equipment with a horsepower rating of fifty (50) or greater. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

A. Except as provided in Section 8.116.080, a driver of a vehicle that is subject to this chapter:

1. Shall turn off the vehicle's engine upon stopping at a destination; and

2. Shall not cause or allow a vehicle engine to idle at any location for:

a. More than five consecutive minutes, or

b. Periods aggregating more than five minutes in any one-hour period.

B. Except as provided in Section 8.116.080, an operator of off-road equipment that is subject to this chapter shall not cause or allow off-road equipment to idle at any location for:

1. More than five consecutive minutes; or

2. Periods aggregating more than five minutes in any one-hour period. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

Except as provided in Section 8.116.080, an operator of a vehicle equipped with a TRU shall not cause or allow a TRU to operate within one hundred (100) feet of a dwelling unit or school while the vehicle is stationary. This limitation on the operation of a TRU shall not apply during the loading or unloading of cargo and during the thirty (30) minutes immediately preceding the loading or unloading of cargo. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

A vehicle/equipment/TRU owner shall comply with the following notification and recordkeeping requirements:

A. Inform the vehicle driver or off-road equipment or TRU operator, upon employment and at least once per year thereafter, of the limitations on engine idling and the operation of TRUs contained in this chapter and the penalties for violation of the provisions of this chapter;

B. Upon renting or leasing a vehicle, off-road equipment, or TRU, provide written notification to the renter or lessee of the limitations on engine idling and the operation of TRUs contained in this chapter and the penalties for violation of the provisions of this chapter;

C. Review all complaints of non-compliance with and enforcement actions undertaken under this chapter involving the owner's vehicle, off-road equipment, or TRU and take remedial action against the subject of the complaint or enforcement action as the owner deems necessary;

D. Keep records of compliance with the requirements of this Section 8.116.060 for at least three years and make the records available to city enforcement personnel within three business days of their request for the records. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

A private property owner shall not allow a vehicle, off-road equipment, or TRU that is subject to this chapter and that is located on the owner's property to violate this chapter. A private property owner shall notify drivers, owners, and operators of vehicles, off-road equipment, and TRUs entering the owner's private property of the requirements of this chapter. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

The following periods of idling by a vehicle or off-road equipment and of operation of a TRU shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter:

A. Idling or operation of a TRU while stopped:

1. For an official traffic control device,

2. For an official traffic control signal,

3. For traffic conditions over which the driver has no control, including, but not limited to: traffic congestion, a railroad crossing while a train is passing or crossbars are down, or for traffic controls in a construction zone, or

4. At the direction of a peace officer;

B. Idling as needed to ascertain that a vehicle, off road equipment, or TRU is in safe operating condition and equipped as required by all provisions of law, and all equipment is in good working order, either as part of the daily vehicle inspection, or as otherwise needed;

C. Idling as needed for testing, servicing, repairing, or diagnostic purposes;

D. Idling for the period recommended by the manufacturer to cool down a turbo-charged heavy-duty vehicle before turning the engine off;

E. Idling as needed to operate auxiliary equipment for which the vehicle or off road equipment was designed, other than transporting goods, such as: operating a TRU, lift, crane, pump, drill, hoist, ready mixed concrete mixer, or other auxiliary equipment, except a heater or air conditioner;

F. Idling as needed to operate a lift or other piece of equipment designed to ensure safe loading and unloading of goods and people;

G. Idling as needed to operate defrosters, heaters, air conditioners, or other equipment:

1. To prevent a safety or health emergency, or

2. For a paratransit vehicle passenger who has a disability or health condition that would be critically aggravated if the vehicle were not maintained at a controlled temperature, or

3. For driver comfort when a vehicle driver is required by law to have rest time. In the case of driver comfort, the driver may only idle the engine at a designated rest area or truck stop and shall not idle the engine within one hundred (100) feet of a dwelling unit or school;

H. Idling solely to recharge a battery or other energy storage unit of a hybrid electric vehicle / equipment; or

I. Idling a bus for up to ten (10) minutes prior to passenger boarding or when passengers are on board. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to allow idling in excess of other applicable laws, including, but not limited to:

A. Title 13 California Code of Regulations Section 1226;

B. Title 13 California Code of Regulations Section 2480;

C. Vehicle Code Section 22515; or

D. Any other local ordinance or requirement as stringent as, or more stringent than this chapter. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

A. Any person violating any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of an infraction.

B. In addition to criminal sanctions and other remedies set forth in this title, administrative penalties may be imposed pursuant to Chapter 1.28 of this code against any person violating any provision of this chapter. Imposition, enforcement, collection and administrative review of administrative penalties imposed shall be conducted pursuant to Chapter 1.28 of this code.

C. A violation of any provision of this chapter is declared to be a public nuisance subject to abatement pursuant to Section 731 of the Code of Civil Procedure or pursuant to the procedures specified in Title 8 of this code. The City Attorney, in the name of and on behalf of the city and the people of the state of California, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction to enforce any provision of this chapter, or to restrain or abate any violation of the provisions of this chapter as a public nuisance. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)

The city manager or his or her designee shall enforce each and all of the provisions of this chapter. (Ord. 2004-051 § 1)