San Bernardino Municipal Code Ch. 8.18 Accumulation of Combustible and Non-Combustible Materials

Section

Editor’s note:

This chapter is amended by Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017.

Statutory reference:

For provisions authorizing cities to compel property owners or occupants to remove weeds and rubbish, see Cal. Gov’t Code, §§ 39501 et seq.

(A) (1) The accumulation of any of the following in any yard, lot or upon any premises within the city except within buildings or in containers or receptacles designed for such storage and accumulation is unlawful and a public nuisance and dangerous to public health and safety of the inhabitants of the city: rubbish, refuse, debris, waste material and other matter, including, but not limited to, rocks; bricks; scrap metal and other pieces of metal, ferrous and nonferrous; furniture or parts thereof; vegetation; cans; boxes; barrels; bottles; stores of commercial supplies, and other matter whether usable or not; straw; shavings; sacks; bags; litter; weeds; dry grass, dead trees or shrubs or branches thereof; used lumber or wood; combustible waste; fragments of any nature or kind; sawdust; excelsior; printed matter; paper; pasteboard; cardboard; cardboard boxes; or crockery.

(2) No person, firm or corporation shall allow or permit the aforesaid matter to accumulate or be upon his, her or its premises or upon premises controlled by him, her or it except within buildings or in appropriate containers or receptacles.

(B) The Fire Chief, or his or her authorized representative, hereinafter called “Fire Chief,” or the Director of Community Development and Housing, and his or her authorized representative, hereinafter called “Director,” shall have the right to enter upon private property to determine whether such a public nuisance exists.

(Ord. 3367, passed 8-22-1973; Ord. 3701, passed 1-24-1978; Ord. MC-241, passed 12-21-1982; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017; Ord. MC-1625, passed 2-21-2024)

For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.

DIRECTOR. The Director of Community Development and Housing, and his or her designated representatives.

FIRE CHIEF. The Fire Chief of the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, and his or her designated representatives, within the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District.

NEGLECTED OR ABANDONED ORCHARD. An orchard, or part thereof, where trees, or a substantial portion thereof, are in such a condition that the limbs are moribund, with the leaves or branches of the limbs being dead and where the individual in charge of the orchard is not taking such ordinary care of the orchard as is required for a harvested orchard and is not or has not been watering, discing or spraying such trees for a period of at least six months. The six-month period of time need not be continuous. NEGLECTED OR ABANDONED ORCHARDS in the city are places where the trees constitute a fire hazard, or where vagrants or dissolute persons can dwell, and which constitute ugly and unsightly conditions which adversely affect the neighboring properties, and are places from which agricultural pests develop and spread. Such orchards are public nuisances and dangerous to public health and safety, and shall be abated as a public nuisance utilizing the methods and procedures hereinafter set forth in this chapter.

ORCHARD. Any ten or more trees that are of the type that bear stone fruits, citrus fruits or pome fruits, situated together in a grove.

(Ord. 3367, passed 8-22-1973; Ord. 3518, passed 8-19-1975; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017; Ord. MC-1625, passed 2-21-2024)

(A) The Fire Chief or Director shall notify the owner, occupant or agent thereof, or person in charge or control of the property, each hereinafter referred to as “owner,” personally or by certified mail, of such accumulation and shall conspicuously post such notice in writing on any lot or premises upon which the Fire Chief or Director determines after investigation that such public nuisance exists. Such notice shall bear a title with the words “notice to clean premises” in letters not less than one inch in height, and it shall direct the abatement of the nuisance and refer to this chapter for particulars. Such notice shall require the owner to commence the abatement within five days and to complete such abatement within ten days from the date of the notice. Notices which are served by certified mail shall be addressed to the owner of the property at the address ascertained from title company records or as otherwise known. Service by certified mail shall be deemed complete upon deposit in a public receptacle for United States mail. The notices shall specify that a failure to comply with the notice is a misdemeanor or an infraction.

(B) Any firm, corporation, owner, agent, occupant or person in charge or control of real property who refuses or neglects to remove and abate any accumulation of matter described in § 8.18.010 within the ten-day period set forth in any “notice to clean premises” served upon them shall be guilty of a misdemeanor or an infraction. Each succeeding day that a person, firm or corporation refuses or neglects to remove and abate the matters determined to be a nuisance shall constitute a separate misdemeanor or infraction under this section. In the case of an appeal filed pursuant to § 8.18.040, the time period for required removal and abatement shall be extended as set forth in § 8.18.040.

(C) The Fire Chief or Director shall enforce the provisions of this chapter and are authorized to make arrests and issue notices pursuant to the Cal. Penal Code, Part 2, Title 3, Chapter 5C.

(D) Any person, firm or corporation violating any provision of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor or an infraction, which, upon conviction thereof, is punishable in accordance with the provisions of § 1.12.010.

(E) The conviction of a misdemeanor or an infraction under this chapter shall have no effect on any abatement process or procedure followed by the city.

(Ord. 3367, passed 8-22-1973; Ord. 3701, passed 1-24-1978; Ord. MC-241, passed 12-21-1982; Ord. MC-460, passed 5-15-1985; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

(A) Any notice issued by the Director (i.e., city) shall state that, any time within ten days from the date of posting and service of such notice, any person may appeal the decision of the Director by filing written objections thereto with the City Clerk. The Director shall then cause the matter to be set for hearing before a hearing officer contracted by the city to hear such matters.

(B) Notice of the date of hearing shall be given in writing. The date of the hearing shall be no sooner than 15 days from the date when notice of the hearing is given to the appellant and to the Director.

(C) At the time fixed in the notice, the administrative hearing officer shall hear the testimony of all competent persons desiring to testify respecting the condition constituting the nuisance.

(D) At the conclusion of the hearing, the hearing officer shall determine whether or not a nuisance exists, and if the hearing officer so concludes, he or she may declare the conditions existing to be a nuisance and direct the person owning the property upon which the nuisance exists to abate it within ten days after the date of posting on the premises a notice of the hearing officer’s order. The hearing officer may amend time to abate the nuisance, if, in his or her opinion, there exists good cause for the amendment of time to abate.

(E) The decision of the hearing officer on the determination of nuisance is final. Any appeal of the hearing officer’s decision shall be governed by Cal. Code of Civil Procedure, § 1094.6 or such section as may be amended from time to time.

(F) Any notice issued by the Fire Chief (i.e., county) shall be appealable pursuant to the appeal procedure set forth under Chapter 23.310.

(Ord. 3367, passed 8-22-1973; Ord. 3701, passed 1-24-1978; Ord. 3838, passed 6-19-1979; Ord. MC-344, passed 2-22-1984; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

In the event the nuisance is not abated by the owner, the Fire Chief or Director is authorized to cause such nuisance to be abated by removing the rubbish, refuse, debris, waste material and other matter, including, but not limited to, rocks; bricks; scrap metal and other pieces of metal, both ferrous and non-ferrous; furniture or parts thereof; vegetation; cans; boxes; barrels; bottles; stores of commercial supplies and other matter, whether usable or not; straw; shavings; sacks; bags; litter; weeds; dry grass; dead trees or shrubs or branches thereof; used lumber or wood; combustible waste; fragments of any nature or kind; sawdust; excelsior; printed matter; paper; pasteboard; cardboard; cardboard boxes; or crockery. The Fire Chief or Director and any contractor hired by the city for such purpose shall have the right to enter upon private property to abate the public nuisance.

(Ord. 3367, passed 8-22-1973; Ord. 3701, passed 1-24-1978; Ord. 3838, passed 6-19-1979; Ord. MC-344, passed 2-22-1984; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

(A) The Fire Chief or Director shall thereafter cause a report of the action and an accurate account of the costs to be filed with the City Clerk.

(B) The statement shall be accompanied by a notice to the owner that the cost of abatement may be protested as set forth in § 8.18.063.

(Ord. 3367, passed 8-22-1973; Ord. MC-178, passed 7-7-1982; Ord. MC-344, passed 2-22-1984; Ord. MC-1418, passed 10-5-2015; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

(A) In any action, administrative proceeding or special proceeding to abate a nuisance, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recovery of attorneys’ fees. The recovery of attorneys’ fees by the prevailing party shall be limited to those individual actions or proceedings in which the city elects, at the initiation of that individual action or proceeding, to seek recovery of its own attorneys’ fees.

(B) In no action, administrative proceeding or special proceeding shall an award of attorneys’ fees to a prevailing party exceed the amount of reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred by the city in the action or proceeding. The City Attorney’s office shall thereafter cause a report of the action and an accurate account of costs to be filed with the City Clerk.

(Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

Upon entry of a second or subsequent civil or criminal judgment within a two-year period finding that an owner of property is responsible for a condition that may be abated in accordance with this ordinance, except for conditions abated pursuant to the Cal. Health and Safety Code, § 17980, related to substandard buildings, the court may order the owner to pay treble the costs of the abatement.

(Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

(A) The property owner may protest the cost of abatement by filing a written request for a hearing on the abatement costs with the Fire Chief or Director, whoever caused the nuisance to be abated, and the Fire Chief or Director shall cause a hearing to be set before the administrative hearing officer. At the time fixed for the hearing on the statement of abatement costs, the administrative hearing officer shall consider the statement and protests or objections raised by the person liable to be assessed for the cost of the abatement.

(B) The hearing officer may revise, correct or modify the statement as the hearing officer considers just and thereafter shall confirm the cost.

(C) The decision of the hearing officer shall be in writing and shall be served by mail. The decision of the hearing officer on the abatement costs shall be final.

(D) Any appeal of the hearing officer’s decision shall be governed by Cal. Code of Civil Procedure, § 1094.6 or such section as may be amended from time to time.

(Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

(A) If the property owner does not pay the cost of abating the nuisance within 30 calendar days after the cost becomes final or the hearing officer confirms the costs of abatement, the cost shall become a special assessment against the real property upon which the nuisance was abated. The assessment shall continue until it is paid, together with interest at the legal maximum rate computed from the date of confirmation of the statement until payment. The assessment may be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary municipal taxes are collected and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for ordinary municipal taxes.

(B) The Director shall notify the property owner in writing of the property owner’s right to be publicly heard by City Council prior to City Council adopting a resolution assessing such unpaid costs of abatement as liens upon the respective parcels of land. The notice shall include the date, time and location of the public hearing.

(C) The City Council shall adopt a resolution at a public hearing assessing such unpaid costs of abatement as liens upon the respective parcels of land as they are shown upon the last available assessment roll.

(Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

(A) The City Clerk shall prepare and file with the County Auditor a certified copy of the resolution of the City Council assessing the costs of abatement as a lien on the land, adopted pursuant to § 8.18.065.

(B) Notice of lien shall be mailed by certified mail to the property owner, if the property owner’s identity can be determined from the County Assessor’s or County Recorder’s records. The notice shall be given at the time of imposing the assessment and shall specify that the property may be sold after three years by the Tax Collector for unpaid delinquent assessments. The Tax Collector’s power of sale shall not be affected by the failure of the property owner to receive notice.

(C) The County Auditor shall enter each assessment on the county tax roll upon the parcel of land. The assessment shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary municipal taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same penalties and procedure and sale in case of delinquency as is provided for ordinary municipal taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of municipal taxes shall be applicable to the special assessment. However, if any real property to which the cost of abatement relates has been transferred or conveyed to a bona fide purchaser for value, or if a lien of a bona fide encumbrancer for value has been created and attaches thereon, prior to the date on which the first installment of the taxes would become delinquent, then the cost of abatement shall not result in a lien against the real property but instead shall be transferred to the unsecured roll for collection. The tax collector’s power of sale shall not be affected by the failure of the property owner to receive notice.

(Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

As an additional remedy, the Director may cause a nuisance abatement lien for costs related to abatements, other than dangerous building abatements, to be recorded with the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, pursuant to the provisions of Cal. Gov’t Code, § 38773.1.

(Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

The city may accept payment of any amount due at any time prior to the filing of a certified copy of the City Council resolution assessing the abatement costs with the County Auditor.

(Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

(A) When any of the matter referred to in § 8.18.010 or other materials have been removed from the yard, lot or premises pursuant to the abatement procedures set forth in §§ 8.18.050 and 8.18.060 and have been determined by the Director to be salvageable, the matter and materials shall be inventoried and held and retained by the Director for a period of at least 30 days after written notice that the matter and materials are being held at a specified place for delivery to the owner thereof and a copy of the inventory has been served, by certified mail, to the last address of record, postage prepaid, or by personal delivery, upon the owner.

(B) In the event the owner does not take possession of and remove at his or her own expense the matter and materials from the place where stored by the Director within 30 days after the service upon him or her, the city shall have a lien against the matter and materials for storage charges for the 30-day period, and the matter and materials shall thereafter be appropriated for the use of the city or disposed of or sold at public auction as follows.

(1) Notice of such sale describing the matter and material in sufficient detail for its identification shall be published once by the Director at least five days before the time fixed for the sale in a regularly published newspaper of general circulation in the city.

(2) The matter and materials offered for sale shall be sold to the highest bidder for cash; provided that the Director may, at his or her discretion, fix a minimum sale price and may refuse to sell unless the minimum price is offered.

(3) Proceeds of the auction sale or sales shall be applied towards the cost of abatement of the nuisance and the remainder, if any, shall be deposited with the Department of Finance and Management Services, to be placed in the General Fund thereof; provided that in the event the costs of conducting the auction sale or sales and the storage charges, combined with the costs of abatement, are less than the proceeds, then the balance or difference between the costs and the total proceeds shall be refunded to the owner.

(Ord. 3367, passed 8-22-1973; Ord. MC-344, passed 2-22-1984; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017; Ord. MC-1625, passed 2-21-2024)

(A) If the Fire Chief or Director determines that a nuisance consisting of any or all matter referred to in § 8.18.010 constitutes an urgent public nuisance, he or she shall notify the owner or occupant of the lot or premises to abate the same, and if the nuisance is not abated within 48 hours after service or posting of notice and no appeal to the Fire Chief or Director is pending, then the Fire Chief or Director shall cause the lot or premises to be cleared of all such matter and the nuisance to be abated, and the expense of such clearing shall be a lien on the lot.

(B) The notice given shall state that the finding of an urgent nuisance may be appealed to the City Clerk within 48 hours of receipt. If abatement is ordered upon appeal to the Fire Chief or Director, the abatement shall be completed within 48 hours of the decision.

(C) In any case, the Fire Chief or Director may extend the time within which the nuisance is to be abated if abatement cannot be completed within 48 hours. The notice required under this section shall be in writing and shall be delivered to the owner at the address appearing in records of a title company or as may be known, except if the owner cannot be located after a reasonable, good faith effort, then notice may be delivered to the occupant of the premises or conspicuously posted on such lot or premises. If the owner does not reside within the city, the notice of nuisance may be sent by special delivery mail, and shall be effective 24 hours after mailing. Actual notice by telephone, supplemented by mailing, shall be effective as of the time of the telephoned notice.

(D) The procedures to be followed with respect to the assessment of the expenses of abatement shall be the same as those set forth in § 8.18.060 and Chapter 8.30.

(E) URGENT PUBLIC NUISANCE, as employed in this section, means a condition of property which is a menace to public health or safety or constitutes a fire hazard under conditions which would be judicially determined to be a nuisance per se or a nuisance in fact, or where the destruction or removal of the objectionable items is reasonably necessary under the circumstances to prevent immediate harm to the public.

(Ord. 3367, passed 8-22-1973; Ord. MC-178, passed 7-7-1982; Ord. MC-241, passed 12-21-1982; Ord. MC-279, passed 6-21-1983; Ord. MC-1418, passed 10-5-2015; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

(A) In cases where the Fire Chief of the Director finds the existence of a public emergency or threatening public calamity or where immediate action is essential, he or she may order the abatement of any or all matter referred to in § 8.18.010 without notice or hearing, and the expense of such abatement shall be a lien on the lot.

(B) The matter referred to in § 8.18.010 which may be abated pursuant to this section shall be those things which are by the common or statute law declared to be nuisances per se, or which are in their very nature palpably and indisputably such.

(C) The procedures to be followed with respect to the assessment of the expense of abatement shall be the same as those set forth in § 8.18.060 and Chapter 8.30.

(Ord. MC-280, passed 6-21-1983; Ord. MC-1418, passed 10-5-2015; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)

Any person, partnership, firm or corporation, whether as principal, agent, employee or otherwise, interfering, obstructing or preventing or causing the interference, obstruction or prevention of or with the enforcement or performance of any of the provisions of this chapter by the Fire Chief, Director or other authorized person is guilty of a misdemeanor or an infraction, which, upon conviction thereof, is punishable in accordance with the provisions of § 1.12.010.

(Ord. 3367, passed 8-22-1973; Ord. MC-460, passed 5-15-1985; Ord. MC-1449, passed 11-1-2017)