San Diego County Municipal Code Art. XI Enforcement

(a) County representatives, including but not limited to Department of Public Works, authorized enforcement officials, and/or a County designated entity, are authorized to conduct inspections and investigations, scheduled or at random, of any collection container, collection vehicle or vehicle loads, transfer, processing, or disposal facility for discarded materials or source separated materials to confirm compliance with this chapter. This section does not allow the County or authorized designees to enter the interior of a private residential property for inspection. For the purposes of inspecting commercial business or multi-family dwelling containers for compliance with this chapter, the County, its designee, collector, or CRMC may conduct container inspections for prohibited container contaminants using remote monitoring, and commercial businesses and multi-family dwellings shall accommodate and cooperate with the remote monitoring pursuant to this chapter.

(b) A regulated person shall provide or arrange for access during all inspections (with the exception of residential property interiors) and shall cooperate with the County or its designated designee during such inspections and investigations. Such inspections and investigations may include confirmation of proper placement of materials in containers, edible food recovery activities, container labeling, required records, or any other requirement of this chapter. Failure to provide or arrange for required: (i) access to a premises; (ii) installation and operation of remote monitoring equipment; or, (iii) access to records for any inspection or investigation is a violation of this chapter.

(c) Any records obtained by the County or designee during its inspections, remote monitoring, and other reviews shall be subject to the requirements and applicable disclosure exemptions of the Public Records Act as set forth in Government Code section 6250 et seq.

(d) County may receive written complaints from persons regarding collectors, CRMCs, or other regulated persons that may be potentially non-compliant with this chapter. Any persons receiving agreements, certificates, permits, or approvals from the County to conduct discarded materials hauling activities in accordance with this chapter shall as a condition of such agreement, certificate, permit, or approval cooperate in the investigation and resolution of such complaints.

(Added by Ord. No. 10729 (N.S.), effective 6-4-21; amended by Ord. No. 10927 (N.S.), effective 1-10-25)

(a) Enforcement pursuant to this chapter may be undertaken by the authorized enforcement officer designated by the County.

(b) The process for enforcement is as follows:

(1) Authorized enforcement officers will monitor regulated entities' compliance with this chapter or will rely on monitoring conducted by the County, its designee, collector, or CRMC. Monitoring activities may include scheduled or random compliance reviews, route reviews, investigation of complaints, and an inspection program that may include remote monitoring. The term entities as used in this Section shall be read broadly to mean any regulated business or individual.

(2) The County may issue official notifications to inform regulated entities of obligations under this chapter and of violations.

(3) For incidences of prohibited container contaminants found in containers, the County, its designee, collector, or CRMC may issue a contamination notice to any owner, operator, and/or occupant found to have prohibited container contaminants in a container indicating requirements to properly separate materials. Such notice will be provided via a cart tag or other communication, immediately upon identification of the prohibited container contaminants. If prohibited container contaminants are observed on a subsequent occasion within a twelve (12) month period after a notice was given, the collector or CRMC may assess contamination fees on the customer.

(4) County may issue a notice of violation to regulated entities identified to be non-compliant requiring compliance by the regulated entity within sixty (60) days of issuance of the notice of violation; and, County may take enforcement action pursuant to this section 68.611, with the following exceptions: (i) commencing on January 1, 2024, the County shall issue a notice of violation to regulated entities identified as noncompliant with any requirements of Chapter 12 of 14 CCR, Title 14, Division 7, which requires compliance by the regulated entity within sixty (60) days of issuance of the notice of violation; and, County shall take enforcement action pursuant to this section 68.611; and, (ii) violations of prohibited container contamination shall be addressed in accordance with subsection (3) above. The notice of violation shall conform to the requirements of a warning of an administrative citation pursuant to Title 1, Division 8, Chapter 1 of the County Code. The County may, at its option, extend the sixty (60) day compliance period provided to non-compliant entities. Notwithstanding the foregoing, extensions beyond sixty (60) days for instances of noncompliance with any requirement of Chapter 12 of 14 CCR, Title 14, Division 7 may only be provided for extenuating circumstances described in 14 CCR Section 18995.4.

(5) Absent compliance by the regulated entity within the deadline set forth in the notice of violation, County shall commence an action to impose penalties, via an administrative citation, pursuant to Title 1, Division 8, Chapter 1 of the County Code. Notices shall be sent to owner at the official address of the owner maintained by the tax collector for the County or, if no such address is available, to the owner at the address of the residential dwelling or commercial premises or to the party responsible for paying for collection services, depending upon available information. The fines shall be assessed as an infraction by the County in accordance with County Code Section 18.106.

(6) The County may extend the compliance deadlines set forth in a notice of violation issued in accordance with subsection (4) above if it finds that there are extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the non-compliant regulated-entity that make compliance within the deadlines impracticable, including the following:

(i) Acts of God such as earthquakes, wildfires, flooding, and other emergencies or natural disasters;

(ii) Delays in obtaining discretionary permits or other government agency approvals; or,

(iii) Deficiencies in organic waste recycling infrastructure or edible food recovery capacity and the County is under a corrective action plan with the State pursuant to 14 CCR Section 18996.2 due to those deficiencies.

(c) Persons receiving an administrative citation containing a fine or penalty pursuant to subsection (4) above for an uncorrected violation may request a hearing to appeal the citation pursuant to Title 1, Division 8, Chapter 1 of the County Code.

(d) As an alternative to or in conjunction with any procedure specified in this chapter, all violations of this chapter may be addressed in accordance with any County enforcement process or compliance mechanism, including without limitation those specified in Title 1, Division 8 of the County Code.

(Added by Ord. No. 10729 (N.S.), effective 6-4-21; amended by Ord. No. 10927 (N.S.), effective 1-10-25)

An authorized enforcement Officer may enter upon privately owned land in accordance with the Constitution of the United States and the State of California when the officer has probable cause to believe that a violation of this chapter exists. If the owner or occupant of the property refuses to allow the officer to enter, the officer may obtain an inspection warrant pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1822.50.

(Added by Ord. No. 10729 (N.S.), effective 6-4-21; amended by Ord. No. 10927 (N.S.), effective 1-10-25)