San Fernando Municipal Code Art. V Nuisances

In addition to other penalties provided by law, any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any provision of this Code shall be deemed a public nuisance and may be summarily abated as such by the city, and each day such condition continues shall constitute a new and separate offense.

(Ord. No. 1538, § 1, 10-21-2002)

(a) The abatement of any public nuisance by the city as prescribed in section 1-151 or elsewhere in this Code shall be at the sole expense of the persons creating, causing, committing or maintaining such nuisance. The cost of abatement of any public nuisance and related administrative costs shall include, but not be limited to: inspection costs; investigation costs; attorneys fees and costs; and costs to repair and eliminate all substandard conditions. All such fees and costs shall be a personal obligation against any person held responsible for creating, causing, committing or maintaining a public nuisance.

(b) The prevailing party in any action, administrative proceeding or special procedure to abate a public nuisance pursuant to this section may recover its reasonable attorneys' fees in those individual actions or proceedings wherein the city elects, at the initiation of that individual action or proceeding, to seek recovery of its own attorneys' fees. In no action, administrative proceeding, or special proceeding shall an award of attorneys' fees to any prevailing party exceed the amount of reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the city in the action or proceeding.

(c) The city may collect the cost of abatement of any nuisance and related administrative costs, including but not limited to inspection costs, investigation costs, attorneys' fees and costs, and costs to repair and eliminate all substandard conditions by either: (i) obtaining a court order stating that this reimbursement requirement is a personal obligation of any person held responsible for creating, causing, committing or maintaining a public nuisance, recoverable by the city in the same manner as any civil judgment; (ii) recording a nuisance abatement lien pursuant to this Code against the parcel of land on which the nuisance is maintained; or (iii) imposing a special assessment pursuant to this Code against the parcel of land on which the nuisance is maintained.

(Ord. No. 1538, § 1, 10-21-2002)

(a) Prior to the recordation of the lien against the parcel of land on which the nuisance is maintained, the owner of record of the parcel of land shall receive notice. The notice of the recordation of the lien against the parcel of land on which the nuisance is maintained shall be served on the owner of record of the parcel of land on which the nuisance is maintained, based on the last equalized assessment roll, or the supplemental roll, whichever is more current. Such notice shall be served in the same manner as a summons in a civil action in accordance with Civil Procedure Code § 415.10 et seq. The date upon which service is made shall be entered on or affixed to the face of the copy of the notice at the time of service. However, service of such notice without such date shall be valid and effective.

(b) A nuisance abatement lien shall be recorded in the county recorder's office and from the date of recording shall have the force, effect, and priority of a judgment lien.

(c) A nuisance abatement lien authorized by this section shall specify the amount of the lien, the name of the agency on whose behalf the lien is imposed, the date of the abatement order, the street address, legal description and assessor's parcel number of the parcel on which the lien is imposed, and the name and address of the recorded owner of the parcel.

(d) In the event that the lien is discharged, released, or satisfied, either through payment or foreclosure, notice of the discharge containing the information specified in subsection (b) of this section of this Code shall be recorded by the city. A nuisance abatement lien and the release of the lien shall be indexed in the grantor-grantee index.

(e) A nuisance abatement lien may be foreclosed by the city as a money judgment. The city may recover from the property owner any costs incurred regarding the processing and recording of the lien and providing notice to the property owner as part of its foreclosure action to enforce the lien or as a condition of removing the lien upon payment.

(Ord. No. 1538, § 1, 10-21-2002)

(a) As an alternative to the recordation of a nuisance abatement lien, the city may make the cost of abatement a special assessment against the parcel of land on which the nuisance is maintained.

(b) Notice shall be given 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. Notice pursuant to this section of this Code 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 pursuant to this section of this Code.

(c) 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 with 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.

(d) The city may conduct a sale of vacant residential developed property for which the payment of that assessment is delinquent, subject to the requirements applicable to the sale of property pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code § 3691.

(e) Notices or instruments relating to the abatement proceeding or special assessment shall be entitled to recordation.

(f) 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 as a nuisance pursuant to subsection (a) of this section of this Code, the court may order such person to pay treble the costs of the abatement. The recovery of treble the costs of abatement of such nuisances as provided in this section of this Code shall not apply to city efforts to abate violations of the building code pursuant to the Health and Safety Code § 17980.

(Ord. No. 1538, § 1, 10-21-2002)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 1581, §§ 1, 3, adopted Apr. 21, 2008, repealed §§ 1-155—1-157 in their entirety. Former §§ 1-155—1-157 pertained to Graffiti abatement—general provision; nuisance abatement lien and special assessment, and derived from Ord. No. 1538, § 1, adopted Oct. 21, 2002.