Santa Barbara County Municipal Code § 1-6 Catchlines of sections

The ordinances embraced in the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated "The Code of Santa Barbara County, California," and may be so cited. It may also be cited as "The Santa Barbara County Code."

For the purposes of this Code the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:

Board of Supervisors. Whenever the words "board of supervisors" are used, they shall be construed to mean the board of supervisors of Santa Barbara County.

Code. The words "the Code" or "this Code" means "The Code of Santa Barbara County, California."

Computation of Time. The time in which any act provided by law is to be done is computed by excluding the first day and including the last day unless the last day is a holiday and then it is also excluded.

County. The words "the county" or "this county" mean the County of Santa Barbara.

Day. A "day" is a period of time between any midnight and the midnight following.

Daytime, Nighttime. "Daytime" is the period of time between sunrise and sunset. "Nighttime" is the period of time between sunset and sunrise.

Gender. The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.

Highways shall include the whole of all public ways, roads, alleys, courts and streets and sidewalks between the property lines forming the exterior lateral boundaries thereof, and those parts of public squares and places which form traveled parts of highways.

In the County. The words "in the county" mean and include all territory over which the county now has, or shall hereafter acquire, jurisdiction for the exercise of its police powers or other regulatory powers.

Joint Authority. All words giving a joint authority to three or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.

Month. The word "month" means a calendar month.

Number. The singular number includes the plural, and the plural, the singular.

Oath. "Oath" includes affirmation.

Officers, Departments, Etc. "Officers, departments, boards, commissions and employees" referred to means officers, departments, boards, commissions and employees of the County of Santa Barbara unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Official Time. Whenever certain hours are named herein they mean Pacific Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time as may be in current use in the county.

Or, And. "Or" may be read "and," and "and" may be read "or," if the sense requires it.

Owner. The word "owner," applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint or tenant by the entirety of the whole or a part of such building or land.

Person. "Person" includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, joint venture, business trust, corporation or company.

Personal property includes every species of property, except real property, as herein defined.

Preceding, Following. The words "preceding" and "following" mean next before and next after, respectively.

Process. Includes a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings of either a civil or criminal nature.

Property. The word "property" shall include real and personal property.

Real Property shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments.

Shall, May. "Shall" is mandatory and "may" is permissive.

Signature or Subscription by Mark. "Signature" or "subscription" includes a mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer's or subscriber's name being written near the mark by a witness who writes his own name near the signer's or subscriber's name; but a signature or subscription by mark can be acknowledged or can serve as a signature or subscription to a sworn statement only when two witnesses so sign their own names thereto.

State. The words "the state" or "this state" shall be construed to mean the State of California.

Tenant or Occupant. The words "tenant" or "occupant," applied to a building or land, shall include any person holding a written or an oral lease of or who occupies, the whole or a part of such building or land either alone or with others.

Tenses. The present tense includes the past and future tenses, and the future includes the present.

Weed. A week consists of seven consecutive days.

Writing. Writing includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, statement or record is required or authorized by this Code, it shall be made in writing in the English language unless it is expressly provided otherwise.

Year. The word "year" shall mean a calendar year, except where otherwise provided.

The provisions appearing in this Code, so far as they are the same as those of ordinances existing at the time of the effective date of this Code, shall be considered as continuations thereof and not as new enactments.

The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.

The repeal of an ordinance shall not affect any punishment or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, nor any suit, prosecution or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal, for any offense committed under the ordinance repealed.

It is hereby declared to be the intention of the board of supervisors that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this Code.

The catchlines of the several sections of this Code are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the section and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such section, nor as any part of the section, nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including the catchlines, are amended or re-enacted.

Whenever in this Code or in any other ordinance of the county or in any rule or regulation promulgated pursuant thereto, any act is prohibited or made or declared to be unlawful or an offense, or the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or a misdemeanor, where no specific penalty is provided for, the violation of any such provision of this Code or any other ordinance, rule or regulation of the county shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Every day any violation of this Code or any other ordinance, rule or regulation of the county shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.

If any person is arrested for violation of any provision of this Code or other ordinance of the county, which violation is punishable as a misdemeanor, and such person is not immediately taken before a magistrate as is provided in the State Penal Code, the arresting officer shall prepare in duplicate a written notice to appear in court, containing the name and address of such person, the offense charged and the time and place where and when such person shall appear in court.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 1)

The time specified in the notice to appear shall be at least five days after such arrest.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 2)

The place specified in the notice to appear shall be the court of the magistrate before whom the person would be taken if the requirement of taking an arrested person before a magistrate were complied with, or shall be an officer authorized by such court to receive a deposit of bail.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 3)

The arresting officer shall deliver one copy of the notice to appear to the arrested person and the arrested person, in order to secure release, shall give his written promise so to appear in court by signing the duplicate notice which shall be retained by the officer. Thereupon, the arresting officer shall forthwith release the person arrested from custody.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 4)

The officer shall, as soon as practicable, file the duplicate notice with the magistrate specified therein. Thereupon the magistrate shall fix the amount of bail which, in his judgment, in accordance with the provisions of section 1275 of the State Penal Code, will be reasonable and sufficient for the appearance of the defendant, and shall endorse upon the notice a statement signed by him in the form set forth in section 815a of the State Penal Code. The defendant may, prior to the date upon which he promised to appear in court, deposit with the magistrate the amount of bail thus set. Thereafter, at the time when the case is called for arraignment before the magistrate, if the defendant shall not appear, either in person or by counsel, the magistrate may declare the bail forfeited and may, in his discretion, order that no further proceedings shall be had in such case.

Upon the making of such order that no further proceedings be had, all sums deposited as bail shall forthwith be paid into the county treasury for distribution pursuant to section 1463 of the State Penal Code.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 5)

No warrant shall issue on such charge for the arrest of a person who has given such written promise to appear in court, unless and until he has violated such promise or has failed to deposit bail, to appear for arraignment, trial or judgment, or to comply with the terms and provisions of the judgment, as required by law.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 6)

The arresting officer and the arrested person shall comply in all respects with applicable state law and, in the event of any change or addition to the state law in conflict with sections 1-8 to 1-17, the state law shall control and shall be complied with.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 7)

Any officer of the county charged with the enforcement of any provision of this Code or any county penal ordinance, or that officer's deputy, may issue citations in compliance with the applicable provisions of the California Penal Code and of sections 1-8 to 1-17 of this Code. The following named public officers and employees are specifically authorized to arrest a person without a warrant and/or to issue citations requiring an appearance to answer charges whenever they have reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested or cited has committed a misdemeanor in the officer's presence which is a violation of the statute or ordinance which the officer or employee has the duty to enforce:

(a) The county building official, any assistant building official, any building code enforcement inspector, any supervising building inspector, and any building engineer inspector, with respect to any violation of chapter 10 or chapter 14 of the Santa Barbara County Code or any uniform or standard codes referred to therein;

(b) The director of public works, any assistant director of public works, any solid waste management supervisor, any refuse inspection supervisor, and any refuse inspector, with respect to any violation of chapter 17 of the Santa Barbara County Code;

(c) The director of resource management, any assistant director of resource management, the zoning administrator and any zoning enforcement officer, with respect to any violation of chapter 21 or chapter 35 of the Santa Barbara County Code;

(d) The public works director, any assistant public works director, any principal engineer, and any petroleum specialist, with respect to any violation of chapter 25 of the Santa Barbara County Code;

(e) The park director, any assistant park director, any park superintendent, any assistant park superintendent, any Park Ranger I, any Park Ranger II, any Park Ranger III, and any agent employed or contracted for to provide lifeguard services, with respect to any violation of the provisions of chapter 26 of the Santa Barbara County Code;

(f) The director of public works, any assistant director of public works, any Civil Engineer I, any Civil Engineer II, any Civil Engineer III, and any Civil Engineer IV, with respect to any violation of chapter 28 of the Santa Barbara County Code.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 8; Ord. No. 3532, § 1)

Any person who willfully violates his written promise to appear in court is guilty of a misdemeanor regardless of the disposition of the charge upon which he was originally arrested.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 9)

When a person signs a written promise to appear at the time and place specified in the written promise to appear and has not posted bail as provided in section 853.1 of the State Penal Code, or as provided in section 1-16 of this Code, the magistrate shall issue and have delivered for execution a warrant for his arrest within twenty days after his failure to appear as promised, or if such person promises to appear before an officer authorized to accept bail, other than a magistrate, and fails to do so on or before the date which he promised to appear, then, within twenty days after the delivery of such written promise to appear by the officer to a magistrate having jurisdiction over the offense.

When such person violates his promise to appear before an officer authorized to receive bail, other than a magistrate the officer shall immediately deliver to the magistrate having jurisdiction over the offense charged the written promise to appear and the complaint, if any, filed by the arresting officer.

(Ord. No. 1242, § 10)