Ventura County Municipal Code Art. 1 Nuisance

It is the duty of the Health Officer whenever he shall cause to suspect that any violation of this Chapter exists in any house, garage, shed, cellar, or building of any kind, to enter upon such premises in the daytime and inspect to determine whether or not such violation exists thereon.

Whenever the Health Officer shall have cause to suspect that any violation of this Chapter exists upon any premises, he may, after displaying identification, demand entry thereon in the daytime. Every person who owns, occupies or otherwise is then in possession of such premises and who, after such display and demand, refuses or wilfully delays to open the same and admit an inspection thereof shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to punishment upon conviction thereof by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars ($50.00) or by imprisonment in the County jail for not over five (5) days or by both such fine and imprisonment.

The Health Officer shall furnish each of his deputies and inspectors with identification in such form as he shall prescribe.

Any dwellings which are improperly constructed or liable from overcrowding or filth to become dangerous to the public health or to disseminate contagious or infectious disease or are not provided with privies, waterclosets, sewers, drains or cesspools which are properly tapped, shall constitute a nuisance.

Whenever a nuisance endangering the public health shall in the opinion of the Health Officer be ascertained to exist on any premises or in any dwelling or other place, the Health Officer shall notify in writing the owner of such premises or dwelling, his agent or the person having control of such premises, dwelling or other place, to abate or remove the nuisance.

The written notice required by Section 4111-1 shall state the Section or Sections of this Chapter being violated and the specific nature of the violation and shall grant at least five (5) days for the person notified in accordance with Section 4111-1, to abate or remove the nuisance, provided that such notice need grant only twenty-four (24) hours in cases of violation of Section 4114.

Upon the neglect or refusal of any owner, his agent or the person having control of any premises or dwellings as are referred to in Section 4111 to comply with a notice given under Section 4111-1, the Health Officer may abate such nuisance and the owner of such premises or dwelling, his agent or the person having control of the premises or dwelling shall be liable to the County for the cost of such abatement to be recovered in a civil action, or the Health Officer may report the violation to the Board who shall at once require the District Attorney to take the necessary steps to have the nuisance abated.

Every person maintaining any toilet, wash room or bath or shower room for the use of the public, shall at all times keep the floors, walls, ceilings, lavatory, urinal and toilet bowl free of any accumulation of dirt, filth or corrosion. All lavatories shall be supplied with soap and individual towels with a receptacle for their disposal. All such toilet rooms shall be provided with toilet paper.

No cesspool or watercloset shall be allowed by the owner or other person in charge of the premises upon which the same may be situated, to become foul or offensive; and when, in the opinion of the Health Officer, any such privy, closet or cesspool shall need cleaning or disinfecting, it shall be the duty of the Health Officer to notify such owner or other person having control to abate the same by disinfecting or cleaning, as in the judgment of said officer may be necessary.

Every person who places, discharges, or dumps, or who causes or allows the placing, discharging, or dumping, or who causes or allows the overflow or upward percolation of, or who, being a lessor or landlord of any land or premises, has a lessee or tenant thereon who causes or allows the overflow or upward percolation of, any sludge, cesspool or septic tank effluent, human excrement or urine, waste fluids or slop water from slaughtering or other manufacturing operations, or sewage of any kind, in or onto the surface of the ground in any place, public or private, including any watercourse, whether dry or not, or any place mentioned in Section 4475 of the Health and Safety Code, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

The provisions of this Chapter shall not be construed to prohibit or interfere with ordinary or reasonable processes of agriculture including fertilization of orchards, gardens or farms, nor with the ordinary and reasonable feeding and pasturing of domestic animals.

The provisions of this Chapter shall not be construed to apply to any premises, buildings, structures or equipment referred to in Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code of the State of California, or in Division 2, Part 9, Chapter 1, Article 4 of the Labor Code; nor shall this Chapter be construed to apply to any supervised public park or public camp or picnic ground owned, operated and/or maintained by the Federal Government, the State of California or any agency of said State or by any political subdivision or municipality.