Yucca Valley Municipal Code Ch. 6.04 Abatement of Public Nuisances

It is hereby declared to be in the public interest to promote the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the town by providing a summary procedure for the abatement of nuisances, which abatement procedures shall be in addition to all other proceedings by this code or otherwise by law. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996)

For the purpose of this chapter the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given herein:

GARBAGE OR RUBBISH: Includes, but is not limited to, trash, wastepaper, old or scrap trash or wood, general trash, cardboard or other flammable material of any kind or garbage including decaying waste or discarded food, meat, fish, animal or vegetable matter, including any hazardous materials or waste, oil, gasoline or diesel products, any of which by their volume, extent or nature endangers the public safety by creating a health or fire hazard.

GRAFFITI: Any unauthorized inscribing, word, figure or design which is marked, etched, scratched, drawn, painted, pasted or otherwise affixed to or on any surface, regardless of the nature of the material of that structural component, to the extent the same was not authorized in advance by the owner thereof, or, despite advance authorization, is otherwise deemed by the town council to be a public nuisance.

INFECTIOUS AND RELATED WASTES AND ODORS: Including from: hospitals and medical facilities, sewers, cesspools, septic tanks, leach lines and fields (whether of individual or multiple ownership), toilets, holding tanks, seepage pits, butcher offal, pet droppings, excrement, urine, laundry water, manure accumulations, dead animals, putrid matter and similar materials under circumstances endangering the public health and safety.

INOPERATIVE VEHICLE: Any motor vehicle which is unregistered, improperly registered or which is without current state license tags unless the state expressly exempts such vehicles from registration requirements; bears the license tags of another vehicle; is disabled; is dismantled or partially dismantled; is substantially damaged or in disrepair; or is unable to pass inspection by the State Department of Motor Vehicles.

JUNK: Includes any secondhand or used machinery and scrap metal, including, but not limited to, appliances, rubber tools, implements, or parts thereof, batteries, rope, rags or plastic, any of which are gathered together or stored in a manner to constitute a hazard to public health or safety.

POLLUTED WATER: Water contained in a swimming pool, pond or other body of water, which includes, but is not limited to, bacterial growth including algae, remains of rubbish, refuse, debris, paper or any other foreign matter or material which because of its nature or location constitutes an unhealthy or unsafe condition.

UNSIGHTLY PROPERTY: Includes any property or building or structure in a defective or unsightly condition, or in such a state of deterioration or disrepair that it causes or will cause an ascertainable diminution of the property values of surrounding properties or is otherwise materially detrimental to adjacent and/or nearby properties and improvements.

WEEDS: Useless and troublesome plants generally accepted as having no value and frequently of uncontrolled growth. Weeds do not include any plant protected under state or federal law and include, but are not limited to, the following:

A. Brush which attains growth so as to become when dry a fire menace to adjacent improved property;

B. Growth which is noxious or dangerous;

C. Poison oak, poison ivy, castor beans or any other poisonous plant when the growth conditions are such as to constitute a significant hazard to public health;

D. Dry grass, rubble, brush, litter or any flammable material which by its volume, extent or nature endangers the public safety by creating a fire hazard. (Ord. 58, 7-20-1995; amd. Ord. 64, 3-7-1996; Ord. 328, 4-15-2025)

It is unlawful and is hereby declared a nuisance for any person owning, leasing, renting, occupying, charged with the management of or having charge or possession of any property in the town to maintain or fail to maintain the property in such a manner that any of the following conditions are present:

A. Garbage, graffiti, infectious and related wastes and odors, junk, polluted water, rubbish or unsightly property.

B. Improper or illegal deposit of rubbish, garbage, junk or weeds, and infectious and related wastes and odors, including the deposit in or onto the surface of the ground or in, on or around any structure or into a lake, river, stream or flood control channel.

C. Any condition posing a hazard to the public by obscuring visibility of or at any public right of way, road intersection or pedestrian walkway.

D. To conduct building or demolition-related activities between the hours of ten o'clock (10:00) P.M. and seven o'clock (7:00) A.M. in a residential area, and between the hours of ten o'clock (10:00) P.M. and five o'clock (5:00) A.M. in a commercial or industrial area. Limits on construction hours may be waived during an emergency.

E. It shall be the duty of any person owning, leasing, renting, occupying, charged with the management of or having charge or possession of any property in the town to remove, abate and prevent the occurrence or reoccurrence of a public nuisance upon such property. Any recurrence of a condition may be deemed to be a continuation of the original condition.

F. Outdoor parking or storage of any recreational vehicle, camper, or travel trailer on any property unless the property contains a primary, permitted dwelling, in which case a maximum of two (2) such vehicles in operable and road-worthy condition registered to the person(s) owning, leasing, renting, occupying, or having possession of the property, may be stored.

G. Any inoperative vehicle, or part thereof, unless kept, placed, parked, or stored inside of a completely enclosed, lawfully constructed building or structure. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996; amd. Ord. 328, 4-15-2025)

A. Whenever the town manager, code enforcement officer or his designee determines that any condition on the property within the town constitutes a nuisance as declared hereinabove, such person shall issue a notice to abate by either of the following methods:

1. Mailing to the owner at the address shown on the last available assessment roll and to any occupant of the property; or

2. By personal service on the owner, occupants, or person in charge of the property.

B. The notice to abate shall be substantially in the form kept on file in the office of the town clerk. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996; amd. 2000 Code)

Original notice as provided in section 6.04.040 of this chapter shall also state application may be made within ten (10) days of notification for a hearing before the hearing officer to determine whether the structure or property is a public nuisance and whether the action demanded in said notice is necessary to comply with the requirements of this chapter. Application for a hearing must be made in writing within the said time to the town manager and, upon receipt of a sufficient signed application, the town manager shall set a hearing and notify the applicant thereof by mail to the address set forth in the application. This notice shall name the date for hearing, and said hearing shall be held not less than ten (10) days from giving notice thereof if the owner resides within the town of Yucca Valley, or thirty (30) days if the owner resides outside of the town of Yucca Valley except by agreement of the applicant and the town manager, with consent of the hearing officer if he has been appointed. (Ord. 214, 5-18-2010)

A. At the time stated in the notice, the hearing officer shall hear and consider all relevant evidence, objections or protests, and shall receive testimony under oath relative to such alleged public nuisance and to proposed rehabilitation, repair, removal or demolition of such property. Said hearing may be continued from time to time.

B. If the hearing officer finds that such public nuisance does exist and that there is a sufficient cause to rehabilitate, demolish, remove or repair the same, the hearing officer shall prepare findings and an order, which shall specify the nature of the nuisance, the method(s) of abatement and the time within which the work shall be commenced and completed. A copy of the findings and order shall be served on all owners of the subject property. In addition, a copy of the findings and order shall be forthwith conspicuously posted on or near the property. The decision of the hearing officer shall be final and conclusive. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996)

A. All hearings shall be tape recorded.

B. Hearings need not be conducted according to the technical rules of evidence.

C. Hearsay evidence may be used for the purpose of supplementing or explaining any direct evidence, but shall not be sufficient in itself to support a finding unless it would be admissible over objection in civil actions in courts of competent jurisdiction in this state. Any relevant evidence shall be admitted if it is the type of evidence on which reasonable persons are accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs, regardless of the existence of any common law or statutory rule which might make improper the admission of such evidence over objection in civil actions in courts of competent jurisdiction in this state.

D. Oral evidence shall be taken only on oath or affirmation.

E. Irrelevant and unduly repetitious evidence shall be excluded. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996)

If the nuisance is not completely abated by the owner, as directed, within the time set forth above, then the town manager shall cause the same to be abated by town personnel or private contract, and entry upon the premises is expressly authorized for such purposes. Upon completion of the abatement by direction of the town manager, the town manager shall cause a statement of the costs thereof to be prepared for submission to the town council. The town manager shall set a time and place for the town council to receive and consider the statement of costs, and shall serve on the owner or owners of the property a copy of the statement of costs and a notice of the time and place at which the town council will receive and consider the statement of costs. The statement of costs and the notice of hearing shall be served on the owner(s) of the property in the same manner as is provided in section 6.04.040 of this chapter and shall be accompanied by a copy of this chapter. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996)

At the time and place set for receiving and considering the statement of costs, the town council shall hear and pass upon the statement together with any objections or protests raised by any of the persons liable to be assessed for the cost of abating the nuisance. Thereupon, the town council may make any such revision, correction or modification to the statement of costs as it may deem appropriate, after which the statement as submitted, or as revised, corrected or modified, shall be confirmed by resolution. Such hearing may be continued from time to time. The decision of the town council shall be final. The town clerk shall give notice of the town council's decision regarding the statement of costs to the owner(s) of said property in the manner set forth in section 6.04.040 of this chapter. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996)

The costs of abatement of a nuisance, as confirmed by resolution of the town council, shall constitute a special assessment against the property to which it relates, and after its recording, as thus made and confirmed, the same shall constitute a lien on said property in the amount of such assessment. After the confirmation of the statement, a copy thereof shall be recorded in the official records of San Bernardino County and shall be transmitted to the assessor and tax collector of the county of San Bernardino by the town clerk. Whereupon it shall be the duty of said assessor and tax collector to add the amount of such assessment, or assessments, to the next regular bills of taxes levied against the said respective lot or parcel of land, and thereafter said amount shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary real property taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure for foreclosure and sale in the case of delinquency as provided for ordinary real property taxes. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996)

Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to prevent the town council from ordering the town attorney to commence a civil action or other judicial or administrative proceeding to abate the alleged nuisance or to obtain any other appropriate remedy in addition to, as an alternative to, or in conjunction with the procedures authorized by this chapter. Nor shall the implementation of this chapter be deemed to prevent appropriate authorities from commencing a criminal action based upon the conditions constituting the alleged nuisance. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996)

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, whenever the town manager determines that any real property or any building, structure or condition thereof is dangerous or constitutes an immediate threat to public health or safety, he shall, without being required to observe the provisions of this chapter with reference to abatement procedures, immediately and forthwith abate such public nuisance. Where such condition and the abatement is immediately required, the town manager shall prepare a statement of costs in respect thereto, and the provisions of sections 6.04.070 through 6.04.090 of this chapter shall apply. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996)

Every person who causes or maintains any public nuisance as defined in this chapter, or who fails to comply with an order of abatement made pursuant to this chapter, is guilty of a violation of this chapter and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of chapter 1.02 of this code. (Ord. 64, 3-7-1996)