Chapter 8.50
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE, WILDFIRE RISK, AND FLOOD HAZARD AREA PROTECTION
Sections:
8.50.010 Findings and purpose.
8.50.030 Prohibited activities.
8.50.050 Interference/interference with abatement.
8.50.070 Ability to pay determination.
8.50.090 Interpretation and amendments to state laws/relation to other laws.
8.50.010 Findings and purpose.
The city council finds as follows: an immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare, including the risk of physical harm, loss and/or damage to property, and impairment or prevention of access to areas to provide emergency aid or rescue efforts, exists with the potential destruction of, damage to, or interference with:
A. Infrastructure critical to the provision of public services including law enforcement, fire prevention, transportation, education, governmental operations, and utilities, including electricity, communications, water, and waste disposal;
B. Critical infrastructure caused by fire, flood, contamination, blocked access, or other causes; and
C. Critical infrastructure caused by persons whose activities are not permitted or authorized in, on, or near critical infrastructure.
The purpose of this chapter is to mitigate these threats to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, including authorizing the removal of persons and their personal property in, on, or near critical infrastructure. (Ord. 533 (8/1/23) §1 (Att. A), 2023)
8.50.020 Definitions.
When used in this chapter, the following words and phrases have the following meanings:
"Blue line stream" means a stream or drainage designated as perennial (year-round flow) or intermittent (seasonal flow) by the Angels Camp 7.5 minute quadrangle United States Geological Service (USGS) topographic map.
"Bus stop" means any place where the city or other governmental entity has directed the placement of a sign designating a location where shuttle, trolley, bus service, or other form of public transit stop to service and transport passengers.
"Bus stop area" means the area at a bus stop occupying the entire width of the sidewalks that extends twenty feet before a bus stop sign or bus stop route sign, or, for bus stops furnished with shelter or shelters, the footprint of the shelters, and the entire width of the sidewalk that extends ten feet before and ten feet after the footprint of the shelter. The footprint of a shelter is defined by vertical plans, perpendicular to the ground, extending down from the outermost edges of the shelter overhang or roof.
"Camp" and "camping" mean the placement on public or private property for the purpose of making a living accommodation for one or more nights of tents, tarpaulins, temporary shelters, house trailers, mobile homes, motor vehicles or parts thereof, trailers, cooking facilities, cots, ground covers, bedding, hammocks, backpacks, sleeping bags and other equipment of a similar nature used to live temporarily in the outdoors.
"Camp facilities" include, but are not limited to, tents, huts, or temporary shelters.
"Camp paraphernalia" includes, but is not limited to, tarpaulins, cots, beds, sleeping bags, hammocks, or non-city designated cooking facilities and similar equipment.
"Critical infrastructure" means the boundaries of real property or boundaries of a parcel containing a facility, whether privately or publicly owned, that the city administrator designates as being so vital and integral to the operation or functioning of the city or in need of protection that its damage, incapacity, disruption, or destruction would have a debilitating impact on the public health, safety, or welfare. Critical infrastructure may include, but is not limited to: government buildings including fire and rescue stations, police stations, transit facilities, jails, courthouses, public utility plant facilities including vehicle and equipment storage areas; hospitals, medical facilities, emergency care, urgent care, ambulance services, evacuation centers, food pantries; schools, youth-serving facilities; water and wastewater facilities including treatment, pumping, generation, storage, and distribution facilities; power generating facilities; electrical facilities; structures, such as antennas, bridges, roads, train tracks, waterways, drainage systems, dams, levees; or systems, such as computer networks, public utilities, electrical wires, natural gas or propane pipes, telecommunication centers, or water sources including blue line streams. Critical facilities include: transportation lifeline systems including airports, heliports and critical highways, roads, bridges and related transportation systems (critical highways, roads, bridges and related transportation systems will be determined during hazard-specific evacuation planning); at-risk population centers including, without limitation, preschools, public and private primary and secondary schools, before and after school care centers with twelve or more students, day care centers with twelve or more children, group homes, and assisted living or congregate care facilities with twelve or more residents; hazardous materials facilities including, without limitation, any facility that could, if adversely impacted, release hazardous materials in sufficient amounts during a hazard event that would create harm to the people, environment or property. Critical infrastructure includes those facilities identified as critical infrastructure and facilities in the Calaveras County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan 2021, and as may be amended, for the city of Angels.
"Encampment" means one or more camp facilities and/or camping paraphernalia being used, occupied, or stored on public property other than the use of a lawfully established public campground. "Encampment" specifically does not include an item or collection of items that reasonably appear to be for less than twelve-hour, daytime-only use, such as items brought to a park for a picnic, nap, or daytime party or gathering.
"Facility" means a building, structure, equipment, system, or asset.
"Fire prevention official" means the fire chief or designee.
Fire Severity Zones. California law requires CAL FIRE to identify areas based on the severity of the fire danger expected to prevail there. These zones or "zones" are based on factors such as fuel, slope, and fire weather. There are three zones according to the increased fire hazard: medium, high and very high. See also "Wildfire risk area."
"Flood hazard area" includes those areas encompassed by Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FEMA FIRM) designated as having a one percent or higher chance of experiencing a flood each year (i.e., areas other than those mapped as Zone X).
"Garbage" includes all kitchen and table food waste, and animal or vegetable waste that attends or results from the storage, preparation, cooking or handling of, foodstuffs.
"Hazardous waste" has the same meaning as in California Public Resources Code Section 40141.
"Infectious waste" has the same meaning as in California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 17225.36.
"Refuse" includes garbage and rubbish.
"Solid waste or wastes" includes all putrescible and nonputrescible solid and semisolid wastes, such as refuse, garbage, rubbish, paper, ashes, industrial wastes, demolition and construction wastes, abandoned vehicles and parts thereof, discarded home and industrial appliances, manure, vegetable or animal solid and semisolid wastes and other discarded solid and semisolid wastes, and also includes liquid wastes disposed of in conjunction with solid waste disposal sites.
"Wildfire risk area" has the same meaning as in California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 9, Section 202.
"Youth-serving facility" means child day care facilities, preschools, public or private primary or secondary schools, public libraries, and city playgrounds and parks. (Ord. 533 (8/1/23) §1 (Att. A), 2023)
8.50.030 Prohibited activities.
A. It is unlawful and a public nuisance for any person to store personal property, including camp facilities and camp paraphernalia, or to camp, sit, lie, sleep, or occupy camp facilities, or use camp paraphernalia in the following locations, except as otherwise provided by resolution of the city council:
Critical Infrastructure:
1. Within fifty feet of critical infrastructure;
2. Within fifty feet of a vehicular or pedestrian entrance or exit of critical infrastructure;
3. On those portions of a right-of-way that are required by local, state, or federal law to be free of obstruction to first responders, including, but not limited to, members of law enforcement, fire prevention, or emergency medical services agencies;
4. Areas designated as a fire severity zone;
5. Areas designated as a flood hazard area;
6. In a public right-of-way;
7. In such a manner that impedes passage, as provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L, No. 101-336, 104 Stat. 328 (1990), as may be amended from time to time;
8. In a manner that blocks or impedes access to city-owned or leased equipment or buildings, or impedes city staff from performance of inspection, maintenance, or repairs of city-owned property;
9. No person shall camp, sit, lie, sleep, or store their belongings within fifty feet of any fire hydrant, or other fire department connection; or
10. No person shall camp, sit, lie, sleep, or store their belongings within fifty feet outside a designated facility that provides shelter, safe sleeping, or safe parking to homeless persons or that serves as a homeless services navigation center.
B. To protect the health and safety of schoolchildren, no person shall camp, sit, lie, sleep, or store their belongings in or upon any public street/highway, bike path, pedestrian path, green belt, median island, alley, sidewalk, crosswalk or other public place or way open for pedestrian or vehicular travel in or within two hundred fifty feet of a youth-serving facility at any time.
C. No person shall camp, sit, lie, sleep, or store their belongings in or upon any public street/highway, bike path, pedestrian path, green belt, median island, alley, sidewalk, crosswalk, or other public place or way open for pedestrian or vehicular travel that has signage prohibiting such activities. The city council may designate a section of the public right-of-way as prohibiting such activities under this section if a section of the right-of-way poses a particular and ongoing threat to public health or safety. Such circumstances may include, but are not limited to: (1) the death or serious bodily injury of any person at the location due to a hazardous condition; (2) repeated serious or violent crimes at the location; or (3) the occurrence of fires that resulted in a fire department response to the location. For each such location, a prohibition pursuant to this subsection shall be effective for a period of time specified in the resolution, but not to exceed one year.
D. Nothing in this chapter is intended to prohibit or make unlawful the activities of an owner of private property or other lawful user of private property that are normally associated with and incidental to the lawful and authorized use of private property for residential or other purposes; and nothing is intended to prohibit or make unlawful the activities of a property owner or other lawful user if such activities are expressly authorized by Title 17 or other laws, ordinances, and regulations.
E. The provisions of this section do not prohibit a person from sitting or standing in a public place if:
1. Such person is viewing a legally conducted parade or similar permitted temporary event; or
2. Such person is seated for less than one hour on a bench lawfully installed for such purpose;
3. Person(s) engaged in maintenance, repair, or construction activity on behalf of a governmental entity or a public utility. (Ord. 533 (8/1/23) §1 (Att. A), 2023)
8.50.040 Abatement.
A. Any violation of Section 8.50.030 may result in abatement of an occupant’s personal property after providing them with no less than twenty-four hours’ written notice that the occupant’s camp, camp paraphernalia, or camp facility is located in or on a designated critical infrastructure, fire severity zone, or flood hazard area.
B. Summary abatement without prior notice is warranted when conditions or violations are so severe that immediate action is required to prevent the serious threat of harm.
C. Prior to directing a person to remove camp facilities or prior to removing the camp facilities, the enforcing employee shall offer information to the occupant(s) regarding any available housing or shelter and other health and human services that said employee reasonably believes are relevant to the occupant(s) and their individual circumstances.
D. Abatement in accordance with subsections A and B of this section may include, but is not limited to, removal of camp facilities, camp paraphernalia, personal property, garbage, hazardous waste, infectious waste, junk, or refuse; and securing the perimeter of the property with fencing, gates, or barricades to prevent further occurrences of the nuisance activity.
E. Regardless of the city’s authority to conduct abatement pursuant to this section, every owner, occupant, or lessee of real property, and every holder of any interest in real property, is required to maintain the property in compliance with the City of Angels Municipal Code, and applicable provisions of state and federal law, and is liable for violations thereof.
F. The cost of abatement, including all administrative costs of any action taken hereunder, may be assessed against the subject premises as a lien, made a personal obligation of the owner, or both, in accordance with procedures in Chapters 1.16, 1.17, 1.18 and 1.19.
G. Any lawful medication and valuable personal property shall be inventoried and maintained at an appropriate alternative location in the judgment of the enforcement officer, for at least seventy-two hours before other disposition, with notification provided to the apparent owner(s) as to retrieval procedures.
H. The abatement authority provided in this chapter shall be cumulative and in addition to any other procedures provided by the laws of the city or the state for the abatement of any of the conditions described in this chapter, and abatement pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall not prejudice or affect any other action, civil or criminal, for the abatement of any such condition. (Ord. 533 (8/1/23) §1 (Att. A), 2023)
8.50.050 Interference/interference with abatement.
In accordance with California Penal Code Section 148, every person who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any public officer, peace officer, or an emergency medical technician, as defined in Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 1797) of the Health and Safety Code, in the discharge or attempt to discharge any duty of his or her office or employment to enforce this chapter shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. (Ord. 533 (8/1/23) §1 (Att. A), 2023)
8.50.060 Violation--Penalty.
A. Violations of this chapter are hereby declared to be a public nuisance.
B. In addition to any other remedy allowed by law, any person who violates a provision of this chapter is subject to criminal, civil, and administrative penalties pursuant to Chapters 1.16, 1.17, 1.18, and 1.19.
C. All remedies prescribed under this chapter are cumulative and the election of one or more remedies does not bar the city from the pursuit of any other remedy to enforce this chapter.
D. Nothing in this chapter shall limit or preclude the enforcement of any other applicable laws or remedies available for violations of this chapter. (Ord. 533 (8/1/23) §1 (Att. A), 2023)
8.50.070 Ability to pay determination.
A. Any fine issued pursuant to this chapter will be accompanied with a notice of and instruction regarding the right to request an ability-to-pay determination.
B. If the requestor is receiving public benefits under Government Code Section 68632, subdivision (a), or has a monthly income which is one hundred twenty-five percent or less than the current poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the requestor’s administrative fine shall be waived and the violator shall instead be subject to:
1. Completing community service in lieu of paying the total administrative fine; or
2. Offered an alternative disposition.
C. Fine waiver and alternative disposition shall not be applicable to violators who have access to adequate temporary shelter but choose not to use it. (Ord. 533 (8/1/23) §1 (Att. A), 2023)
8.50.080 Enforcement.
City officers and employees, including but not limited to (A) the city of Angels police department, (B) the city’s code compliance division, (C) public works personnel, (D) city of Angels fire department or (E) other local law enforcement are authorized to administer and enforce this chapter.
The city administrator or designee is hereby authorized to promulgate rules, protocols, and procedures for the implementation of this chapter. (Ord. 533 (8/1/23) §1 (Att. A), 2023)
8.50.090 Interpretation and amendments to state laws/relation to other laws.
A. Nothing in this chapter is meant to preempt or otherwise replace the enforcement of violations under the City of Angels Municipal Code or as otherwise permitted under law.
B. Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any requirement, power, or duty in conflict with any federal or state law.
C. In enacting and implementing this chapter, the city is assuming an undertaking to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing upon its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such breach proximately caused injury.
D. In the event that any California statute adopted or referred to in this chapter is amended or succeeded by another enactment of the California Legislature, it shall be deemed such amendments shall be automatically deemed adopted as part of this chapter as if fully set forth herein. (Ord. 533 (8/1/23) §1 (Att. A), 2023)