Chapter 8.15
ABANDONED VEHICLES
Sections:
8.15.010 Policy on abandoned vehicles.
8.15.040 Authorization to remove.
8.15.010 Policy on abandoned vehicles.
(1) It is unlawful to park, store, leave or to permit the parking, storing or leaving of any licensed or unlicensed motor vehicles of any kind for a period in excess of 72 hours on private property within the City of Rio Dell if such vehicles are in rusted, wrecked, junked, partially dismantled, inoperative, or abandoned condition, whether attended or not, unless the same is completely enclosed within a building or unless it is in connection with a business enterprise, operated in a lawful place and manner and licensed as such, when necessary to operation of such business enterprise.
(2) It is unlawful to park, store, leave or to permit the parking, storing or leaving of any licensed or unlicensed motor vehicle of any kind for a period in excess of 72 hours on public streets or public property within the City of Rio Dell which vehicle is in a wrecked, junked, partially dismantled, inoperative, or abandoned condition, whether attended or not. [Ord. 223 § 8.24.010, 1994.]
8.15.020 Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
“Abandoned vehicle” means a vehicle left on a highway, public property, or private property in such inoperable or neglected condition that the owner’s intention to relinquish all further rights or interests in it may be reasonably concluded. A vehicle is presumed to be abandoned if it is left on a highway or public right-of-way and is parked, resting, or otherwise immobilized, lacks an engine, transmission, wheels, tires, doors, windshield or other part of equipment necessary to be operated safely on the highway in this State.
“Dismantled vehicle” means any vehicle that is wholly or partially disassembled.
“Highway” means a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street.
“Inoperative vehicle” means any motor vehicle that cannot be moved under its own power.
“Nuisance” means any thing or condition that annoys, injures or endangers the safety, health, comfort, welfare, or repose of any considerable number of persons; offends the public decency; unlawfully interferes with, obstructs or renders dangerous for passage any public park, square, street, alley or highway; in any way renders any considerable number of persons insecure in life or in use of property; in any way offends the senses of any considerable number of persons; is declared to be a public nuisance by the ordinances or laws of the City of Rio Dell or the State of California; any attractive nuisance which may prove dangerous or detrimental to infants; any public nuisance known at common law or equity; and any condition dangerous to human life, unsafe, or detrimental to the public health or safety.
“Private property” means such property as belongs absolutely to an individual, and of which he or she has the exclusive right of disposition. Property of a specific, fixed and tangible nature, capable of being in the possession and transmitted to another, such as houses, lands, vehicles, etc.
“Public nuisance vehicle” means any vehicle that is abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, inoperative or any parts thereof, that is on public or private property, not including highways, and that creates a condition tending to reduce the value of private property, promotes blight and deterioration, invites plundering, creates fire hazards, constitutes an attractive nuisance endangering the health and safety of minors, harbors rodents and insects, or jeopardizes health, safety and general welfare.
“Public property” is a designation of those things which are considered as being owned by the public, the entire state or community, and not restricted to dominion of a private person. The term may also apply to any property owned by a state, nation or municipality.
“Vehicle” means a device by which any person or property may be propelled, moved, or drawn upon a highway, except a device moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
“Wrecked vehicle” means any vehicle that is damaged to such an extent that it cannot be operated upon the highway. Any vehicle which has been wrecked in a traffic accident, and which has been removed from the roadway to a storage facility, but which has not been claimed by its owner will not be considered an abandoned vehicle for the purposes of this chapter. [Ord. 223 § 8.24.015, 1994.]
8.15.030 Notices.
(1) Ten-day notices of intention to abate and remove a vehicle or parts thereof as a public nuisance shall be mailed by certified mail to the owner of the land on which the vehicle is located, as shown on the last equalized assessment roll, and to the last registered and legal owner of record of the vehicle, unless the vehicle is in such condition that identification numbers are not available to determine ownership.
(2) Notices of intention to the owners of the land shall be substantially in this format:
NOTICE TO REMOVE ABANDONED, DISMANTLED, INOPERATIVE, PUBLIC NUISANCE AND WRECKED MOTOR VEHICLE(S) OR PARTS THEREOF AS A PUBLIC NUISANCE
TO: (owner of the land) _________
____________________________
____________________________
As owner on the last equalized assessment roll of the land located at _____ (address) _______ you are hereby notified that the undersigned pursuant to the City of Rio Dell Municipal Code has determined that there exists upon said land an inoperative vehicle registered to __________, license number _________, which constitutes a public nuisance pursuant to the provisions of Code.
You are hereby notified to abate said nuisance by the removal of said vehicle(s) or parts of vehicle(s) within ten (10) days from the date of certified mail mailing of this notice. If you fail to do so the same will be abated and removed by the City of Rio
Dell and the costs thereof, together with administrative costs, assessed to you as owner of the land on which said vehicle(s) or parts of vehicle(s) are located.
As owner of the land on which said vehicle(s) or parts of vehicle(s) are located, you are hereby notified that you may within ten (10) days after the certified mailing of this Notice of Intention, request a public hearing and if such a request is not received by the Rio Dell City Council within such ten (10) day period, the Rio Dell Police Department shall have the authority to abate and remove such vehicle(s) or parts of vehicle(s) as a public nuisance and assess the costs as aforesaid without a public hearing. You may submit a sworn written statement within such ten (10) day period denying responsibility for the presence of said vehicle(s) or parts of vehicle(s) on said land with your reasons for denial, and such statement shall be construed as a request for a hearing at which your presence is not required. You may appear in person at any hearing requested by you or the owner of the vehicle or, in lieu thereof, may present a sworn statement of aforesaid in time for consideration at such hearing.
Notice mailed:
Date: _________ Time: ________
___________________________
Chief of Police
City of Rio Dell
(3) Notices of intention by certified mail to the last registered and/or legal owner of record of vehicle (notice should be given to both if different persons) shall be substantially in this format:
NOTICE TO REMOVE ABANDONED, DISMANTLED, INOPERATIVE, PUBLIC NUISANCE AND WRECKED MOTOR VEHICLE(S) OR PARTS THEREOF AS A PUBLIC NUISANCE
TO: _________ (last registered owner of the vehicle) and/or __________ (legal owner of record of the vehicle)
As last registered (and/or legal) owner of record of (description of vehicle: make, model, license, etc.) you are hereby notified by certified mail that the undersigned, pursuant to the City of Rio Dell Municipal Code has determined that said vehicle(s) or parts of vehicle(s) exist as an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle at (describe location on public or private property) and constitutes a public nuisance pursuant to Code.
As registered (and/or legal) owner of record of said vehicle(s) or said parts of vehicle(s) you are hereby notified that you may, within ten (10) days after certified mailing of this Notice of Intention, request a public hearing. If such a request is not received by the Rio Dell City Council within such ten (10) day period, the Rio Dell Police Department shall have the authority to abate and remove such vehicle(s) or said parts of vehicle(s) without a hearing.
Notice mailed:
Date: ________ Time: _______
___________________________
Chief of Police
City of Rio Dell
[Ord. 223 § 8.24.030, 1994.]
8.15.040 Authorization to remove.
The owners of the property on which an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle is located, or the owners of said vehicle or parts thereof to be removed, may sign a release authorizing removal and waiving further interest in the vehicle or parts. If such release is signed, the Chief of Police is not required to send the 10-day notice of intention to abate and remove by certified mail as required in RDMC 8.15.030. A landowner who signs a release as specified herein may at the time the release is signed request a public hearing before the City Council on the question of the assessment of administrative and vehicle removal costs. A public hearing shall be held in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. [Ord. 223 § 8.24.040, 1994.]
8.15.050 Public hearing.
(1) Within 10 days after the certified mailing of the notice of intention to abate and remove, receipt by the Rio Dell Police Department of a request by the owner of said vehicle(s) or parts, or the owner of the land on which said vehicle(s) or parts are located, shall initiate a public hearing by the Rio Dell City Council. Said public hearing shall consider the questions of abatement and removal of the vehicle(s) or parts thereof as abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicle(s), and the assessment of the administrative costs and costs of removal of the vehicle(s) and parts thereof against the property on which they are located.
(2) If within said 10-day period the owner of the land on which the vehicle is located submits a sworn written statement denying responsibility for the presence of the vehicle on his/her land, said statement shall be construed as a request for a hearing. Such a hearing does not require the owner’s presence. [Ord. 223 § 8.24.050, 1994.]
8.15.060 Removal.
Whichever date is earliest of five days after adoption of an order declaring the vehicle(s) or parts thereof to be a public nuisance, or five days after the date of mailing of a notice of decision, or 15 days after action of the City Council authorizing removal after appeal, the vehicle(s) or parts thereof may be disposed by removal to a scrap yard or automobile dismantling yard. After a vehicle has been removed it shall not therefore be reconstructed nor made operable unless the vehicle qualifies under State laws for either horseless carriage license plates or historical vehicle license plates, in which case the vehicle may be reconstructed or made operable. [Ord. 223 § 8.24.060, 1994.]