HomeMy WebLinkAbout38.63 ORDINANCE NO. 38.63
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SARATOGA
ADDING ARTICLE III TO CHAPTER 6 OF
THE SARATOGA CITY CODE, RELATING TO
WEED AND RUBBISH ABATEMENT
The City Council Of the Cityof Saratoga does hereby ordaintas follows:
Section 1: There is hereby added to Chapte~ 6 o~ the Saratoga .
City Code, the following Article III, ~i~_t~.C3~%~
together with all the sections and sub-sections thereof, reads of follows:
~RTICLE III- WEED AND RUBBISH ABATEMENT
Sec. 6.50: Purpose and Applicability: This Article shall be known
as the Saratoga Weed Abatement
Act, and is adopted pursuant to Article I of Chapter 13, Division 3 of Title 4 of the
Government Code of the State of Cal~,fornia (G.C. Sec. 39501, 39502). It is intended
as an alternate procedure only to Art.icle III of said Chapter 13 of the above division
and title of the Government Code, and'the City may proceed either under this Article,
or it may proceed under said Article IiI, Chapter 13, Division 3, of Title 4 of the
above described Goyernment CCde of this State, or both.
Sec. 6.51: Weeds: The 'term."'weeds", as used in this Article, shal.1 in- clude, without limitation, any of the following:
(a) Weeds which bear seeds of a downy or wingy nature;
(b) Sagebrush, chaparral, and any other brush or weeds which
attain such large growth as to become, when dry, a fire.
menace to adjacent improved property;
(c) Needs which are otherwise noxious or dangerous;
(d) Po~on oak. and poison ivy when the conditions/of~growth
are'~uch as to Con.stitu~e a menace'to the publ:ic health;
(e) Dry g~ass, stubble, brush, litter, or other flamable
m~teri~ which epdangers the publi~ safety by d.reating
a~'fire h~zard.*
Sec. 6:52: Publ'~c~Nuisance and Abatement: Each'of the following are
~, hereby declared to be a
public nuisanc~i, and s~all be abated by the owner of the property, who is hereby
required to;remove ~r destroy such wee~s, rubbish, refuse, di~t, obstructions, and any
other dangerous materials, as hereafter described, from his property, and from the
abutting street or streets adjoining such property within the extended lotlines thereof,
to the centerline of such street or streets:
(a) 'All weeds,'rubbish, refuse, dirt or other obstructions
located or growing on the right-of-way of any public
street Or street offered for dedication to the public,
and any sidewalk, curb, gutter, parkway, private road or
· right-of-way furnishing access toany building or
structure, or alley within the city; ·
(b) All weeds, rubbish, refuse, and other materials dangerous
to neighboring property or the health o~ welfare of resi-
dents in the vicinity, which are growingon or'located
on lands within the ~ity within 100 ft. of any building, fence,
structure or propert,y line, regardless of whether or not the '
same be growing or lbcated on"the same lot, si~e or parcel on·
which the building, fence or other structure is located, in all
· zoning districts in the City except as set forth in Sub-
paragraph (c) following:.
(c) In an A or R-l-40,O00 zoning district in the City, all
weeds, rubbish and refuse which is growing on or.located
on any unsubdivided lands, or'on any site or parcel of
land of an area .in excess of one acre in single owner-
ship, which are within 100 feet of any building or structure,
or within 30 ft. of any right-of-way l'in6 of a public street
or withi.n 30 ft. of the property line of the parcel, site, or
lot in question.
It is intended by Subparagraph (c) a6ove to permit the retention of
natural growth for animal grazing and other related purposes on larger parcels of
land in the lesser developed areas of' the Ci'ty, but at.the same time,lto provide
reasonable regulations for the prevention of sweeping fires in such areas.
Sec. 6.53: Nbticeto Abate: Whenever any weeds, rubbish, refuse, dirt,
obstructions or other dangerous' materials
are found to exist 6n public or~private property i~.violation of the above section,
the Director of Public Works of the City, hereagter called the Director, may cause
a notice to be sent to ~he owner thereof~ atehis addressLas shown on the last
equalized assessment roll and to such other address, if any, as may be known to such
Director, by registered or certified mail, postage.prepaid, which notice shall require
the removal.or destruction thereof within.ten (lO). days from date of posting of such
letter, and in defaul.t thereof that the same wil~ be removed or destroyed by the City
and that the cost thereof shall De paid by such property owner w~thin fifteen (15) days
after billing therefore or' become a lien against the property.- Such notice shall con-
tain the address of the property ~n question, and may contain the Director's estimate
of the cost of.abatement, and shall contain language substantially in the following
form:
Pursuant to Article III of Chapter 6 of the Saratoga
City Code, all weeds, rubbish, refuse, obstructions or
other dangerous' materials, as hereafter described,
existing upon your Drooerty or upon the adjacent street,
etc., have heretofore been declared to be a public
nuisance, and you are hereby notified that you shall
within ten (10) days fro~ date of mail.ing of this notice,
remove and destroy all such weeds or rubbish or other
materials from your Droper~y, and.~he abutting one-half
of the street or.streets adjacent to your property,
between the lot lines extended thereon, or the same will
be destroyed and/or removed and the nuisance abated by
the City, and you will-be billed for the costs thereof.
Upon your failure to pay any such bil.1 within fifteen (15)
days from date of its mailing~ the cost to the City of
such abatement, Plus 5% thereof for costs of collection,
' will be assessed uoon your lands, anCwil-1 constitute a
lien thereon unti'l paid, and will be collected upon the -
next tax roll upo~ which general municipal taxes are
collected.
If you have any objections to the proposed nuisance
abatement, you may appeal from this notice d4rectl~ to
the City Council bylfiling a notice of appeal ~n writing'
with the Clerk of the City within ~ive (5) days from the
date of the mailing of this notice, which appeal will
automatically be heard at the next regularl~ scheduled
Coun~meeting held after receipt by the City of your
notice of appeal, with6ut further notice ~o you.'
If you should appeal, it will automatical~ly extend your
time within which to abate the nuisance to the exoiration
- of five (5) days after the hearing on appeal.
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As aH alternate to the above, the Director may POSt the aforesaid notice
physically on'the property'.in question, and the date of first posting shal~l be the
date from which the above set forth time limits commence to run.
Sec. 6.54: Appeal: Any property owner to whom sOch .notice is sent may
appeal the determination of the'Director to the
City Council, which appeal'must be filed in writing with the City Clerk within
five (5) days from the da~e of the mailing or posting of the notice, and shall be
heard at the next regularly scheduled Council'mee~ing~held after.rEceipt bf the
notice of appeal. On such appeal~ the time within which the property owner must re-
move or abate shall' be automatically extended five ('5) days after the hearing on
appeal. The Council may uphold or overrul~ the. determination of the Director,
governed nowever, by the provisions of Secti'on 6.52 qereof, and the'action of the City
Council shall be final.
Sec. 5.55: Abatement by City: UpOn the failure of any property owner to
remove or abate within ten (10) days after
the mailing or posting of such notice, or if an.appeal'has. been f~led'and the deter-
mination of the D'i~ector is upheld, then upon the property owH~r's failure to so.
remove or abate within five (5) days after the date of said hearing, the Director shall
without further order abate or cause to be abat~d such nuisance, by removal, destruction
or other adequate. means, and he an~ his assistants, employees and contracting agents
are hereby authorized to enter.upon~private property fo~ that purpose. Nothing qerein
shall arevent the property owner from'himself abating'such nuisance, so tong as all of
such. weeds, rubbish, refuse, dirt~ or other obstructions and dangerous materials have
Ibeen completely removed-or destroyed prior to the arriva~ 'of the. Director or his-
representatives to remove the same'.
Sec. 6.56: Account~of costs and billing: TheDirector shall keep an accoun~
of the costs of'abating such nuisance
upon each separate lot or parcel' of 3and, and shall send'a bill for the same to the
property owner by registered or certified mail, to the address or addresses to which
the original notice of abatement had,previously been sent, which bilq shall specify on
the face thereof that in the event of the failure of the ~ul'l payment of the same within
fifteen (15) days from date of mailing, then and in that event the amounts set forth in
said bill, plus 5% thereof, wi'll become a Hen against the land and shall constitute a
special assessment and be collected at the same time and i~ the same manner as general
municipal taxes of the City, and that a hearing on said assessment and any Objections
thereto will be held at the last .r~gul'ar Oity Councfl meeting to be held the following
July, and that no other or fur-ther notice will 5e given of said assessment and hearing
other than as set forth on the face of said billing.
Sec. 6.58: Assessment report and hearing: Annual'ly, at the last regular -
Cit~ Council me~tingCheld in Jul~
of each year, the Director shall submit'a r~port to the Council, consisting of all
unoaid bills for weed abatement expenses, a proposed assessment ~ist, and the parcels
against which such expenses, plus 5% thereof, are to be as~essed,'at which me~ting any
· property owner may appear and object to any matter contained in such report. No other
notice need be given of such hearing other than ~he notice contained in the billing
previously sent to'the property owner. At the meeting, the Counci~ shall hear the
report and any objections thereto, and ~ake such modifications in the proposed assess-
ments as it may deem necessary or proper; after which the Council shall confirm the
report and assessment by order or resolution.
Sec. 6.59: Lien and collection on tax roll: ~he amount of the cost of
"- abating .the nuTsance upon the
property referred to in the Director's report, and as ~inally concluded by order or
resolution of the City Counci-1, shall constitute a special assessment against each
respective lot or parcel of land, and after thus made and confi~rmed, shall constitute
a lien on such property for the amount of~such as~essments,~un~l paid. A certified
copy of the assessment shall be filed with the'Santa Clara Count Auditor w~o shall
~nter the amounts of such assessments aga4nst the respective lo~s or parcels of l~nd
on the County Tax Roll upon which general Municipal ~axes~are to~be collected, and the
=
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amount of each such assessment shall be collected at the time and-in the manner of
ordinary Municipal taxes, and'Shall be subject to the same interest and penalties, and
the same procedures and-sale in case o~qdelinquency. All laws and ordinances heretofore
or hereafter made applicable to the levy, col3ection and enforcement of City taxes are
· hereby made applicable to such spedal assessments.
Sec. 6.60: Sum~arz abatement: Nothing herein contained shall prevent the
Director~from abating any such weed or rubbish
nuisance summarily, without notice to'the property owner, without following the pro=
cedure hereinabove set forth, except.that in such event the costs, of such abatement shall
be at the City's expense and shall. not constitute a 'lien against the l~ands of such
property owner, unless the requirement that such cost be borneby the property owner
and/or that such cost constitute a lien against the land, may be otherwise provided by
this Code or by State law.
Section 2: If any section, sUbsection, sentence,'clause or phrase of this
ordinance'is for any reason held by a! court of competent jurisdiction
.to be invalid, such. decision shall not'affect the validity of .the remaining portions of
this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Saratoba hereby declares that it would
have passed this ordinance and each'section, subsection; sentence, clause and phrase
thereof, irrespective of.the fact that any one or more sectionsI, subjections, sentences,
clauses or phrases be held invalido~ dnconstitutional~'
Section 3: This ordinance sh'all take effect and be in full force and effect
thirty (30) days after the, date of its passage .and adoption.
The above and foregoing ordinance was regularly 'introduced andafter-the
waiting time required by.law was thereafter passed and adopted this · 2~ day
of ~B~i , 1975, by ~he following vote: .-
AYES: Councilmen ~riclges, Brigham, Kraus, COr~ & Matte~n~:
NOES: None . -
ABSENT: Noni)
'' . MA OR
· The above and foregoing i true and correct
· COD / of ¢~",~, ,~3ce 3~,/~ a
- ~vhich has been
pu~iishe,!.~ :,ccording to law.
·
Deputy City Clerk ~ Datl] '..~