As used in this Chapter, the following definitions shall apply. For purposes of this Chapter, these definitions shall supersede any other definitions of the same terms elsewhere in this Code.
ABANDONED PERSONAL PROPERTY.
Any item, object, thing, material or substance that, by its condition of damage, deterioration, disrepair, nonuse, obsolescence or location on public real property or on private real property, causes a reasonable person to conclude that the owner has permanently relinquished all right, title, claim and possession thereto, or that the object, thing, material or substance cannot be used for its intended or designed purpose.
ABANDONED PERSONAL PROPERTY
may include junk and vehicles.
ABANDONED STRUCTURE.
Real property, or any building or structure thereon, that is vacant and is maintained in an uninhabitable condition or a condition of disrepair or deterioration as evidenced by the existence of public nuisances therein, or that is vacant and under a current notice of default and/or notice of trustee’s sale, pending tax assessor’s lien sale, or that is vacant and has been the subject of a foreclosure sale where title was retained by the beneficiary of a deed of trust involved in the foreclosure. Factors that may also be considered in a determination of an
ABANDONED STRUCTURE
include, without limitation: present operability and functional utility; the presence of non-functional, broken or missing doors or windows, such that entry therein by unauthorized persons is not deterred; the existence of real property tax delinquencies for the land upon which the structure is located; age and degree of obsolescence of the structure, and the cost of rehabilitation or repair versus its market value.
ABATEMENT COSTS.
All costs, fees, and expenses, incidental or otherwise, incurred by the City in investigating and abating a public nuisance.
ATTRACTIVE NUISANCE.
Any condition, device, equipment, instrument, item or machine that is unsafe, unprotected and may prove detrimental to minors whether in a structure or in outdoor areas of developed or undeveloped real property. This includes, without limitation, any abandoned or open and accessible wells, shafts, basements or excavations; any abandoned refrigerators and abandoned or inoperable motor vehicles; any structurally unsound fences or structures; or, any lumber, trash, fences, debris or vegetation which may prove hazardous or dangerous to inquisitive minors. An
ATTRACTIVE NUISANCE
shall also include pools, standing water or excavations containing water, that are unfenced or otherwise lack an adequate barrier thereby creating a risk of drowning, or which are hazardous or unsafe due to the existence of any condition rendering such water to be clouded, unclear or injurious to health due to, without limitation, any of the following: bacterial growth, infectious or toxic agents, algae, insect remains, animal remains, rubbish, refuse, debris, or waste of any kind.
BUILDING.
Any structure designed, used, or maintained for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, equipment, or property of any kind, and shall also include structures wherein things may be grown, made, produced, kept, handled, stored, or disposed of, and all appendages, accessories, apparatus, appliances, and equipment installed as a part thereof.
CITY.
The City of Culver City.
CITY MANAGER.
The City Manager or his or her duly authorized representative(s) or designee(s).
CITY PERSONNEL.
Any City employee, representative, agent or contractor designated by the City Manager.
CODE, CODES, and CULVER CITY MUNICIPAL CODE.
The City of Culver City Municipal Code and any code, law, or regulation incorporated therein by reference and any adopted and uncodified ordinances.
CODE ENFORCEMENT FEES.
Fees imposed by the city to defray its costs of code enforcement actions, pursuant to Cal. Gov’t Code § 54988 and Cal. Health & Safety Code § 17951 (and any successor statutes thereto), the Culver City Building Code, and any other applicable local, state, or federal law, as well as by the City’s police powers as authorized by the California Constitution, including, but not limited to, the time and other resources of public officials and city consultants expended by them in identifying, inspecting, investigating, seeking or causing the abatement of a violation at a real property. Examples of code enforcement actions include, but are not limited to, site inspections, drafting reports, taking photographs, procuring other evidence, engaging in meetings with other officials of the city or other agencies, engaging in conferences and communications with responsible persons, their agents or representatives, concerning a violation, as well as with attorneys for the city at any time, and appearances before judicial officers or reviewing authorities during the commencement or pendency of a judicial or administrative hearing. The time and resources that public officials and city consultants further expend to confirm that a real property remains free of a violation while a responsible person is on probation to a court or when a matter concerning a property remains pending before a reviewing authority in an administrative action, shall also constitute code enforcement actions.
CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.
Any individual employed by the City with primary enforcement authority for City Codes, or his or her duly authorized representative(s).
COMMERCIAL VEHICLE.
Any vehicle of a type required to be registered under the State of California Vehicle Code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation or profit, or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property or for other commercial purposes. Passenger vehicles that are not used for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit, house cars (motor homes), and vanpool vehicles are not commercial vehicles.
COMPLIANCE PERIOD.
The period of time and/or required schedule for the abatement of any violation as set forth in any warning, notice, citation, or other communication from the City, including, but not limited to, a Notice of Abatement and/or an Order of Abatement.
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES.
Any substance that is declared by State or Federal law to be a controlled substance.
FIRE HAZARD.
Shall include, but shall not be limited to, any device, equipment, waste, vegetation, condition, thing, or act which is in such a condition that it increases or could cause an increase of the hazard or menace of fire to a greater degree than that customarily recognized as normal by persons in the public service regularly engaged in preventing, suppressing, or extinguishing fire or that otherwise provides a ready fuel to augment the spread and intensity of fire or explosion arising from any cause; or any device, equipment, waste, vegetation, condition, thing, or act which could obstruct, delay, hinder, or interfere with, or may become the cause of obstruction, delay, or hindrance of, the operations of the Fire Department or other emergency service personnel or the egress of the occupants in the event of fire.
GRAFFITI.
Any unauthorized inscription, word, figure, mark, or design that is written, marked, etched, scratched, drawn, or painted on or otherwise glued, posted, or affixed to or on any public or private real or personal property (including, but not limited to, buildings, structures, and vehicles), regardless of the nature of the material to the extent that the same was not authorized in advance by the owner thereof.
GRAFFITI
shall also include any writing, drawing, or inscription defined as
GRAFFITI
in § 9.04.205 of this Chapter or as defined in State law.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS.
Any material or substance of any kind that is declared by any federal, state, or local law, ordinance, or regulation to be composed of hazardous material.
HEARING OFFICER.
Any city employee or other person appointed by the City Manager to hear all timely appeals as set forth in this Chapter.
INCIDENTAL EXPENSES.
Shall include, but shall not be limited to, the actual expenses and costs of the City or incurred by the City, such as preparation of notices, specifications, contracts, inspection of work, costs of printing and mailings required hereunder, costs of any filing and/or recordation with the County Recorder’s Office or other governmental agency, and the costs of administration and legal services.
INOPERABLE VEHICLE.
Includes, without limitation, any vehicle that is incapable of being lawfully driven on a highway. Factors that may be used to determine this condition include, without limitation, vehicles that have a “planned non-operational” status with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, vehicles lacking a current registration, a working engine, transmission, wheels, inflated tires, doors, windshield or any other part or equipment necessary for its legal and safe operation on a highway or any other public right-of-way.
JUNK.
Includes, but is not limited to, any cast-off, damaged, discarded, junked, obsolete, salvaged, scrapped, unusable, worn-out or wrecked appliance, device, equipment, furniture, fixture, furnishing, object, material, substance, tire, or thing of any kind or composition.
JUNK
may include abandoned personal property, as well as any form of debris, refuse, rubbish, trash or waste. Factors that may be considered in a determination that personal property is
JUNK
include, without limitation, its:
1. Condition of damage, deterioration, disrepair or nonuse.
2. Approximate age and degree of obsolescence.
3. Location.
4. Present operability, functional utility and status of registration or licensing, where applicable.
5. Cost of rehabilitation or repair versus its market value.
NOTICE OF ABATEMENT.
A Notice of Public Nuisance and Intention to Abate with City Personnel, as described in § 9.04.040 of this Chapter.
ORDER OF ABATEMENT.
An order issued by a Hearing Officer following an appeal of a Notice of Abatement.
OWNER.
Means and includes any person having legal title to, or who leases, rents, occupies or has charge, control or possession of, any real property in the City, including all persons shown as owners on the last equalized assessment roll of the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office.
OWNERS
include persons with powers of attorney, executors of estates, trustees, or who are court appointed administrators, conservators, guardians or receivers. An
OWNER
of personal property shall be any person who has legal title, charge, control, or possession of such property.
PERSON.
Means and includes any individual, partnership of any kind, corporation, limited liability company, association, joint venture or other organization, however formed, as well as trustees, heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, or any combination of such persons.
PERSON
also includes any public entity or agency that acts as an owner in the City.
PERSONAL PROPERTY.
Property that is not real property, and includes, without limitation, any appliance, article, device, equipment, item, material, product, substance or vehicle.
PLANT MATERIAL.
Trees, shrubs, vines, ground cover, turf or any other ornamental live plants, or as otherwise defined in the Culver City Zoning Code.
PUBLIC NUISANCE.
Anything which is, or likely to become, injurious or detrimental to health, safety or welfare, or is offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of any sidewalk, public park, square, plaza, street or highway. All conditions hereafter enumerated in this Chapter, or that otherwise violate or are contrary to any provision of the Culver City Municipal Code, are
PUBLIC NUISANCES
by definition and declaration, and said enumerated conditions shall not, in any manner, be construed to be exclusive or exhaustive. A
PUBLIC NUISANCE
shall also exist when a person fails to comply with any condition of a City approval, entitlement, license or permit or when an activity on, or use of, real property violates, or is contrary to, any provision or requirement of the Culver City Municipal Code.
REAL PROPERTY or PREMISES.
Any real property owned by any person and/or any building, structure, or other improvement thereon, or portions thereof.
REAL PROPERTY
or
PREMISES
includes any parkway or unimproved public easement abutting or adjacent to such real property, whether or not owned by the City of Culver City.
RESPONSIBLE PERSON.
Any person, whether as an owner as defined in this Chapter, or otherwise, that allows, causes, creates, maintains, suffers, or permits a public nuisance, or any violation of the Culver City Municipal Code or County or State law, or regulation thereof, to exist or continue, by any act or the omission of any act or duty. A
RESPONSIBLE PERSON
shall also include employees, principals, joint venturers, officers, managers, agents, and/or other persons acting in concert with, or at the direction of, and/or with the knowledge and/or consent of the owner and/or occupant of the lot, building or structure on, or in which, a public nuisance or violation exists or existed. The actions or inactions of a responsible person’s agent, employee, representative or contractor may be attributed to that responsible person.
STRUCTURE.
That which is built or constructed, an edifice, wall, fence, or building of any kind, or any piece of work artificially built up or composed of parts joined together in some definite manner. For purposes of this Chapter, this definition shall supersede any other definition of this term in the Culver City Municipal Code.
TARP.
A piece of plastic, canvas or other durable fabric such as denim or polyvinyl typically designed or used for temporary protection of exposed objects or areas from the elements.
VACANT.
Real property or any building or structure thereon that is not legally occupied, or as to commercial property, where no lawfully licensed business is conducted on a permanent non-transient basis on the property or in the building or structure thereon. Factors that may be used to determine whether real property, or building or structures thereon, is
VACANT
include, but shall not be limited to, the lack of a valid Culver City business tax certificate; or, the presence of overgrown and/or dead vegetation; an accumulation of newspapers, circulars, flyers, and/or mail; past due utility notices and/or disconnected utilities; accumulation of trash, junk, and/or other debris; the absence of window coverings such as curtains, blinds, and/or shutters; the absence of furnishings and/or personal items consistent with residential and/or commercial furnishings consistent with the permitted uses within the zone of the real property; statements by neighbors, passersby, delivery agents, government employees that the property is
VACANT
.
VEHICLE.
Any device, by which any person or property may be propelled, moved, or drawn upon a highway or other public right-of-way, and includes all vehicles as defined by the California Vehicle Code, and all future amendments thereto.
VEHICLE
does not include devices (i) that are propelled exclusively by human power such as bicycles and wheelchairs, or (ii) those that are used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
VIOLATION.
Means and includes any prohibited activity, condition, or use on land or in connection with a building or a structure that is caused, allowed to exist, or maintained (whether due to an affirmative act, inaction, or omission) by a responsible person in disregard of, or nonconformity with, any other provision, regulation, prohibition, or requirement of the Culver City Municipal Code, or any applicable county, state, or federal laws or regulations. Any such
VIOLATION
shall also constitute an unlawful public nuisance for each and every day or part thereof, during which it is allowed, committed, continued, maintained or permitted by a responsible person.
WEEDS.
Shall include, but shall not be limited to, any of the following:
1. Any plant, brush, growth, or other vegetation that bear seeds of a downy or wingy nature;
2. Any plant, brush, growth, or other vegetation that attains such large growth as to become, when dry, a fire hazard;
3. Any plant, brush, growth, or other vegetation that is noxious or dangerous;
4. Poison oak and poison ivy when the conditions of growth are such as to constitute a threat to the public health; or
5. Dry grass, rubble, brush, or other flammable plant, growth, or other vegetation that endangers the public safety by creating or tending to create a fire hazard.
XERISCAPE LANDSCAPING.
Native or indigenous plant material that requires little to no water or maintenance, typically the use of mulch, and no or limited drip/subsurface irrigation.
(Ord. No. 2013-009, § 4 (part))