(Added by Ord. No. 172,176, Eff. 10/1/98.)
A. Authority to Inspect. Whenever it is necessary to investigate the source of any discharge to any public street, inlet, gutter, or storm drainage system within the City of Los Angeles, to verify compliance with this article, or to enforce any of its provisions, or perform any duty imposed by this article or other applicable law, the Director is hereby authorized to enter such private property at any reasonable time and perform such inspection or investigation. Prior to performing any authorized inspections, entry to private property shall be obtained as follows:
1. If such building or premises is occupied, the Director shall first present proper credentials of identification and obtain either the consent of the owner or occupant of the private property or shall obtain an administrative warrant or criminal search warrant; or
2. If such building or premises is unoccupied, the Director shall first make a reasonable effort to locate the owner or other persons having charge or control of the building or premises and request entry, explaining the reasons therefor. If such entry is refused or cannot be obtained because the owner or other person having charge or control of the building or premises cannot be found, the Director shall have recourse to every remedy provided by law to secure entry and inspect the building or premises.
3. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Director has reasonable belief that the discharges emanating from the premises are so hazardous, unsafe or dangerous as to require immediate inspection or remedial actions to abate conditions that endanger the public health or safety, the Director shall have the right to immediately enter the premises. Any reasonable means may be used to effect such entry to make the necessary inspection or abate the dangerous condition, whether the property is occupied or unoccupied and whether or not formal permission to inspect has been obtained. If the property is occupied, the Director shall first present proper credentials of identification to the occupant and demand entry, explaining the reasons therefor and the purpose of the inspection.
(a) In accordance with this subdivision, no person shall refuse, resist, restrict, delay, or interfere with the Director in the performance of the Director’s duties.
B. Inspection Duties. Upon securing entry onto private property, the Director shall be allowed to perform the following duties during an inspection:
1. To inspect, take samples of any area runoff, process discharge or materials within any exposed waste storage area and perform tests for the purpose of determining the potential for the contribution of pollutants to the storm drain system;
2. To place on the property of the inspected facility or site any such devices as are necessary to sample, monitor, measure and record flows of discharge or threatened discharge;
3. To inspect, examine and copy all records of the owner or occupant of inspected property that pertains to any discharge to the storm drain system, including records relating to chemicals or processes presently or previously occurring on the site, NPDES permit, Notice of Intent to comply with a General NPDES permit, waste discharge records, waste manifests, Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans, monitoring plans, test results, any records or plans relating to discharge connections to the storm drain system and any other information required to carry out the provisions of this article;
4. To inspect and enforce the sufficient implementation of applicable Best Management Practices by the business establishment, property owner and/or developer; (Added by Ord. No. 175,026, Eff. 2/2/03.)
5. To photograph any materials, storage or process areas, wastes, waste containers, vehicles, connections, Best Management Practices, treatment systems, discharge location(s), or any violation(s) discovered during the inspection; and (Former Subdivision B.4. re-designated Subdivision B.5. by Ord. No. 175,026, Eff. 2/2/03.)
6. To abate, correct or prevent pollutants from entering the storm drain system or surface waters. (Former Subdivision B.5. re-designated Subdivision B.6. by Ord. No. 175,026, Eff. 2/2/03.)