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(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.)
(Amended by Ord. No. 183,229, Eff. 9/24/14.)
In addition to the provisions of Section 61.07(b) of this Code, the Director of the Bureau of Sanitation, the Assistant Director of the Bureau of Sanitation, the Division Manager of the Bureau of Sanitation, the Assistant Division Manager of the Bureau of Sanitation, Chief Environmental Compliance Inspectors, Senior Environmental Compliance Inspectors and Environmental Compliance Inspectors of the Bureau of Sanitation, designated to implement and enforce the provisions of this Article, shall have the power, authority, and immunity of a public officer or employee, as set forth in the California Penal Code Section 836.5, to make arrests without a warrant or release on citation whenever any of them has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a misdemeanor or an infraction in their presence which is a violation of this Article. Each citation to appear shall state the name and the address of the violator, the provisions of this article violated, and the time and place of appearance before the court. The person cited shall sign the citation giving the person’s written promise to appear as stated therein. If the person cited fails to appear, the City Attorney may request issuance of a warrant for the arrest of the person cited.
(Amended by Ord. No. 186,366, Eff. 10/31/19.)
A. Criminal and Civil Sanctions.
1. Misdemeanor. Every violation of this article is punishable as a misdemeanor unless such violation or failure to comply is declared therein to be an infraction. A misdemeanor shall be punishable as follows:
(a) A misdemeanor shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or by imprisonment in the County Jail for a period of not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
2. Infraction. Violation of any provision of this article that is provided herein to be an infraction shall be punishable as follows:
(a) Every violation that is charged as an infraction is punishable by a fine not to exceed $200 for the first violation and $250 for the second violation of the same provision occurring at any time after the first violation. Any subsequent violation(s) of the same provision, occurring any time after the second violation of the same provision, shall be punishable as a misdemeanor.
3. Administrative Citation. Violation of any provision of this article may be punishable as a criminal offense or by the issuance of an Administrative Citation. An Administrative Citation shall be assessed the following administrative fines:
(a) An administrative fine of $250 for a first violation;
(b) An administrative fine of $500 for a second violation; and
(c) An administrative fine of $1,000 for a third violation and $1,000 for each subsequent violation.
B. Violations Deemed A Public Nuisance. In addition to the penalties provided in this section, any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any provision of this article shall be deemed a public nuisance, and may be summarily abated by the City.
C. Continuing Violation. Unless otherwise provided, a person shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each and every day a violation of this article is committed, continued, or permitted by the person, and shall be punishable accordingly as herein provided.
(Amended by Ord. No. 186,366, Eff. 10/31/19.)
In addition to any fine or penalty imposed, whenever any discharger introduces or causes the introduction of non-storm water or any pollutant in violation of this article and the discharge results in a violation of any state or federal laws or regulations, damages public property, or adversely affects a storm drain system in the City of Los Angeles or receiving waters, the discharge shall be deemed a public nuisance, and the discharger shall be liable to the City for reasonable costs necessary to correct that discharge, detriment or adverse effect, including, but not limited to, labor, material, inspection, transportation, overhead, and incidental expenses associated with the corrective action or the clean-up of the pollutant and its effects.
In addition to the City’s right to recover all costs associated with the corrective action or the clean-up of the pollutant and its effects, the City shall also recover the City’s costs for administering any contract and supervising the work required if the City did not perform the cleanup directly. These administration costs shall equal 40 percent of the cost to perform the actual work, but not less than the sum of $100.
All costs incurred pursuant to this section shall be a personal obligation against the discharger and any owner of any property that is the source of any discharge, and are recoverable by the City in an action before any court of competent jurisdiction. In addition to this personal obligation and all other remedies provided by law, the City may collect any judgment, fee, cost, or charge, including any permit fees, fines, late charges, or interest, incurred in relation to the provisions of this section as provided in Los Angeles Administrative Code Sections 7.35.1 through 7.35.8.
(Amended by Ord. No. 175,026, Eff. 2/2/03.)
Any costs recovered pursuant to Section 64.70.09 of this article, or any funds received from the Los Angeles County Flood Control District Fund as reimbursement for any flood control activities or any type of program implementation as required by the NPDES Municipal Stormwater Permit, shall be deposited in the Stormwater Pollution Abatement Fund established by Section 64.51.11 of this Code. Notwithstanding the provisions for expenditure and disposition of funds provided in Sec. 64.51.11 and Sec. 64.51.13, funds collected under this section shall be reserved and expended only for those purposes for which the funds were recovered or reimbursed.
(Added by Ord. No. 172,176, Eff. 10/1/98.)
As part of the City’s Stormwater Management Program, the Board shall develop and implement a public informational outreach program to educate residents and business persons who operate within the City of Los Angeles, including City employees, about the provisions of this article, the detrimental effects of stormwater and urban runoff pollution and the means for controlling such pollution. This program shall include but not be limited to: written or printed materials, audio and visual materials, posters, signs, films, videos, training courses, workshops, public service announcements, and any other applicable or appropriate educational tools or materials.
(Amended by Ord. No. 183,833, Eff. 10/3/15.)
This ordinance shall be construed to assure consistency with the requirements of the Federal Clean Water Act and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, applicable implementing regulations, and NPDES Permit No. CAS004001 and any amendment, revision or reissuance thereof.
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