ADOPTING ORDINANCE

ORDINANCE NO. 2716

AN ORDINANCE ENACTING A CODE OF ORDINANCES FOR THE CITY OF ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA, REVISING, AMENDING, RESTATING, CODIFYING AND COMPILING CERTAIN EXISTING GENERAL ORDINANCES OF THE CITY DEALING WITH SUBJECTS EMBRACED IN SUCH CODE OF ORDINANCES

   WHEREAS, the Acts of the Legislature of the State of California empower and authorize the political subdivision to revise, amend, restate, codify and compile any existing ordinances and all new ordinances not heretofore adopted or published and to incorporate such ordinances into one ordinance in book form; and

   WHEREAS, the last major revision and update of the Ontario Municipal Code (OMC) occurred on September 5, 1968; and

   WHEREAS, a task force of City staff members undertook to update and revise the OMC in March 1997; and

   WHEREAS, said update and revision has been the subject of thorough legal review;

   NOW THEREFORE, be it ordained by the legislative authority of the City of Ontario:

Section 1. The general ordinances of the City of Ontario as revised, amended, restated, codified and compiled in book form are hereby adopted as and shall constitute the Ontario Municipal Code.

Section 2. The Ontario Municipal Code shall incorporate by reference the following secondary codes save and except such portions thereof as are deleted, modified or amended by the provisions of the Ontario Municipal Code:

   The California Building Code, current edition;

   The California Electrical Code, current edition;

   The California Fire Code, current edition;

   The California Mechanical Code, current edition;

   The California Plumbing Code, current edition;

   The California State Historic Building Code, current edition

   The Ontario Subdivision Regulations, current edition

   The San Bernardino County Code, current edition;

   The Uniform Administrative Code, current edition;

   The Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings, current edition;

   The Uniform Housing Code, current edition;

   The Uniform Swimming Pool Code, current edition; and

Prescribing certain penalties for the violation of the provisions thereof and recalling certain ordinances as specified therein.

Section 3. Repeals.

   All prior ordinances pertaining to the subjects treated in such Ontario Municipal Code shall be deemed repealed from and after the effective date of this ordinance except as they are included and re-ordained in whole or in part in such Code; provided, such repeal shall not affect any offense committed or penalty incurred, or any right established prior to the effective date of this ordinance.

Section 4. Exceptions to repeals.

   No rights, obligations, duties, privileges, or encumbrances arising from any ordinance which is repealed by this ordinance relating to any of the following matters shall be affected by the repealing provisions of this ordinance or of the Ontario Municipal Code:

   (a)   The public debt or the public credit;

   (b)   The establishment, naming, width, grade, construction, improvement, or vacation of a public street, sidewalk, alley, or other public property or facility;

   (c)   The acquisition or disposition of any interest in real or personal property;

   (d)   The annexation of territory;

   (e)   Any contract to which the City of Ontario is a party or any contract inuring to the City's benefit;

   (f)   A municipal election;

   (g)   Any appropriation or expenditure of public funds;

   (h)   The levy or imposition of property taxes or fixing the tax rate;

   (i)   The levy of a special benefit assessment or the creation of a lien or debt against the owner of any property or said property; or

   (j)   The grant of any franchise, license, or right by the City, which franchise, license, grant, or power is legally in force and effect upon the effective date of this ordinance. Every such franchise, license, grant, or power shall expire as originally provided;

   (k)   Any other ordinance of a temporary or special nature, or pertaining to subjects not contained in or covered by the Code.

Section 5. Savings provisions.

   The repealing provisions of this ordinance or of the Ontario Municipal Code shall not affect or impair any act done or right vested or approved, or any proceeding suit, or prosecution had or commenced in any cause before such repeal shall take effect; but every such act done, or right vested or accrued, or proceeding, suit, or prosecution had or commenced shall remain in full force and effect to all intents and purposes as if the applicable provisions of the ordinance, or part thereof, so repealed had remained in force and effect. No offense committed and no liability, penalty, or forfeiture, either civilly or criminally incurred prior to the time when any such ordinance, or part thereof, shall be repealed or altered by the Code, shall be discharged or affected by such repeal or alteration; but prosecutions and suits for such offenses, liabilities, penalties, or forfeitures shall be instituted and proceeded with in all respects as if such prior ordinance, or part thereof, had not been repealed or altered.

Section 6. Violation of Code.

   It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provisions or fail to comply with any requirement of the Ontario Municipal Code. Any person violating any of the provisions or failing to comply with any of the mandatory requirements of the Code shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person convicted of a misdemeanor under the provisions of the Code shall be punishable by a fine which is fixed from time to time by resolution of the City Council, or by the laws of the State of California, or by imprisonment in the County Jail as appropriate and in place through municipal law and/or statute at the time of the violation, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Each such person shall be guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation of any provision of the Code is committed, continued, or permitted by such person and shall be punishable accordingly.

   In addition to the penalties provided above, any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of the provisions of the Code shall be deemed a public nuisance and may be, at the direction of the City Council, summarily abated, and each day such condition continues shall be regarded as a new and separate offense.

Section 7. Presumptive Evidence.

   Such Code shall be in full force and effect as provided in Section 6, and such Code shall be presumptive evidence in all courts and places of the ordinance and all provisions, sections, penalties and regulations therein contained as of the date of passage, and that the same is properly signed, attested, recorded, and approved and that any public hearings and notices thereof as required by law have been given.

Section 8. Effective date.

   Such Ontario Municipal Code and all Codes as referenced and adopted therein shall remain on file in the Office of the City Clerk. The provisions of this ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days from the date of adoption.

Section 9. Publications.

   The Mayor shall sign this Ordinance and the City Clerk shall attest to the same, and the City Clerk shall cause the same to be published within fifteen (15) days after its passage, at least once in a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated in the City of Ontario.

   APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 18th day of July, 2000.

AYES:      Council Member Dubois, King, Leon, Wapner; Mayor Ovitt

NOES:      None

ABSTAIN:   None

ABSENT:   None

    /s/ Gary C Ovitt

   Mayor of the City of Ontario

ATTEST:

/s/ Mary E. Wirtes, MMC

City Clerk