ARTICLE 11:
NUISANCES

Sec. 580.	Definitions.
Sec. 581.	Prohibited Public Health Nuisances.
Sec. 585.	Enforcement – Spoiled Food.
Sec. 590.	Discharge of Soot, Smoke, etc.
Sec. 591.	Penalty.
[Hotels: Certificate of Sanitation Required]
Sec. 594.	Certificate of Sanitation Required.
Sec. 594.1.	Hotel Defined.
Sec. 594.2.	Violation a Misdemeanor.
Sec. 595.	Inspection of Premises.
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Sec. 596.	Administrative Procedures Initiated with Notice of Violation.
Sec. 596.5.	Citations Under San Francisco Administrative Code Chapter 100.
Sec. 597.	Notice to Police Department.
Sec. 598.	Penalty for Resisting Order to Vacate.
Sec. 599.	Collection.
Sec. 600.	Penalties.
[Poison Ivy; Poison Oak]
Sec. 605.	Poison Ivy and Poison Oak, Removal on Notice.
Sec. 607.	Enforcement.
Sec. 608.	Penalty.
[Vector Control and Healthy Housing Inspection Program; Fees]
Sec. 609.	Vector Control and Healthy Housing Inspection Program Fee.
Sec. 609.1.	Reinspection Fee Authorized.
Sec. 609.2.	Fee Adjustment.
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Sec. 610.	Attorneys' Fees Authorized.
Sec. 613.	Operation of Gas Works Regulated.
Sec. 614.	Vacant Lot Dedication.
Sec. 615.	Discretionary Duties.
Sec. 616.	Disclaimer of Liability

 

Editor's Note:
   The bracketed division headers in this Article have been provided by the editor as an aid for the user and are not official parts of the Code.

SEC. 580. DEFINITIONS.

   Unless otherwise specified, for the purposes of this Article, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

   (a)   "City" shall mean the City and County of San Francisco.

   (b)   "Department" shall mean the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

   (c)   "Director" shall mean the Director of Public Health or his or her designee.

   (d)   "Manager" shall mean the authorized agent for the Owner of a building, structure or property, who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of said building, structure or property.

   (e)   "Owner" shall mean any Person who possesses, has title to or an interest in, harbors or has control, custody or possession of any building, property, real estate, personality or chattel.

   (f)   "Person" shall mean and include corporations, estates, associations, partnerships and trusts, one or more individual human beings, any department, Board or Commission of the City and County of San Francisco, and any agencies or instrumentalities of the State of California or the United States to the extent allowable by law.

   (g)   "Prevailing Party" shall have the same meaning as set forth in California Code of Civil Procedure Sec. 1032, or any successor provisions., "Prevailing Party" shall include the City in actions where the City obtains an injunction under this Article or State law.

   (h)   "Responsible Party" shall include the Owner, Manager, tenant, or any Person having control over a property or who creates or allows or contributes to or fails to correct a condition that constitutes a nuisance as defined by this Article.

(Added by Ord. 125-01, File No. 010269, App. 6/15/2001; Ord. 299-10, File No. 101062, App. 12/3/2010)

SEC. 581. PROHIBITED PUBLIC HEALTH NUISANCES.

   (a)   No Person shall have upon any premises or real property owned, occupied or controlled by him, or her, or it any public nuisance.

   (b)   The following conditions are hereby declared to be a public nuisance:

      (1)   Any accumulation of filth, garbage, decayed or spoiled food, unsanitary debris or waste material, or decaying animal or vegetable matter unless such materials are set out for collection in compliance with Section 283 of this Code;

      (2)   Any accumulation of hay, grass, straw, weeds, or vegetation overgrowth;

      (3)   Any accumulation of waste paper, litter, or combustible trash unless such materials are set out for collection in compliance with Section 283 of this Code;

      (4)   Any buildings, structures, or portion thereof found to be unsanitary;

      (5)   Any matter or material which constitutes, or is contaminated by, animal or human excrement, urine, or other biological fluids;

      (6)   Any visible or otherwise demonstrable mold or mildew in the interiors of any buildings or facilities;

      (7)   Any pest harborage or infestation, including but not limited to pigeons, skunks, raccoons, opossums, and snakes, except for pigeon harborages that comply with Section 37(e) of this Code;

      (8)   Any noxious insect harborage or infestation including, but not limited to cockroaches, bed bugs, fleas, scabies, lice, spiders or other arachnids, houseflies, wasps, and mosquitoes, except for harborages for honey-producing bees of the genus Apis regulated by California Food and Agriculture Code Sections 29000 et seq. which are not otherwise determined to be a nuisance under State law;

      (9)   Any article of food or drink in the possession or under the control of any person which is tainted, decayed, spoiled, or otherwise unwholesome or unfit to be eaten or drunk. The term “food” as used in this subsection (b)(9) includes all articles used for food and drink by humans, whether simple, mixed;2 or compound;

      (10)   Any lead hazards which are within the control of the Owner or Manager of the building, structure, or property. Unless otherwise stated in this Article 11, the term “lead hazards” as used in this subsection (b)(10) shall have the same meaning as that set forth in Section 1603 of this Code, and the term “children” as used in Section 1603 shall mean any person who is up to 72 months of age. For the purposes of this subsection (b)(10), any paint, whether interior or exterior, found on buildings and other structures built before 1979 is presumed to be lead-based paint; such presumption may be rebutted by competent evidence demonstrating that such paint is not lead-based paint;

      (11)   Any vacant lots, open spaces, and other properties, which become infested with poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) or poison ivy shrub (Rhus toxicodendron), hereafter referred to as poisonous growth;

      (12)   Any violation of Section 37 of this Code;

      (13)   Any violation of Section 92 of this Code;

      (14)   Any violation of Section 590 of this Code;

      (15)   Any violation of Sections 29.10, 29.17, 29.25, 29.27. 1 or 29.31 of this Code.;2

      (16)   Any violation of Article 11B of this Code;

      (17)   Any violation of rules or regulations the Director adopts to implement the provisions of this Article 11 or applicable provisions of State law; and

      (18)   Anything else that the Director deems to be a threat to public health and safety.

(Added by Ord. 125-01, File No. 010269, App. 6/15/2001; Ord. 299-10, File No. 101062, App. 12/3/2010; amended by Ord. 272-18, File No. 180757, App. 11/20/2018, Eff. 12/21/2018; Ord. 208-20, File No. 200764, App. 10/9/2020, Eff. 11/9/2020)

CODIFICATION NOTES

1.   So in Ord. 272-18.

2.   So in Ord. 208-20.

SEC. 585. ENFORCEMENT – SPOILED FOOD.

   In addition to any other enforcement authorities provided for in this Article, the Department is hereby authorized to seize, confiscate, condemn, and destroy any article of food or drink that is a nuisance as set forth in Section 581(b)(9) of this Article.

(Amended by Ord. 125-01, File No. 010269, App. 6/15/2001)

SEC. 590. DISCHARGE OF SOOT, SMOKE, ETC.

   It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association or corporation to operate or maintain within any residential or commercial district of the City and County of San Francisco, as defined in and by zoning ordinances from time to time in force, any permanently located furnace, fire-box or other device whereby petroleum, coal or other substance is consumed by fire which emits or causes to be emitted dense smoke as hereinafter defined; provided, however, that dense smoke may be emitted for a period of one minute to afford the operator time to locate the cause of such smoke, and provided, further, that dense smoke may be emitted during a period or periods aggregating not more than 10 minutes in any one hour during which the fireboxes, flues or furnaces are being cleaned, a new fire is being started or fires are being increased or decreased in intensity; provided, further, that portable boilers shall have screen bonnet on smoke-stack which shall prevent the escape of unreasonable quantities of oil or soot. Smoke shall be considered dense within the meaning of this section when its density shall exceed the density designated as Diagram No. 3 upon the Ringelmann Smoke Chart published and used by the United States Bureau of Mines, a copy of which is on file in the office of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco.

   It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association or corporation within any residential or commercial district aforesaid to cause, permit or allow solid particles of soot, ashes or cinders to issue or be discharged from any flue, chimney or smokestack or from any other structure or appliance for such a period of time or in such quantities as to become a nuisance by reason of depositing such particles upon surrounding property.

   It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association or corporation within the City and County of San Francisco to cause, permit or allow objectionable fumes to issue or be discharged from any flue, chimney or smokestack from any other structure or appliance for such period of time or in such quantities as to become a nuisance on account of causing obnoxious odors in any residential or commercial district aforesaid.

   It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association or corporation within any commercial district aforesaid to erect, construct or maintain, or to cause or permit to be erected, constructed or maintained, any permanently located stationary flue, chimney, or smokestack within 50 feet of any window of any adjacent building unless the top of such flue, chimney or smoke-stack shall be higher than each portion of such window; provided, however, that this section shall not apply in any case where the persons owning and operating such adjacent building shall refuse to grant permission to brace or support such flue, chimney or smokestack by means of wire or struts attached to such building.

   Representatives of the Department of Public Health of the City and County of San Francisco are hereby authorized to enter during reasonable hours upon any premises upon which is located any flue, chimney or smokestack or any other structure or appliance from which smoke, soot, ashes, cinders or fumes are discharged in violation of this section, for the purpose of making an examination as to the cause of the excessive discharge of such smoke, soot, ashes, cinders or fumes and the manner of using the same and any other fact or facts showing compliance with or violation of this section. Such representatives shall make report to the Department of Public Health of such examination within 10 days after receiving a complaint of violation of this Section.