Whenever the permittee, property owner, or person in possession or control of the property fails to comply with a director's order requiring compliance with this chapter, the city may abate any such sign in the following manner:
(A) Declaration of nuisance. The City Council may declare, by resolution, as public nuisances and abate all illegal signs within its jurisdiction. The resolution must describe the property upon which or in front of which the nuisance exists by stating the lot and block number according to the County Assessor's map and street address, if known. Any number of parcels of private property may be included in one resolution.
(B) Notice of hearing. Before the City Council adopts the resolution, the City Clerk must mail not less than ten days' written notice to all persons owning the property described in the proposed resolution as determined by the last equalized assessment roll available on the date the notice is prepared. In addition, the notice must be sent to all known persons, if any, in possession or control of such property if their names are different from those appearing on the assessment roll, and to the permittee, if any. The notice must state the date, time and place of the hearing and generally describe the purpose of the hearing and the nature of the illegal sign.
(C) Posting of notice.
(1) After a resolution is adopted, the enforcement officer must cause notices to be conspicuously posted on or in front of the property on or in front of which the illegal sign exists.
(2) Notice must be substantially in the following form:
NOTICE TO REMOVE ILLEGAL SIGN
Take Notice that on the day of , 20 , the Santa Paula City Council adopted a resolution declaring that an illegal sign is located on or in front of this property which constitutes a public nuisance. The sign must be abated by being removed. Failure to remove the sign will result in the City taking action to remove it. The cost of such removal will be assessed upon the property from or in front of which the sign is removed and will constitute a lien upon the property until paid. Refer to the resolution for further particulars. A copy of this resolution is on file in the office of the City Clerk. All property owners having any objection to the proposed removal of the sign are notified to attend a meeting of the City Council of the City of Santa Paula to be held on at a.m./p.m. at ( location ), when their objections will be heard and given due consideration.
Dated this day of , 20 .
City Clerk
City of Santa Paula
(3) This notice must be posted at least ten days before the time for hearing objections by the City Council.
(D) Written notice of proposed abatement.
(1) In addition to posting notice of the resolution and notice of the meeting when objections will be heard, the City Council must direct the City Clerk to mail written notice of the proposed abatement to the all persons owning the property described in the resolution. The City Clerk must cause the written notice to be mailed to each person on whom the described property is assessed in the last equalized assessment roll available on the date the City Council adopted its resolution.
(2) The City Clerk must confirm with the County Assessor the names and addresses of all the persons owning the property described in the resolution. The address of a property owner shown on the assessment roll is conclusively deemed to be the proper address for the purpose of mailing the notice. If the County of Ventura poses any charges upon the city for the actual costs of furnishing the list, the city will reimburse the county and such costs shall be a part of the cost of abatement assessed against the property owner.
(3) The notices mailed by the City Clerk must be mailed at least ten days before the time for hearing objections by the City Council. The notices mailed by the Clerk must be substantially in the form of notice set forth above.
(E) Hearing--Continuances--Objections--Finality of decision--Order to abate.
(1) At the time stated in the notices, the City Council will hear and consider all objections to the proposed removal of the sign. It may continue the hearing from time to time. By motion or resolution at the conclusion of the hearing, the City Council will allow or overrule any objections. At that time, the city acquires jurisdiction to proceed and perform the work of removal.
(2) The City Council's decision is final. If objections have not been made, or after the City Council has disposed of those made, the Council will order the enforcement officer to abate the nuisance by having the sign removed. The order must be made by motion or resolution.
(F) Entry upon private property. The enforcement officer or city contractor may enter private property to abate the nuisance.
(G) Removal by owner--Special assessment and lien for costs. Before the enforcement officer takes action, the property owner or person in possession or control of the property may remove the illegal sign at the owner's own cost and expense. Notwithstanding such action, in any matter in which an order to abate was issued, the City Council may, by motion or resolution, further order that a special assessment and lien be limited to the costs incurred by the city in enforcing abatement upon the property, including investigation, boundary determination, measurement, clerical, legal and other related costs.
(H) Cost of abatement; itemization.
(1) The enforcement officer will keep an account of the cost of abatement of an illegal sign. Such officer must submit to the City Council, for confirmation, an itemized written report showing that cost.
(2) A copy of the report must be posted at least three days before being submitted to the City Council, on or near the City Council chambers door, with notice of the time of submission.
(3) At the time fixed for receiving and considering the report, the City Council will hear it with any objections of the property owners liable to be assessed for the abatement. The City Council may modify the report if it is deemed necessary. The City Council may then confirm the report by motion or resolution.
(I) Abatement by contract. The nuisance may, in the sole discretion of the City Council, be abated by performance on a contract awarded by the City Council on the basis of competitive bids let to the lowest responsible bidder. The contractor performing the contract must keep an itemized account and submit such itemized written report for each separate parcel of property required by this section.
(J) Special assessment and lien.
(1) The cost incurred by the city in enforcing abatement upon the parcel or parcels, including investigation, boundary determination, measurement, clerical, legal or other related costs, are a special assessment against that parcel. After the assessment is made and conformed, a lien attaches on the parcel upon recordation of the order confirming the assessment in the office of the Ventura County Recorder. In the event any real property to which a lien would attach was transferred or conveyed to a bona fide purchaser for value, or if the lien of a bona fide encumbrancer for value was created and attaches thereon, before the date on which the first installment of the assessment would become delinquent, the lien which would otherwise be imposed by this section will not attach to the real property and the costs of abatement and the costs of enforcing abatement, as confirmed, relating to the property will be transferred to the unsecured roll for collection.
(2) Upon confirmation of the report, a copy must be given to the County Assessor and Tax Collector, who will add the amount of the assessment to the next regular tax bill levied against the parcel for municipal purposes.
(3) The city must file a certified copy of the report with the County Assessor, Tax Collector and County Auditor on or before August 10th of each calendar year. The description of the parcels reported must be those used for the same parcels on the Ventura County Assessor's map books for the current year.
(4) The city may request the County Auditor to enter each assessment on the county tax roll opposite the parcel of land.
(5) The city will further request the County Auditor to collect the amount of the assessment at the time and in the manner of ordinary municipal taxes. Any delinquencies in the amount due are subject to the same penalties and procedures of foreclosure provided for ordinary municipal taxes.
(6) The city acknowledges that the County Tax Collector may collect assessments without reference to the general taxes by issuing separate bills and receipts for the assessments. It is further acknowledged that the lien of assessment has the priority of the taxes with which it is collected, and further, that all laws relating to levy, collection and enforcement of county taxes apply to these special assessments.
(K) Issuance of receipts for abatement costs. The enforcement officer may receive the amount due on the abatements costs and issue receipts at any time after the confirmation of the report and until ten days before a copy is given to the Assessor and Tax Collector or, where a certified copy is filed with the County Auditor, until August 1 following the confirmation of the report.
(L) Refund of assessments. The City Council may order a refund of all or part of an assessment pursuant to this section if it finds that all or part of the assessment was erroneously levied. An assessment, or part thereof, will not be refunded unless a claim is filed with the City Clerk on or before November 1 after the assessment has become due and payable. The claim must be verified by the person who paid the assessment or by the person's guardian, conservator, executor or administrator.
(Ord. 1122, passed 10-18-04)