O1527
-
e
CA:RMM:jld406/hpc
city Council Meeting 5-22-90
Santa Monica, california
ORDINANCE NUMBER 1527 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA AMENDING THE PROVISIONS OF CHAPTER 2A
OF ARTICLE VII OF THE SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE
RELATING TO WATER CONSERVATION
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION l. Chapter 2A of Article VII of the santa Monica
Municipal Code is amended to read as follows:
SECTION 724l.
Water Conservation
Requirements. The following water
conservation requirements shall apply to
all persons within the City of Santa
Monica:
(a) ~atering Days. No lawn or
landscape area shall be watered more
frequently than twice during any seven
(7) day period.
(b)
Watering Hours.
No lawn or
landscape area shall be watered between
the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on
any day. This subsection shall not apply
to any drip irrigation system approved by
- 1 -
e
e
the Director of General services or if
the Director of General Services approves
an exemption for irriqation system
maintenance, leak repair, or new planting
and fertilization.
(c) Anti-Waste Measures. No
person shall use water or permit water to
be used to:
(1) Wash, clean, or clear
walkways, patios, driveways, alleys, or
parking areas, whether paved or unpaved
except by use of a hand held bucket or
similar container or by use of a cleaning
machine equipped to recycle any water
used. In no event shall any water so
used be permi tted to run off into
streets, alleys or storm drains.
(2) Wash or clean any
vehicle including, but not limited to,
any automobile, truck, van, bus,
motorcycle, boat or trailer, whether
motorized or unmotorized, except by use
of a hand held bucket or similar
container or a hose equipped with a
positive action quick release shut-off
valve or nozzle. This subsection shall
not apply to any commercial car washing
facility.
- 2 -
e
e
(3) Excessively water any
lawn or landscape area and water shall
not be permitted to run off lawns or
landscape areas onto any gutters,
streets, or alleys.
(4) Clean, fill, or maintain
levels in decorative fountains, ponds,
lakes, or displays unless a recyclinq
system or sea water is used.
(5) Fill any spa or
permanent swimming or wading pool except
for the first filling of a newly and
lawfully installed or constructed spa,
swimming or wading pool, or except to
fill the spa or pool after it has been
emptied to perform leak repair work.
(6) Leak from any exterior
or interior pipe, hose, or pl111!1hing
fixture of any kind whatsoever.
(d) Eating Establishments. All
eating establishments of any kind
whatsoever including, but not limited to,
any restaurant, hotel, cafe, cafeteria,
bar, or club, whether public or private,
where food is served, shall~
(1) Provide drinking water
to any person only upon receipt of an
express request.
- 3 -
e
e
(2) Place on each table
placards or signs indicating that because
of severe drought and water shortage
conditions, drinking water will only be
served upon customer or patron request.
(e) Exceptions. The provisions of
this Section are not appl icable to the
uses of water which are necessary to
protect pUblic health and safety or for
essential governmental services, such as
police, fire, and other similar emergency
services.
SECTION 7242. Penalties. The
Water Division is authorized to enforce
Section 7241 as follows:
(a) For the first failure to
comply with any provision of Section
7241, the Water Division shall issue to
the affected customer a written notice of
the fact of such failure to comply. The
notice shall include the following
information:
(l) A statement specifying
the violation committed.
(2) A statement of the
penalty for continued noncompliance.
- 4 -
e e
(b) For each subsequent failure to
comply with any provision of section
7241, the Water Division may levy a
surcharge of Twenty Dollars ($20.00) or
twenty percent (20%) of the customer's
water bill for the previous billing
period,
whichever
is
greater.
Any
statement informing a customer of the
assessment of a surcharge shall include a
notice setting forth the hearing rights
provided in subdivision (c) below.
(c)
Any
customer
assessed
a
surcharge pursuant to subdivision (b) may
dispute the surcharge by requesting a
hearing wi thin the time and manner set
forth in Municipal Code section 6126,
provided that no hearing request shall be
deemed timely filed and no hearing shall
be held unless, within the time period to
request a hearing, the customer deposi ts
with the city Treasurer money in the
amount of any unpaid surcharge due under
this section.
If as a result of the
hearing it
is determined that
the
surcharge was wrongly assessed, the city
shall refund any money deposited to the
customer.
The decision of the Hearing
Examiner shall be final except for
- 5 -
e
e
judicial review and shall not be
appealable to the City Council.
Cd) It shall not be a defense to
the assessment of any surcharge or to any
other civil enforcement action provided
for under this section for a customer to
assert that any violation of section 7241
was caused by the actions of a person
other than the customer except. if the
violation was caused by the criminal or
negligent action of a person who was not
an agent, servant, employee, or family
member of the customer.
(e) Any surcharge provided for
hereunder shall be added to subsequent
water billings until paid and when
collected by the Water Division shall be
deposited in the Water Operating Fund as
reimbursement for the Water Division's
costs and expenses of administration and
enforcement of this Chapter.
(f) The violation of this Chapter
shall constitute an infraction punishable
by a fine not to exceed One Hundred
Dollars ($100.00). Each day that a
violation occurs shall constitute a
separate offense.
- 6 -
e
e
(q) Pursuant to Penal Code section
836.5, the Water Conservation Coordinator
and Water Conservation Inspectors may
arrest wi thout a warrant any person
whenever the Coordinator or Inspector has
reasonable cause to believe that the
person to be arrested has committed an
infraction in his or her presence which
is a violation of this Chapter. In any
case in which a person is arrested
pursuant to this section, and the person
arrested does not demand to be taken
before a magistrate, the Water
Conservation Coordinator or Water
Conservation Inspector shall prepare a
written notice to appear and shall
release the arrested person on his or her
promise to appear as provided for in
section 3606 of this Code.
(h) A violation of any provision
of this Chapter is declared to be a
public nuisance and the City Attorney is
authorized to abate such violation(s) by
means of a civil action.
(i) The penalties and remedies
established by this Chapter shall be
cumulative.
- 7 -
e
e
SECTION 7243. Relief from
Compliance. The City Manager or his or
her designated representative may, in
writing, grant variances to persons who
apply on forms supplied by the City for
usages of water prohibited by Section
7241 if it is found that such variance is
necessary to prevent an emergency
condition relating to health and safety,
or extreme economic hardship, or if the
person seeking a variance has
demonstrated that he or she has
implemented water conservation measures
in some other manner that achieves the
objectives of this Chapter.
SECTION 7244. Duration of
Ordinance. The Ci ty Council may suspend
any provision of this Chapter by
declaring through resolution that the
emergency caused by the drought condition
has ended. Any provision of this Chapter
so suspended can be reimposed upon a
finding by resolution of the city Council
that emergency drought conditions have
reoccurred.
SECTION 7245. city of Santa Monica
voluntary Water conservation Plan. In
- 8 -
'.
"
e
e
addition to the water conservation
requirements of Section 7241, the city
Manager or his or her designate is
authorized to develop and promulgate a
voluntary water conservation plan which
shall be directed to achieve at least a
ten percent (lO%) reduction in water
consumption within the City of Santa
Monica. The Ci ty Manager shall report
the details of such a plan to the Ci ty
Council.
SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal
Code or appendices thereto inconsistent wi th the provisions of
this Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no
further, are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to affect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid
or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of any competent
juriSdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each and
every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
- 9 -
...
, ..
.
e
e
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become
effective after 30 days from its adoption.
SECTION 5. This Ordinance is declared to be an emergency
measure adopted pursuant to the provisions of City Charter
section 615 and is necessary for preserving the pub I ic peace,
health, and safety. An emergency has been caused by the drought
conditi~ns within the state of California and within the City of
Santa Monica, and there is a threatened water shortage within the
City of Santa Monica. The enactment of a water reduction plan as
an emergency measure is necessary in order to preserve the public
peace, health, and safety. An emergency water conservation plan
is necessary to minimize the effect of the shortage of water
within the City of Santa Monica and that such a plan will
significantly reduce the consumption of water, thereby extending
the available water required by the city of Santa Monica while
minimizing the hardship caused to the general public to the
greatest extent possible.
Pursuant to City Charter Section
619(d), this Ordinance shall take effect and be in full force and
effect immediately after the passage and adoption thereof.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
RO~MY':s ~
City Attorney
- lO -
'.. \,,;. :..
e
.
Adopted and approved this 22nd day of May, 1990.
~ '2yr
I hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 1527 (CCS)
was duly and regularly introduced at a meeting of the City
Council on the 22nd day of May 1990; that the said Ordinance was
thereafter duly adopted at a meeting of the City Council on the
22nd day of May 1990 by the following Council vote:
Ayes: Councilmembers: Abdo, Finkel, Genser, Jennings,
Ka tz , Reed, Mayor Zane
Noes: councilmembers: None
Abstain: councilmembers: None
Absent: councilmembers: None
-~
ATTEST:
-...."- ~ .-_.. -
-
~/' i - :-~~~<+ j- - -
~ ... - t:. ~'=- --kJL.-JU4~ .
1'/;J,?JJL1tlP-" t).~-
--- .- ---city Clf'#_ _~ _..::__
,
,