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O2365Council Meeting 7-26-2011 Santa Monica, California ORDINANCE NUMBER 2365 (CCS) (City Council Series) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA UPDATING ARTICLES I AND Vf OF THE SANTA MONlCA MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS AND CODE ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS BY THE CITY WHEREAS, California law authorizes local agencies, including the City of Santa Monica, to promulgate rules and regulations governing the conduct of local administrative hearings presided by a hearing officer or a hearing examiner; and WHEREAS, California Government Code Section 53069.4 specifically authorizes local agencies to make any violation of any ordinance enacted by the local agency subject to an administrative fine or penalty; and WHEREAS, in adopting Government Gode Section 53069.4 the State Legislature has found that "code enforcement is complex and, therefore, there is a need for many tools, including fines, to help and maintain an effective, efficient, and responsive enforcement of codes;" and WHEREAS, this finding is particularly applicable in Santa Monica, as achieving effective code enforcement in Santa Monica is complicated by various factors including the City's unusual density (11,200 persons per square mile), its age, its diversity of structures, and the variety of sometimes conflicting activities and land uses occurring within the City's eight square miles; and WHEREAS, the City of Santa Monica is committed to protecting its residents', businesses' and visitors' health, safety, welfare, and quality of life; and WHEREAS, the City is also committed to preserving aesthetic qualities and charm which enrich residents' lives and attract visitors; and WHEREAS, effective code enforcement is vital to effectuation of these commitments; and WHEREAS, the City has a broad array of regulations and permit requirements governing the use of land in the City; and WHEREAS, code enforcement is the method by which the City assures that the use of land continues to comply with the laws and policies adopted by the City Council; and WHEREAS, it is critical that the City have a full range of remedies available to protect the community, ensure compliance with local law and, where necessary, penalize violators for the failure to comply with these laws;-and WHEREAS, enforcement of this Code and conditions on entitlements are matters of local concern and serve important public purposes; and WHEREAS, enabling the City to exercise prosecutorial discretion does not lessen the City's commitment to enforce its Code, nor is it an invitation to violate or ignore the law, but a means to effectively use the City's resources in a way that best accomplishes the City's mission of administering and enforcing its Municipal Code; and WHEREAS, setting clear rules regarding .the City's administrative hearing process serves to inform and benefit the public, hearing officers/examiners and local administrative practitioners; and 2 WHEREAS, the City intends for its hearing officers and hearing examiners to adhere to well established. principles of administrative law; and WHEREAS, a comprehensive code enforcement system that uses a combination of judicial and administrative remedies is critical to ensure code compliance; and WHEREAS, the City adopts the administrative fine and penalty provisions of this ordinance pursuant to the City's powers as a charter city and Government Code Section 53069.4. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Section 1.09.010 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 1.09.010 Applicability. (a) -This Chapter provides for the issuance of administrative citations which are in addition to all other legal remedies, criminal or civil, which may be pursued by the City to address any violation of this Code. (b) The administrative citations process set forth in this Chapter applies to violations of the Code that (1) are transitory or immediately remediable, (2) create an immediate danger- to health or safety, or (3) are continuing violations pertaining to building, plumbing, electrical or other similar structural or zoning issues that persist after the Responsible Party has been given notice and failed to comply within the specified time frame. 3 (c) Use of this Chapter shall be at the sole discretion of the City, subject to subsection (b) of this Section. Section 2. Section 1.09.030 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 1.09.030 Administrative citation. (a) Whenever an enforcement officer charged with the enforcement of any provision of this Code determines that a violation of that provision has occurred, the enforcement officer shall have the authority to issue an administrative citation to any person responsible for the violation. (b) Each administrative citation shall contain the following information: (1) The date of the violation or, if the date of the violation is unknown then the date the violation is identified; (2) The address or a definite description of the location where the violation occurred; (3) The section of this Code violated and a description of the violation; (4) The amount of the fine for the Code violation; (5) A description of the fine payment process, including a description of the time within which and the place to which the fine shall be paid; 4 (6) An order prohibiting the continuation or repeated occurrence of the Code violation described in the administrative citation; (7) The time limits for payment of the fine and abatement of the Code violations; (8) A description of the administrative citation review process, including the time within which the administrative citation may be contested and the place from which a request for hearing form to contest the administrative citation may be obtained; and (9) The name and signature of the citing enforcement officer. Section 3. Section 1.09.050 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 1.09.050 Compliance with Administrative Citations. (a) The Responsible Party shall comply with any administrative citation by abating the Code violations described in the citation and by paying the required fines within the time allotted by the citation. (b) Any administrative citation fine paid pursuant to subsection (a) of this Section shall be refunded in accordance with Section 1.09.100 if it is determined, after a requested review, that the person charged in the administrative citation was not responsible for the violation or that there was no violation as charged in the administrative citation. 5 (c) Payment of a fine under this Chapter shall not excuse or discharge any continuation or repeated occurrence of the Code violation that is the subject of the administrative citation. Section 4. Section 1.09.080 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 1.09.080 Hearing Officer. The review of the administrative citation requested pursuant to Section 1.09.060 may be conducted by the Building Officer, Zoning Administrator, Fire Marshall, the department or division head of the department which issued the citation, the City Manager or his/her designee, any individual acting in one of the above-enumerated positions, or a Hearing Examiner appointed in accordance with the procedures set forth in Section 1.10.050. The Hearing Officer must be qualified by experience or training to conduct the review. In no event, however, shall the administrative review be conducted by the person who issued or who was directly involved in the issuance of the citation. A Hearing Examiner shall be required where there is no uninvolved City employee qualified to conduct the review. Section 5. Section 1.09.080 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 6 1.09.090 Hearing procedure. (a) No hearing to contest an administrative citation before a Hearing Officer shall be held unless the fine has been deposited in advance in accordance with Section 1.09.050 or an advance deposit hardship waiver has been issued in accordance with Section 1.09.070. (b) A hearing before the Hearing Officer shall be set for a date that is not less than five days and not more than thirty days from the date that the request for hearing is filed in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter, unless the City Official or the City Attorney determines that the matter is urgent or that good cause exists for an extension of time. (c) At the hearing, the party contesting the administrative citation shall be given the opportunity to testify and to present evidence concerning the administrative citation. (d) Unless the recipient of an administrative citation requested a paper review pursuant to Section 1.09.060(e), .the failure of the recipient to appear at the administrative citation hearing shall constitute a forfeiture of the fine and a failure to exhaust his or her administrative remedies. (e) The administrative citation and any additional report submitted by City staff shall constitute prima facie evidence of the respective facts contained in those documents. 7 (f) The Hearing Officer may continue the hearing and request additional information from the enforcement officer or the recipient of the administrative citation prior to issuing a written decision. (g) The Hearing Officer may grant any request for a continuance of the hearing from either party upon a showing of good cause (h) At any time prior to or during the hearing, the City Attorney's Office may exercise its prosecutorial discretion to reach a plea agreement or compromise with the Responsible Party or to dismiss any citation. Section 6. Section 1.09.160 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 1.09.160 Failure to pay administrative fine. The failure to comply with an administrative citation, including any failure to pay an administrative fine, is a misdemeanor. The filing of a criminal misdemeanor action does not preclude the City from using any other legal remedy available to gain compliance with the administrative citation. Section 7. Section 1.10.050 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 8 1.10.050 Hearing Examiner. The Hearing Examiner shall be the City Manager or his or her designee. The Hearing Examiner shall not have had any prior direct involvement with the matter pending before him/her. If no City staff is capable of conducting the hearing, then the City shall contract with the California Office of Administrative Hearings to conduct the hearing. Section 8. Section 6.04.260 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 6.04.260 Revocation of license. Any license issued pursuant to this Code may be suspended or revoked by the City Manager or his or her designee when it shall appear that the business of the person to whom such license was granted has been conducted in a disorderly or improper manner, or in violation of any statute of the State, or ordinance of this City or of this Code, or that the person conducting said business is of an unfit character to conduct the same, or the purpose for which the license has been issued is being abused to the detriment of the public, or is being used for a purpose different from that for which the license was issued. If the license of any person shall be so revoked, another such license shall not be granted to such persons within twelve months after the date of such revocation. 9 Section 9. Section 6.16.030 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 6.16.030 Appeal procedure. (a) The Hearing Examiner shall be the City Manager or his or her designee. The Hearing Examiner shall not have had any prior direct involvement with the matter pending before him/her. If no City staff is capable of conducting the hearing, then the City shall contract with the California Office of Administrative Hearings to conduct the hearing. (b) Standards. The Hearing Examiner may suspend, revoke or deny a license or permit whenever, in the reasonable judgment of the Hearing Examiner, the suspension, revocation or denial is in accordance with any applicable law. (c) Hearing. Any person aggrieved by an action appealable to a Hearing Examiner shall be entitled to a hearing upon filing a written request therefor with the City Clerk not later than the tenth day following the mailing of a notice of the action from which the appeal is taken. The Hearing Examiner shall hold a hearing not later than sixty days following receipt of the request by the City Clerk, unless an extension of the time is granted by the Hearing Examiner, upon a finding of good cause. The applicant shall be given no less than five days' notice of the time and place of said hearing. The hearing shall be open to the public. Any interested party is entitled to be heard and may be represented by counsel.. 10 (d) Decision of Hearing Examiner. The decision of the Hearing Examiner shall be made promptly after the conclusion of the hearing. Notice of the decision shall be mailed to the applicant at his or her last known mailing address. (e) Stay Pending Hearing. The suspension or revocation of any permit or license for which a request for review has been timely filed under this Section, shall be stayed pending decision of the Hearing Examiner. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require any officer or employee of the City to issue any permit or license. (f) Review of Hearing Examiner's Decision. The stay expires ten days after the Hearing Examiner issues the decision. The Hearing Examiner's decision in all cases is final except for judicial review. Such review must be sought by petition under Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.5, not later than ninety days after the decision is issued. Section 10. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices thereto inconsistent. with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to effect the provisions of this Ordinance. Section 11. 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 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, 11 or phrase not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional. Section 12. 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 30 days from its adoption. APPROVED AS TO FORM: MA SHA J N S MOUTRIE VL City Attorney 12 Approved and adopted this 26th day of July, 2011. Ric and Bloom, Mayor State of California ) County of Los Angeles ) ss. City of Santa Monica ) i, Maria M. Stewart, City Glerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 2365 (CCS) had its introduction on July 12, 2011, and was adopted at the Santa Monica Gity Council meeting held on July 26, 2011, by the following vote: Ayes: Council members: Holbrook, O'Connor, O'Day, Mayor Bloom Noes: Council members: None Absent: Council members: McKeown, Shriver Mayor Pro Tem Davis A summary of Ordinance No. 2365 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to California Government Code Section 40806. ATTEST: ~ ~..~'~- Maria M. Stewart, Cit Jerk