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Home My WebLink AboutORD 1197ORDINANCE NO. 1197 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, ADDING CHAPTER 9.26 REGARDING UNLAWFUL CAMPING The City Council of the City of Palm Desert, California does hereby ordain as follows: SECTION 1. Chapter 9.26 of the Palm Desert Municipal Code is added to read as follows.. "Chapter 9.26 UNLAWFUL CAMPING Sections: 9.26.000 Findings and purpose 9.26.010 Definitions 9.26.020 Prohibited acts 9.26.030 Storage of personal property in public places 9.26.040 Exceptions 9.26.050 Enforcement Section 9.26.000 Findings and purpose The purpose of this chapter is to maintain public and private streets and developed and undeveloped areas within the city in a clean, safe and accessible condition for residents and the public at large; to promote and protect human sanitation and health while preserving appropriate recreational opportunities within the community; and to discourage or prevent the secondary impacts of vagrancy such as crime, visual blight, poor sanitation, disease and discouragement of desirable economic activity and economic development while accommodating circumstances of necessity. Section 9.26.010 Definitions Unless the particular provisions or context requires otherwise, the definitions contained in this section shall govern the construction, meaning and application of words and phrases in this chapter. "Camp" means to pitch, sleep in or occupy camp facilities or to use camp paraphernalia for the purpose of temporary or permanent human habitation or domicile. "Camp" shall not mean the use of any facilities or equipment which are used solely in connection with a special event or temporary use conducted in accordance with a permit by the City under other provisions of this code. RMPUB,jTREMBLAY.307881 4 ORDINANCE NO. 1197 "Camp facilities" include, but are not limited to, tents, huts, or temporary shelters, trailers, and any other vehicle. - "Camp paraphernalia" includes, but is not limited to, collapsible shelters, cots, beds, sleeping bags, bed rolls, hammocks or barbeques, open fires, portable stoves or other cooking equipment not provided or approved by the City. "Store" means to put aside or accumulate for use when needed, to put for safekeeping, or to place or leave in a location. Section 9.26.020 Prohibited Acts A. It shall be unlawful for any person to camp in the following areas within the city, except as otherwise provided: 1. Any public or private street or right-of-way; including sidewalks, bus stops and public landscaping; 2. Any parking lot, yard, building set -back, vacant land, open space or any other area open or accessible to the public, improved or unimproved. 3. In, on, under, or adjacent to any structure not intended for human occupancy, whether with or without bedding including, but not limited to, a tent, hammock or other similar protection or equipment; and 4. In, on, under, or adjacent to a parked vehicle on any public or private property including, but not limited to, an automobile, bus, truck, camper, trailer or recreational vehicle. B. It shall be unlawful for any person to urinate or defecate on public or private property in an area exposed to public view or on any public street, sidewalk, alley, park or any other public place except in a public restroom. Section 9.26.030 Storage of personal property in public places A. It shall be unlawful for any person to store personal property, including camp facilities and camp paraphernalia, in the following areas, except as otherwise provided: 1. Any park; 2. Any street or right of way, including sidewalks, bus stops and public landscaping; 3. Any parking lot, yard, building set -back, vacant land, open space or any other area open or accessible to the public, improved or unimproved. Section 9.26.040 Exceptions A. This chapter shall not apply to camping in a public or commercial campground legally and lawfully approved and permitted for that purpose and in compliance with all laws, regulations and conditions of approval for such a facility. ORDINANCE NO. 1197 B. This chapter shall not apply to events for which a Temporary Use Permit has been approved by the City. C. Motor Homes equipped with sleeping and toilet facilities may be granted a permit by the City for camping for a period of up to 72 hours in either: 1) any publicly - owned parking lot or right of way, or 2) with the consent of the property owner, in a privately -owned driveway, parking lot, or other improved area accessible to the public. Said permit shall be issued without cost by a code enforcement officer to any individual who desires to park the motor home in areas described herein for a period of time not to exceed seventy-two consecutive hours. Application for a permit shall be made to the code enforcement officer on a form provided by the code enforcement department. Application for the permit shall be made on the next day that the city offices are open following the arrival of the applicant's recreational vehicle in the city. One extension of the permit may be granted, up to a maximum of seventy-two hours. No more than one extension may be granted, and no more than two permits may be obtained for any motor home during any calendar year by any applicant. Section 9.26.050 Enforcement A. It is unlawful for any person to violate any provision or to fail to comply with any of the requirements of this chapter. In addition to other remedies provided by law, any person violating any provision of the chapter for failing to comply with any of the requirements is deemed guilty of an infraction in accordance with Chapter 1.12 of this code. B. Each person shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each and every day, or any portion thereof, during which any violation of or failure to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter is committed, continued or permitted by such person, and each instance shall be deemed punishable a provided in this chapter. C. The provisions of this chapter shall not be construed as permitting conduct not prescribed herein and shall not affect the enforceability of any other applicable provisions of law. D. Any citation issued for a violation of this chapter may be dismissed upon review by the city manager if, in the interest of justice, at the time of citation issuance, all local homeless shelters were full to capacity, the person cited had no reasonable or adequate alternative course of action, and the person cited did not substantially contribute to the circumstances necessitating camping as his or her only reasonable course of action." SECTION 2. SEVERABILITY If any section, subsection, clause or phrase of this Ordinance or any part thereof is for any reason held to be invalid, unconstitutional, or unenforceable by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion of the Ordinance. The City Council declares that it would have ORDINANCE NO. 1197 passed each section, subsection, paragraph, sentence clause or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase would be declared invalid, unconstitutional or unenforceable. SECTION 3. COMPLIANCE WITH CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT This ordinance complies with the "City of Palm Desert Procedure for Implementation of California Environmental Quality Act, Resolution No. 02-60", in that pursuant to Section 3.07, the ordinance is exempt because there is no possibility that the adoption of the ordinance will have any significant negative effect on the environment. SECTION 4. PUBLICATION The City Clerk of the City of Palm Desert, California, is hereby directed to publish this ordinance in the Desert Sun, a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated in the City of Palm Desert, California, and shall be in full force and effective thirty (30) days after its adoption. PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED by the Palm Desert City Council this 8th day of October, 2009, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: BENSON, FERGUSON, FINERTY, KELLY, and SPIEGEL NOES: NONE ABSENT: NONE ABSTAIN: NONE ./ / . SPIEdE..- ATTEST: RA HE LE D. KI-A-SSErt, CITY CLERR CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA 1D113 -c*7