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Ordinance 53ORDINANCE N0. 53 AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE ABATEMENT OF WEEDS IN THE CITY OF CUPERTINO, PROVIDING FOR LIEN ASSESSMENTS AND PROCEDURES FOR COLLECTING THE SAME. THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CUPERTINO DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. PUBLIC NUISANCE No owner, agent, lessee or other person occupying or having charge or control of any building, lot or premises within the City shall permit weeds to remain upon said premises or public sidewalks, or streets, or alleys between said premises and the property line of any public street or alley. "Weeds", as used in this ordinance, means all wild plants growing upon streets, alleys, sidewalks, or private property in the City and includes any of the following: (a) Weeds which bear or may bear seeds of a downy or wingy nature. (b) Weeds and indigenous grasses which may attain such large growth as to become, when dry, a fire menace to adjacent improved property. (c) Weeds=which are otherwise noxious or dangerous. d Poison oak and poison ivy when the conditions of growth are such as to constitute a menace to the public health. (e) Accumulation of garden r efuse, cuttings and other combustible trash. Every property owner shall remove or destroy such weeds from his property, and in the abutting half of any street or alley between the lot lines as extended. Section 1 (a) EXCLUSIONS. There are hereby excluded from the provisions of this ordinance all lands devoted exclusively to agricultural and farming use. Section 2. RESOLUTION DECLARING NUISANCE Whenever any such weeds are growing upon any private property or properties or along any street or alley within the City, the Council shall pass a resolution declaring the same to be a public nuisance, and order the Chief of Police to give notice of the passage of such resolution as herein provided, and stating therein that, unless such nuisance be abated without delay by the destruction or removal of such weeds, the work of abating such nuisance will be done by the City authorities, and the expense thereof assessed upon the lots and lands from which, and~or in the front and rear of which, such weeds shall have been destroyed or removed. Such resolution shall fix the time and place for hearing any objections to the proposed destruction or removal of such weeds. Section 3, FORM OF NOTICE The notice shall be in substantially the following form: "NOTICE TO DESTROY WEEDS" NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on , pursuant to the- provisions of Section 2 of rdinance No. 53 of the City of Cupertino, the City Council of said City passed a resolution declaring that all weeds growing upon any private property or in any public street or alley, as defined in Section 1 of said Ordinance No. 53, constitute a public nuisance, which nuisance must be abated by the destruction or removal thereof. NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that property owners shall, without delay, remove all such weeds from their property, and the abutting half of the street in front and alleys, if any, behind such property, and between the lot lines thereof extended, or such weeds will be destroyed or :^emoved and such nuisance abated by the City authorities, :Ln which case the cost of such destruction or removal will be a~~sessed uponfhe lots and lands from which, or from the front or rear of which, such weeds shall have been destroyed or removed; and such cost will constitute a lien upon such lots or lands until paid, and will be collected upon the next tax roll upon which general municipal taxes are collected. All property owners having any objections to the proposed destruction or rE~moval of such weeds are hereby notified to attend a meeting of i;he Council of said City, to be held in the City Office, City of Cupertino, on , at o~clock P.M., when ~~nd where their objections will be heard and given due consideration. Dated this day of 19 Chief of Police City o f Cupertino Section ~-. HEARING. At the time stated in the Notice, the Council shall hear and consider any and all objections to the proposed destruction or removal of such weeds, and ma~~ continue the hearing from time to time. The Council by motion or resolution shall allow or overrule any and all objections, if any, after which the Council shall thereupon be deemed to havE~ acquired jurisdiction to proceed and perform the work of cestruction and removal of said weeds. Section 5. ORDER TO ABATE T(UISANCE. The Council shall by resolution order the Chief of Police to abate such nuisance, or cause the same to be abated, by having the weeds referred to destroyed or removed by cutting, discing, chemical spraying or any other method as may be determined by the City Council ar.~.d the Chief of Police and his deputies, assistants, employees, contracting agents or other representatives are hereby expressly authorized to enter upon private property for that purpose. Any property owner shall have the right to destroy cr remove such weeds himself, or have the same destroyed or removed at his own expense, provided that such weeds shall have been removed prior to the arrival of the Chief of Police or his authorized representatives to remove them. Section 6. ACCOUNT AND REPCRT OF COST The Chief of Police shall keep an account of the cost of abating such nuisance and embody such account in a report and assessment list to the City Council, which shall be filed with the Administrator Clerk. Suvh report shall refer to each separate lot or parcel of land by description sufficient to identify such lot or parcel, together with the expense proposed to be assessed against each separate lot or parcel of land. Section 7. NOTICE OF REPORT The City Clerk shall post copies of such report and assess- ment list on the front door of the City Office of the City of Cupertino, located at Highway 9 and Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino; together with a notice of the filing thereof and of the time and place when and where it will be submitted to the City Council for hearing and confirmation, notifying property owners that they may appear at such time and place, and object to any matter contained therein. A like notice shall also be published twice in a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated within the City. The posting and first publica- tion of said notice shall be made and completed at least ten (10) days before the time such report shall have been submitted to the City Council. Such notice, as so posted and published, shall be substantially in the following form: "NOTICE OF HEARING ON REPORT AND ASSESSMENT FOR WEED ABATEMENT." NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on , the Chief of Police of the City of Cupertino filed with the City Clerk-Administrator of said City a report and assessment on abatement of weeds within said City, copies of which are posted at the City Office, on the utility pole adjacent to the Post Office, and on the utility pole located on the southwest corner of Stevens Creek Blvd. and Highway 9. NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that on , at the hour of o'clock P. M., in the City Office of said City said report and assessment list shall be presented to the City Council of said City for consideration and confirmation and that any and all persons interested having any objections to said report and assessment list, or to any matter or thing contained therein, may appear at sai d time and place to be heard. DATED this day of 19 City Clerk-Administrator City of Cupertino Section 8. HEARING AND CONFIRMATION At the time and place fixed for receiving and considering such report, the City Council shall hear the same together with any objections which may be raised by any of the property owners liable to be assessed for the work of abating such nuisance, and said Chief of Police shall attend such meeting with his record thereof, and upon such hearing, the Council. may take such modifications in the proposed assessment there- fore as ~.t may deem necessary, after which such report and assessment list shall be confirmed by resolution. The amount of the cost of abating such nuisance upon, or in the front or rear of, the various lots or parcels of land respectively referred to in such report, shall constitute special assessments against such respective lots or parcels of land, and after thus made and confirmed, shall constitute a lien on such property for the amount of such assessments, until paid. Section 9. COLLECTION The Treasurer shall cause the amount of the assessment to be entered on the County assessment roll opposite the description of the particular property, and the amount shall be collected togeth~ r with all other taxes thereon upon the property. Thereafter such amounts shall be collected at the same time, and in the same manner, as general city taxes are collected and shall be subject to the same penalties and interest, and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for City taxes. All laws and ordinances applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of City taxes are hereby made applicable to such special assessment. Section 10. CONSTITUTIONALITY. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council hereby expressly declares that it would have passed and adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase hereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more of said sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases hereof be held unconstitutim al. Section 11. PUBLICATION The City Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to cause a copy of this ordinance to be published at least once within fifteen (15) days after its adoption in the Cupertino Courier, a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Cupertino. Section 12. EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance shall be effE~ctive immediately upon its adoption as an emergency measure for the preservation of the public peace, health or safety ar~.d the City Council hereby finds and declares the reasons for its urgency as follaas: The weeds as defined herein constitute a nL.isance to the health, welfare and safety of the citizens of Cug~ertino and constitute a fire menace, when dry, and are noxious and injurious to the health of the citizens of Cupertino in these summer months. The foregoing ordinance was introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the (th day of July and was passed and adopted at a regular meeting thereof held on the 7th day of July, 1958, by the following called vote: AYES: Councilmen: Lazaneo, N[eyerholz, Nathanson, Saich NOES: Councilmen: None ABSENT: Councilmen: None ABSTAIN: Councilmen: Pelosi APPROVED: Mayor of the City of Cupertino ATTE City Clerk I, LAWRENCE K. MARTIN, City Clerk of the City of Cupertino and ex- officio clerk of the legislative body of said City do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of Ordinance No. 53 on file in my office and that the same has been published pursuant to law. IN`1TNESS WHEREO I hav hereunto set my hand and City Seal this day of ~~ , 19 ~ ~ 1-~, City Clerk