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