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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD-23-07 Amending Chapter 17.30 Adding Special Use Regulations for Job CentersORDINANCE NO. 23- 07 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ORANGE AMENDING CHAPTER 17.30 OF TITLE 17 OF THE ORANGE MUNICIPAL CODE ADDING SPECIAL USE REGULATIONS FOR JOB CENTERS.WHEREAS, for nearly two decades, if not more, the City of Orange ( hereafter,City) has experienced negative secondary impacts arising out of the activities of individuals who utilize commercial parking lots for the purpose of advertising their availability for day labor employment (hereafter, day laborers); and WHEREAS, day laborers typically congregate in large numbers and up to 100 persons believed to be day laborers have been counted in commercial parking lots; and WHEREAS, day laborer solicitation of motorists driving on City streets and in commercial parking lots distracts motorists from their primary duty, which is to safely operate a motor vehicle so as to not impede the free flow of traffic and to avoid causing damage to property and/or injury to persons; and WHEREAS, the negative impacts caused by day laborer activity on commercial property include, but are not limited to: vehicles stopping in traffic lanes, vehicles stopping on driveway aprons, jay walking; aggressive solicitation in the form of swarming wherein groups of solicitors will converge on a vehicle and in some cases enter the vehicle or jump into the back of pickup trucks without invitation, day laborer solicitors being transported in vehicles in an unsafe manner, littering, urinating in public,and interference with on-site commercial business operations by various means including, but not limited to, solicitors making lewd gestures or comments to customers,congregating around entrances to businesses, occupying bathrooms intended for customers, occupying tables at restaurants without purchasing any items, and ignoring repeated requests by the restaurants and business owners to leave; and WHEREAS, the congregation of individuals engaged in day laborer solicitation on one person's commercial property has been shown to cause many of these negative impacts to adjacent and nearby commercial properties; and WHEREAS, over the past years and at least as far back as 1989, the City has received substantial numbers of complaints from residents, business customers and businesses concerning conduct by day laborer solicitors that result in customers not patronizing a business at all, customers altering the hours they shop, and a decrease in business when day laborer solicitors are WHEREAS, individuals engaged in day laborer solicitation on commercial parking lots often interfere with the safe ingress and egress of motorists and often occupy parking spots required for customer and employee parking; and WHEREAS, most private property is not a place where the general public has any right to engage in day laborer solicitation without the permission of the private property owner and even in those limited cases where it may be permitted, the private property owner has the right to impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions; and WHEREAS, some businesses may actually profit from the presence of day laborers who purchases goods that are sold on site; and WHEREAS, regulations are needed for those businesses that desire to establish private property job centers at which day laborers and employers can congregate and enter into employment relationships to ensure that the operation of such job centers does not result in negative secondary effects to adjoining businesses, to traffic safety or the use of the public right- of-ways.NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ORANGE DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I:Section 17.30.070 is added to the Orange Municipal Code to provide as follows:17.30.070 Job Centers. A. Definitions.1. Job center is defined as a location at which five or more individuals seeking employment are permitted by the property owner to congregate at one time to advertise their availability to perform work which is performed at an off site location and which work is not at the direction or on behalf of the property owner.2 Property owner shall mean the person or entity that owns the property in fee, is a tenant or a person who is otherwise in lawful possession of the property and their respective designated agents.B. Conditional use permit required. A job center may only be located within commercial or industrial districts with a conditional use permit and may be the primary use or an accessory use, provided that the area designated as the site for users to congregate is at least 100 feet away from the nearest residential use as measured from the nearest property C. Guidelines to be used in conditional use permit review. The following development standards shall be considered by the Planning Commission in its review of a conditional use permit application for a job center. 1. Restroom facilities. Adequate restroom facilities shall be made available during all hours that the job center is in operation. 2. Operating hours. Operating hours shall begin no earlier than 6 a.m. and end no later than noon. Extended hours may be granted upon a showing of a need. 3. Trash receptacles. Trash receptacles shall be available and shall be maintained in manner so as to prevent any overflow. The job center shall be maintained free of litter. 4. Site plan. A site plan shall include a circulation plan that includes a designated site at which users can congregate and which promotes safe ingress and egress and causes minimal disruption to public street traffic flow. The congregation site shall not be located in an area that utilizes parking space at any time when any business that is authorized to use such parking is open. 5. Rules for use. A set of rules governing the conduct of persons utilizing the job center shall be submitted with any application. The rules shall be designed to provide for an orderly method of employment and to prevent large groups of individuals from rushing a potential employer. The rules shall provide that users shall not go upon adjacent private property or the immediately adjacent public right of way for the purpose of solicitation and shall not otherwise interfere with any adjacent or nearby business or their customers. The rules shall provide that individuals violating these rules will be prohibited from utilizing the job center. The job center shall keep a list of the names of any individuals who have been prohibited from utilizing the job center and make such list available to the City upon request. The rules governing the use of the job center shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the property. 6. It is left to the property owner to determine what, if any, identification may be required from persons using the job center, whether or not to charge a fee and to otherwise determine compliance with state and federal laws. 7. If the job center results in a significant increase in police services to the location or adjacent locations, related to day laborer activities, the City may require that a private security guard be provided. SECTION II: Should any section, subsection, clause, or provision of this Ordinance for any reason be held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such invalidity or unconstitutionality shall not affect the validity or constitutionality of the remaining portions of this Ordinance; it being hereby expressly declared that this Ordinance, and each section, 3 subsection, sentence, clause and phrase hereof would have been prepared, proposed, approved and ratified irrespective of the fact that anyone or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid or unconstitutional. This Ordinance shall be prospective in application from its effective date. SECTION III: A summary of this Ordinance shall be published and a certified copy of the full text of this Ordinance shall be posted in the Office of the City Clerk at least five (5) days prior to the City Council meeting at which this Ordinance is to be adopted. A summary of this Ordinance shall also be published once within fifteen (15) days after this Ordinance's passage in a newspaper of general circulation, published, and circulated in the City of Orange. The City Clerk shall post in the Office of the City Clerk a certified copy of the full text of such adopted Ordinance along with the names of those City Council members voting for and against the Ordinance in accordance with Government Code Section 36933. This Ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days from and after the date of its final passage. ADOPTED this 1ih day of February, 2008. ATTEST: of Orange Mary . 4 STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF ORANGE ) CITY OF ORANGE ) I, MARY E. MURPHY, City Clerk of the City of Orange, California, do hereby certify that the foregoinf Ordinance was introduced at the regular meeting of the City Council held on the 22n day of January, 2008, and thereafter at the regular meeting of said City Council duly held on the 1ih day of February, 2008, was duly passed and adopted by the following vote, to wit: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS: Smith, Murphy, Cavecche, Dumitru, Bilodeau COUNCILMEMBERS: None COUNCILMEMBERS: None COUNCILMEMBERS: None 5