HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD-07-03 Extend Ordinance Prohibiting New CybercafesORDINANCE NO, 7-
03
AN URGENCY MEASURE OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF ORANGE EXTENDING THE
INTERIM ORDINANCE PROHIBITING THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW CYBERCAFES.
WHEREAS, Section 6S858(a) of the California Government Code authorizes the City
Council to adopt, as an urgency measure, an interim ordinance prohibiting any uses which
may be in conflict with a contemplated zoning proposal which the City Council, planning
commission or planning department is studying to protect the public safety, health and
welfare; and
WHEREAS, the Orange Police Department submitted a report to the City Council on
March 12, 2002, documenting that in the last nine months, four Cybercafes have opened in
the City of Orange and one proposed Cybercafe is currently being processed; and
WHEREAS, the Orange Police Department reported that the business activity
reported on the Cybercafe applications is not representative of a significant portion of the
observed activity at the Cybercafes; and
WHEREAS, police surveillance of the business activity indicated that a significant
portion of the business activity at Cybercafes is the playing of violent video games by teens
and young adolescents; and
WHEREAS, police surveillance documented the presence of gang members along
with incidents ofloitering, gambling and drug sales; and
WHEREAS, while the Orange Police Department is not currently aware of any
violent incidents at a Cybercafe in Orange, incidents of shootings, stabbings, assaults, drug
and gambling offenses, truancy, curfew violations, loitering and gang-related offensives
have been reported in other neighboring jurisdictions, including a gang-related
homicide in neighboring Garden
Grove; and WHEREAS, the City Council has reviewed the report from the
Orange Police Depmtment and attached reports from neighboring
jurisdictions; and WHEREAS, based on the foregoing, the City Council found and
determined that prior to the approval and/or establishment of additional Cybercafes in the
City, further immediate study ofthe current zoning and development standards was
necessary; and WHEREAS, the Community Development Department was directed
to conduct studies on Cybercafe operations and to report back to the City Council as
expeditiously as practicable concerning any proposed new zoning regulations and development
standards; and WHEREAS, based upon the aforementioned evidence the City
Council adopted Urgency Interim Ordinance Number 4-02 which prohibits the
Cybercafes until such time that the Community Development Department can recommend
new zoning regulations and development standards that will address the aforementioned
concerns; and
WHEREAS, Interim Ordinance Number 5-02 was adopted April 23, 2002 to
extend Interim Ordinance 4-02 until April 22,
2003; and WHEREAS, Interim Ordinance Number 5-02 is due to expire on April
22, 2003; and WHEREAS, the Community Development Department has not
completed its review and study of the Cybercafes and at this time has no regulations
or proposed development standards adopted to address the
aforementioned concerns; and WHEREAS, in order to prevent the frustration of said
studies and the irnplernentation thereof, the public interest, health, safety and welfare
requires the immediate extension of this ordinance. The absence of this ordinance would create a serious
threat to the health, s.afety and welfare of the community in that based on the
reports received Cybercafes are operating in a manner other than described by their applicants, have been the
site of an inordinate number of criminal offenses, violent and non-
violent, in neighboring jurisdictions and absc:nt further regulation have the potential to create similar
criminal
impacts in Orange;and WHEREAS, the City Council deems it imperative that,
due to the potential detrimental ramifications to the public safety, health and welfare
as discussed above, the interim ordinance shall be extended and all new approval of,
and establishment of Cybercafes shall be prohibited until after October 22, 2003, unless and until
this ordinance is terminated or extended further by action
ofthe City Council; and WHEREAS, the City Council determines, by a four-fifths
vote, that the extension of this interim ordinance is a matter of City-wide
importance and necessary for the continued preservation and protection of the public health
safety or welfare of the community.NOW THEREFORE, the City Council of the
City
of Orange
hereby ordains as follows:SECTION I:Any new establishment or operation of a
Cybercafe, as defined herein, is prohibited from the: elective date of this
ordinance until
after October 22,2003.SECTION II:A Cybercafe is defined to mean an establishment
that provides more than six (6)computl:rs and/or other electronic devices and
charges compensation for access to such computl:rs and/or other electronic devices for access to
the Internet, e-mail,
SECTION III:
The City's Community Development Department shall continue to formally process
all new applications for Cybercafes, but shall not issue any approvals thereof and no new
Cyber'~afes shall be established during the period that the extension of this interim urgency
ordinance remains in full force and effect.
SECTION IV:
Based on the facts recited above, the City COlmcil finds that further establishment of
Cybercafes under current zoning laws is a threat to the public safety, health and welfare. This
extension of the interim ordinance is introduced, passed and adopted at one meeting and shall
become effective immediately in accordance with Section 65858 of the California
Government Code.
SECTION V:
If any section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this Ordinance is
for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, 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 section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause and
phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that anyone (or more) section, subdivision, paragraph,
sentence, clause or phrase had been declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION VI:
A summary of this ordinance shall be published once within fifteen (15) days after the
extension of this interim ordinance is passed, 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 interim ordinance along with the names of
those City Council members voting for and against the extension of the interim ordinance in
accordance with Government Code 36933. This interim ordinance shall be of no further force
and effect after October 22,2003.
ADOPTED this 8th day of April, 2003.
fOrange
ATTEST:
u;n41rti~T-HA'-#t-(T
Cassandra J. Cat , Ity Clerk, City of Orange
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE )
CITY OF ORANGE )
I, CASSANDRA J. CATHCART, City Clerk of the City of Orange, California, do
hereby certify that the foregoing Extension of the Interim Ordinance adopted as an urgency
measure was introduced, duly passed and adopted at the regular meeting of the City Council
held on the 8th day of April, 2003, by the following vote, to wit:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Ambriz, Alvarez, Murphy, Coontz, Cavecche
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
4'~~~{?A~~
Cassandra J. Cathc , ity Clerk, City of Orange