HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD-04-02 Prohibit Establishment of New CybercafesORDINANCE NO. 4-
02
I AN URGENCY MEASURE OF THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ORANGE PROHIBITING
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW
CYBERCAFES.WHEREAS, Section 65858(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
aclivlty 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 of loitering, 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 Department and attached reports from
neighboring
jurisdictions; and I WHEREAS, the Community Development Department is 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, in order to prevent the frustration of said studies
and the implementation thereof, the public interest, health, safety and welfare require the immediate
enactment of this ordinance. The absence of this ordinance would create a serious threat to
the health, safety and welfare of the community in that based on the reports received
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
absent further regulation have the potential to create similar criminal impacts in Orange;
and WHEREAS, based on the foregoing, the City Council finds and determines that
prior to the approval and/or establishment of additional Cybercafes in the City, further
immediate study of the current zoning and development standards is necessary;
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, all
new approval of and establishment of Cybercafes shall be prohibited for 45 days, unless and
until this ordinance is terminated or extended;
and WHEREAS, the City Council determines, by a four-fifths vote, that
this urgency ordinance is a matter of City-wide importance and necessary for
the immediate 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 during the term of
this interim
ordinance.SECTION II:A Cybercafe is defined to mean an establishment that provides more
than six (6)computers and/or other electronic devices and charges compensation for
access to such computers and/or other electronic devices for access to the Internet, e-
mail, video games
or computer
software programs.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 Cybercafes shall be established during the period that this
interim urgency ordinance remains in
full force
and effect.SECTION IV:Based on the facts recited above, the City Council finds
that further establishment of Cybercafes under current zoning laws is a threat to the public safety,
health and welfare. This 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.DAD
I
I
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 ofthis ordinance shall be published once within fifteen (15) days after 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 interim ordinance in accordance with Government Code
36933. This interim ordinance shall be of no further force and effect 45 days from the date of
its adoption unless it is subsequently extended in accordance with the provisions of Section
65858(a) of the California Government Code.
ADOPTED this l2'h
day of March, 2002.
ATTEST:
Ord. No. 4-02 3
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE )
CITY OF ORANGE )
I, CASSANDRA 1. CATHCART, City Clerk of the City of Orange, California, do
hereby certify that the foregoing Urgency Ordinance adopted as an urgency measure was
introduced, duly passed and adopted at the regular meeting of the City Council held on the
12'
h
day of March, 2002, by the following vote, to wit:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Slater, Alvarez, Murphy, Coontz, Cavecche
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
A'--"~ &:;(~~-4.A'TCassandra
J. Cath , CIty Clerk of the CIty of Orange DAD
4 Ord.No. 4-02