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Home My WebLink AboutORD-11-97 Amend Sec 12.12.060 Maintenance & Repair of SidewalksORDINANCE NO. 11- 97 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ORANGE AMENDING SECTION 12.12.060 AND DELETING SECTION 12.12.070 OF THE ORANGE MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR OF SIDEWALKS,BIKEWAYS, CURBS AND GUTTERS AND TRAILS.WHEREAS, the Streets and Highways Code provides that a municipality may delegate to a Property Owner the duty to maintain in a non-dangerous condition all Trees, Sidewalks, Trails, Bikeways, and Parkways adjacent to the Owner's property; and WHEREAS, the Property Owner whose property is adjacent to a Sidewalk, Trail, Bikeway, or Parkway is in the best position to promptly discover and remedy any dangerous condition existing in such location; and WHEREAS, the City Council desires to amend Chapter 12.12.060 of the Code of the City of Orange to provide that a Property Owner w hose property is adjacent to a Sidewalk, Trail, Bikeway, or Parkway shall owe a duty to maintain and repair such Sidewalk, Trail, Bikeway. or Parkway and maintain trees adjacent thereto, in a non-dangerous condition to ensure the safety of the public who use such areas and to bear the costs of such repairs when the damage is attributable to the adjacent Property Owner' s action; and WHEREAS, in spite of recent court decisions that may hold that a city may adopt an ordinance explicitly establishing that a Property Owner owes a duty of care to the general public to maintain in a non-dangerous condition all Trees, Sidewalks, Trails, Bikeways, and Parkways adjacent to the Owner's property, the City Council desires to delete Orange Municipal Code Section 12.12.070, so that liability will only be sought from an adjacent Property Owner when the injury or damage is attributable to the adjacent Property Owner's action.NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Orange hereby ordains The Orange Municipal Code IS hereby amended to amend Chapter 12.12.060 to read as follows: 12.12.060 Maintenance and Retlair of Sidewalks. Bikewavs, Curbs and Gutters and Trails. a) Maintenance Costs. Notwithstanding anything in this Title to the contrary, the maintenance and repair of Sidewalks, Bikeways, Curbs, Gutters and Trails and the making, confirming and collecting of assessments for the costs and expenses of such maintenance and repair may be done in accordance with this Chapter and thp procpdurp provided in Chaptpr XXII of Division 7, Part 3 (commencing with Section 5600) of the Strepts and Highways Codp. In thp evpnt of any conflict betwpen the provisions of the Strepts and Highways Code and this Chaptpr, the provisions of the Streets and Highways Codp shall controL b) Protlertv Owner - General Maintenance Obligations. Excppt as provided in subsection (d), below, Owners of property, adjacent to any portion of a Sidewalk, Bikeway or Private Trail shall pprform all Sidewalk, Bikeway and Private Trail maintpnance and repair, including but not limited to all the City of Orange' s repair, replacement, maintpnancp, inspection costs as well as all administrative costs undpr subsection (a) of this section, and all costs of handling any lipn on propprty due to failure of thp Propprty owner to promptly pay such assessments.e) Sidpwalk Maintpnanep.1) Thp Propprty Ownpr shall repair and/or rpplacp, at their sole exppnse, any damagpd sidpwalk adjacent to their property whosp damagp is attributablp to thp adjacpnt PropNty Owner' s action.d) City Maintpnance Obligation. The City shall have thp following maintenance and repair obligations:1) Citv Trails. The City shall be rpsponsible for maintenance and repair of all City Trails, except those exemptpd by prior agrepment. 2) Bikew~ The City shall be responsible for repair and replacempnt of the Bikeway surfaep and structural spctions only. Old. 11-97 2 WWW:ls 3)Curb and Gutter. The City shall provide routine maintenance and repair of all public Curb and Gutters except when City determines that the damage to the Curb and Gutter is attributable to the adjacent Property Owner's action, in which case the Property Owner shall be responsible for such repair or replacement. SECTION II: Severabilitv. If any section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this chapter, and each section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause and phrase th'oreof, irrespective of the fact that anyone or more section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase had been declared invalid or unconstitutionaL 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 86933. This Ordinance shall take effect thiJrty (80) days from and after the date of its final passage. Adopted this 22nd day of April 1997. c L, ATTEST: C City Clerk of t WWW:ls 3 Ord.II- 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 Ordinance was introduced at the regular meeting of the City Council held on the 8th day of Aoril 1997, and thereafter at the regular meeting of said City Council duly held on the 22nil day of Apri 1 1997, was duly passed and adopted by the following vote, AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: MURPHY, SLATER, COONTZ, SPURGEON, ALVAREZ COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE Ord. 11-97 4 WWW: