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RESOLUTION NO. 2003-055 RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA URGING THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE TO REJECT ASSEMBLY BILL 789 (MOUNT JOY) TO REDUCE THE ABILITY OF CITIES AND COUNTIES TO REMOVE ABANDONED VEHICLES FROM PRIVATE PROPERTY bk:5/27/03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby finds, determines and declares as follows: The City's community preservation efforts are focused on ensuring safe, orderly and aesthetically pleasing neighborhoods and commercial areas. Code enforcement officers annually address numerous complaints relating to abandoned vehicles, improper storage of inoperable vehicles, and vehicle repair businesses operated under the guise of car "hobbyists." These uses of residential property create urban blight by contributing to rodent infestation, hazardous oil spills and the accumulation of debris. The City Council has found that these abandoned vehicles, if not fully enclosed within a building, constitute a public nuisance. Section 22661 of the California Vehicle Code authorizes cities and counties to adopt ordinances to prevent a public nuisance by the abatement of abandoned vehicles on public and private property. This state law is designed to ensure that due process is provided to the vehicle's owner, by requiring pre-abatement notice and, in proper circumstances, a public hearing. The law permits cities and counties to abate as a public nuisance abandoned vehicles located on private property when the vehicle is readily visible from the street or from a neighbor's private property. Introduced by Assembly Member Dennis L. Mountjoy on February 20, 2003, Assembly Bill 789 would amend this section of the California Vehicle Code to limit the ability of cities and counties to abate the public nuisance caused by abandoned vehicles on private property. According to the Committee Report to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, the bill's sponsor, "Automotive Aftermarket Services, wants to immunize persons who store old cars out in the open generally in their backyards from the sanctions imposed under local abandoned vehicle abatement ordinances." Under current law, an abandoned vehicle on private property is subject to abatement unless it is completely enclosed within a building in conformance Resolution No. 2003-055 Page 1 of 3