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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11A - ORDINANCE NO. NS-2661 ORDINANCE NO. NS-2661 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA AMENDING CHAPTER 41 OF THE SANTA ANA MUNICIPAL CODE TO REGULATE BAIL BOND USES AND PERMIT BAIL BOND USES WITHIN 2000 FOOT RADIUS OF A JAIL FACILITY AND LOCATED WITHIN THE PROFESSIONAL (P) ZONE SUBJECT TO A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby finds, determines and declares as follows: A. Bail bond uses have increased throughout California. City records show that eight (8) out of the fifteen (15) bail bond uses currently identified in the City obtained the approvals after the year 2000. B. Chapter 41 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code does not specifically identify bail bond uses as a land use or designate zoning districts throughout the City where bail bond uses may be permitted. C. On October 20, 2003, the City of Santa Ana adopted an emergency ordinance prohibiting the establishment of a new or the expansion of an existing bail bond uses within the City. The emergency ordinance was extended on December 1, 2003. D. As part of the process of studying bail bond uses, the City of Santa Ana has met with the interested bail bond businesses within the City to obtain their input for regulating the bail bond uses. Based upon these meetings the following information was obtained: 1. The City of Santa Ana is the only city in Orange County to have jail facilities where releases occur; therefore, the City of Santa Ana is a desirable location for bail bond uses. 2. The area immediately adjacent the jail facilities is a desirable location for the bail bond uses. 3. A majority of the bail bond uses operate on a twenty-four (24) hour basis. E. Nine (9) out of the fifteen (15) bail bond uses are currently located within 2000 feet of the jail facilities within the City. The Police department has no records of calls for service to any of these nine (9) locations near the jail 11A-1 Ordinance No. NS-XXXX Page 1 of 8 facilities between January 1, 2002 and June 17, 2004. There have been at least twenty-eight (28) calls for service for the bail bond uses outside of this 2000-foot radius during this same period. F. If unregulated, bail bond uses would create detrimental impacts to the surrounding areas, including adjacent single family residences for the following reasons: 1. Unlike most service or office uses in the City, bail bond uses are typically open twenty-four (24) hours per day, and often include a provision for employees to actually room (i.e., sleep) at the business during night hours, which if not properly regulated is incompatible with other professional or commercial uses and adjacent residential areas. 2. Unlike most service or office uses in the City, bail bond uses typically include a major on-site security component (e.g., armed security guards, "bullet-proof' glass, and controlled visitor parking) that, if not properly regulated, is incompatible with other professional uses and adjacent residential areas. 3. Bail bond uses in the City and in other cities concentrate in certain areas and such concentrations, if not properly regulated, could create significant secondary effects such as lowering of property values, an increase in crime, and failure of these areas to recycle to new, superior professional uses. 4. Unregulated bail bond uses, particularly when located immediately adjacent to single family neighborhoods, constitute an incompatible use to the City's single-family residential zoning district. 5. On July 25, 2004 the Los Angeles Times ran a story entitled "Probes Target Bail Bond Firms." This article discusses the serious problems the court systems are currently experiencing with bail bond companies issuing bail bonds without requiring sufficient collateral, and as such there are millions of dollars in bail forfeitures. G. The Request for Council Action for this ordinance dated September 7, 2004 and duly signed by the city manager and all accompanying material including those items referenced above, shall, by this reference be incorporated herein, and together with this ordinance, any amendments or supplements and the oral testimony before the City Council, shall constitute the necessary findings for this ordinance. H. The City Council has considered all of the written and oral testimony offered concerning whether to adopt this ordinance. /. Based upon this record the City Council finds that the standards set forth in this ordinance, and each of them, are necessary to reduce the negative impacts associated with the unregulated proliferation of bail bond uses. Ordinance No. NS-2613 Page 2 of 8 11A-2 J. Zoning, permitting, and other police power regulations, such as those employed in this ordinance, are legitimate, reasonable means of accountability to help protect the quality of life in the City of Santa Ana and to help ensure that all operators of bail bond uses comply with reasonable regulations. K. Conditional uses are those uses which have a special impact or uniqueness such that their effect on the surrounding environment cannot be determined in advance of the use being proposed for a particular location, making impractical their inclusion in any classes of use set forth in the various zoning districts and, therefore, to warrant special consideration. Each zoning district in the City already contains numerous conditional uses. For example, in the City's Professional (P) zoning district many of uses open for business between the hours of midnight and 5:00 a.m. and located near residential zoned or used property requires a conditional use permit. A conditional use requirement for bail bond uses is justified because the impacts of a proposed use cannot be determined in advance of the use being proposed for a particular location. As such the conditional use permit will allow for a case-by-case analysis of the location, design, configuration and impact of the proposed use to be conducted by comparing such use to established standards. L. All provisions of the Santa Ana Municipal Code, which are repeated herein, are repeated solely in order to comply with the provisions of section 418 of the Charter of the City of Santa Ana. Any such restatement of existing provisions of the Code is not intended, nor shall it be interpreted, as constituting a new action or decision of the City Council, but rather such provisions are repeated for tracking purposes only in conformance with the Charter. M. On August 9, 2004, following a duly noticed public hearing, the Planning Commission by a vote of 6:0:1 (Lutz abstained) voted to recommend the City Council adopt this ordinance. Section 2. The City Council has reviewed and considered the information contained in the initial study and the negative declaration prepared with respect to this Ordinance. The City Council has, as a result of its consideration and the evidence presented at the hearings on this matter, determined that, as required pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") and the State CEQA Guidelines, a negative declaration adequately addresses the expected environmental impacts of this Ordinance. On the basis of this review, the City Council finds that there is no evidence from which it can be fairly argued that the project will have a significant adverse effect on the environment. The City Council hereby certifies and approves the negative declaration and directs that the Notice of Determination be prepared and filed with the County Clerk of the County of Orange in the manner required by law. Pursuant to Title XIV, California Code of Regulations ("CCR") 9 735.5(c)(1), the City Council has determined that, after considering the record as a whole, there is no evidence 11A-3 Ordinance No. NS-XXXX Page 3 of 8 that the proposed project will have the potential for any adverse effect on wildlife resources or the ecological habitat upon which wildlife resources depend. The proposed project exists in an urban environment characterized by paved concrete, roadways, surrounding buildings and human activity. Therefore, pursuant to Fish and Game Code 9 711.2 and Title XIV, CCR 9 735.5(a)(3), the payment of Fish and Game Department filing fees is not required in conjunction with this project. Section 3. Section 41-24 is added to Chapter 41 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code to read in full as follows: Sec. 41-24. Bail Bond use. "Bail Bond use" shall mean any use or business, whether primary or ancillary, that is subject to regulation pursuant to California Insurance Code Section 1800, et. seq., as such sections may be amended from time to time, including but limited to a use or business of a bail agent, a bail permitee, or a bail solicitor. Section 4. Section 41-313.5 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code is amended to read in full as follows: Sec. 41-313.5. Uses subject to a conditional use permit in the P district. The following may be permitted in the P district, subject to the issuance of a conditional use permit: (a) Convalescent hospitals, nursing homes, rest homes and extended care facilities. (b) Hospitals. (c) Trade and professional schools. (d) Health clubs and gymnasiums. (e) Recreational or entertainment uses if carried on in conjunction with any of the uses specified in clauses (e), (f) and (k) of section 41- 313. (f) Ambulance and emergency medical response services. (g) Non-freestanding commercial and service uses which are open at any time between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 5:00 a.m., provided that such uses also meet the standards for commercial and service uses permitted under section 41-313, and further provided that such uses have less than twenty thousand (20,000) square feet of floor area. Ordinance No. NS-2613 11 A-4 Page 4 of 8 (h) Eating establishments open at any time between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 5:00 a.m. and located within one hundred fifty (150) feet of residentially zoned or used property, measured from property line to property line. (i) Banquet facilities, subject to development and operational standards set forth in section 41-199.1. 0) Banquet facilities as an ancillary use, subject to development and operational standards set forth in section 41-199.1. (k) Adult day care facilities. (I) Clubs, fraternities and lodges. (m) Bail bond uses, subject to development and operation standards set forth in section 41-323. Section 5. Section 41-323 is added to Chapter 41 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code to read in full as follows: Sec. 41-323. Standards for bail bond uses in the P district. In addition to the provisions of this chapter, the following minimum development and operational standards apply to Bail bond uses: (a) Bail bond uses shall only be conducted within a P zone that is located within 2,000 feet of a jail facility. (b) Bail bond uses shall not be located within 150 feet from a R 1, R2 or R3 zoned property. (c) Off-street parking shall be provided in the manner prescribed in Article IV of this Chapter for service uses. Section 6. Section 41-313.5 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code is amended to read in full as follows: Sec. 41-192.2. Regulation of home occupations. No person shall conduct any home occupation in violation of any of the following regulations: (a) There shall be no signs or other devices identifying or advertising the home occupation. (b) There shall be no sales activity, either wholesale or retail, except mail order sales. 11A-5 Ordinance No. NS-XXXX Page 5 of 8 (c) There shall be no work, storage, or display outside of any fully enclosed structure. (d) Nothing associated with the home occupation shall alter the residential character of the subject property or nearby residential property. (e) There shall be no activity which involves frequent meetings or gatherings of any kind such as may generate traffic and parking congestion, noise, or disturbances beyond that which is normal to residential use. Such uses include but are not limited to photo studios, bail bond uses, or check cashing facilities. (f) There shall be no use of any mechanical equipment, appliance, or motor outside of an enclosed building or which generates noise detectable from outside the building in which it is located. (g) Only one (1) home occupation shall be conducted on the subject property. (h) No more than two (2) persons shall be engaged in the conduct of the home occupation. (i) There shall be no dispatching of persons or equipment from the subject property. 0) No more than a single vehicle used primarily in the conduct of the business may be parked or stored on the public street nor anywhere on the subject property other than an enclosed garage; and that single vehicle shall comply at all times with the provisions of sections 36-145 and 41-607(h) of this Code. (k) Home occupation activities shall not involve the use of more than one (1) room or four hundred (400) square feet of a dwelling, whichever is more restrictive, and no garage space shall be used for the conduct of any home occupation which interferes with the use of such space for parking of vehicles, if such use for parking of vehicles is necessary to satisfy the off-street parking requirements of this chapter. Section 7. Ordinance Nos. NS-2639 and NS-2640 are repealed as of the effective date of this ordinance, unless application of this ordinance is stayed or enjoined, in which case the application of this section shall be similarly stayed or enjoined. Ordinance No. NS-2613 Page 6 of 8 11A-6 Section 8. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion thereof irrespective of the fact that anyone or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or portions be declared invalid or unconstitutional. Section 9. The city clerk shall certify to the adoption of this ordinance and cause the same to be published in the manner prescribed by law. ADOPTED this day of September, 2004. Miguel A. Pulido Mayor APPROVED AS TO FORM: Joseph W. Fletcher, City Attorney By: Kylee o. Otto Deputy City Attorney AYES: Councilmembers NOES: Councilmembers ABSTAIN: Councilmembers NOT PRESENT: Councilmembers 11A-7 Ordinance No. NS-XXXX Page 7 of 8 CERTIFICATE OF ATTESTATION AND ORIGINALITY I, PATRICIA E. HEALY, Clerk of the Council, do hereby attest to and certify the attached Ordinance No. NS-2661 to be the original ordinance adopted by the City Council of the City of Santa Ana on , and that said ordinance was published in accordance with the Charter of the City of Santa Ana. Date: Clerk of the Council City of Santa Ana Ordinance No. NS-2613 Page 8 of 8 11A-8