California adopts ordinance on public nuisances
CALIFORNIA — After several months of discussion and review, California Borough Council on Thursday adopted an ordinance regulating disorderly gatherings, nuisance properties, noise and alcohol consumption in public places.
The ordinance is an attempt to reduce the number of repeat calls to the same residences for loud parties and related complaints. According to the ordinance, those calls place an undue strain on municipal services and neighboring residents.
The ordinance makes the host of a disorderly gathering criminally responsible for public disturbances. It defines a disorderly house as any place in the borough where drunkenness, illegal consumption of drugs or alcohol, boisterous noise, fighting or other conduct that disturbs the public peace occurs, including public and private buildings, parking areas or lots.
Mayor Casey Durdines took exception to the enforcement clause in the ordinance, which he said to allow entry to properties without a warrant by saying that officers may enter a disorderly house by whatever force is necessary if entry is denied.
Solicitor Ernest DeHaas said Fourth Amendment rights and existing case law would override anything in the ordinance.
“I just want to make sure we are not regulating a police state because of some of the wording in it,” Durdines said.
Councilman Edwin “Chip” Glab also questioned a portion of the ordinance that limits the hours in which construction or repair work can be conducted. The ordinance limits such work to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. on Sundays, with Sunday work only permitted by the property owner. Glab said the hours could be later, especially in the summer months, but no changes were made.
The penalties vary from $300 to $600 for violations of different sections of the ordinance, with higher fines for repeat offenders.
The ordinance passed on a unanimous vote of council.
Council also approved a tentative budget of just more than $1,478,000, with no proposes increase in property taxes. The borough will be collecting an Emergency and Municipal Services tax of $52 in 2012, with $5 of that going to the California Area School District. The tax replaces the former local services tax of $10, which had been divided evenly between the borough and the district.
Council also voted unanimously to reappoint James Maddiex to a five-year term on the borough’s planning commission.