HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 11191991 - 1.37 ORDINANCE NO. 91 - 51
(JUVENILE GATHERINGS ORDINANCE)
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors ordains as follows (omitting
the parenthetical footnotes from the official text of the enacted or amended
provisions of the County Ordinance Code) :
SECTION I : Chapter 54-3 is added to the County Ordinance Code to read:
CHAPTER 54-3 JUVENILE GATHERINGS
54-3.001 -.-FINDINGS. --,The=-board 4 of supervisors-°hereby -finds: ' -(1)-
that
that gatherings on private property where alcohol is consumed by
juveniles are a nuisance in Contra Costa County; (2) that
problems associated with such gatherings are difficult to
resolve unless the sheriff' s department has additional authority
to abate such nuisances on private property; (3) that the
sheriff' s department' s ability to abate such nuisances will
result in a decrease in juvenile abuse of intoxicants, physical
fights , vandalism, and noise disturbance; (4) that the abatement
of such nuisances is necessary when they are a threat to the
peace, health, safety, or general welfare of the public; and (5)
that the sheriff' s department has frequently been required to
make return calls to the location of such gatherings in order to
abate such nuisances, thus sometimes leaving other areas of �te
county with inadequate law enforcement protection. (Ord. 91-_,
§ 1 )
54-3.002 DEFINITIONS. The definitions in this chapter and in
this ordinance code govern the construction of this chapter,
unless the context otherwise requires. In the case of any
conflict between the definitions of this chapter and the
ordinance code, this chapter' s definitions shall prevail.
(a) Gathering. A gathering is a group of persons who
have assembled, or are assembling, for a social occasion
or for a social activity.
(b) Sheriff's Services. Sheriff's services include the
salaries of sheriff ' s department personnel for the amount
of time actually spent in responding to, or in remaining
at, a gathering at a rate established by resolution of the
board of supervisors, the actual cost of any medical
treatment to injured sheriff' s department personnel , and
the actual cost of repairing any damaged county property.
(c) Person(s) Responsible for a Gathering. The person(s)
responsible for a gathering are the person(s) who owns,
rents, leases, or otherwise controls the premises at which
the gathering takes place, the person(s) in charge of the
premises, and/or the person(s) who organized the
gathering. If this person is a minor, the parents or
guardians of that minor will be jointly and severally
liable for the costs incurred for sheriff' s services.
(Ord. 91-_I; § 1 . )
54-3.003 UNLAWFUL JUVENILE GATHERINGS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY. No
person shall suffer, permit, allow, or host a gathering at his
or her place of residence or other private property under his or
her control where five (5) or more persons under the age of
twenty-one (21) are present and where alcoholic beverages are in
the possession of, or are being consumed by, any person under
the age of twenty-one (21) . (Ord. 91-51 , § 1. )
54-3.004 SUBSEQUENT RESPONSE SHERIFF'S SERVICES. When an
unlawful juvenile gathering on private property occurs and a
deputy sheriff at the scene determines that there is a threat to
the public peace, health, safety, or general welfare of the
public, the person(s) responsible for the gathering is liable
for the cost, but not for less than the sheriffs' service' s fee
established by section 54-3.005, of providing sheriff' s services
for a second response and subsequent responses by the sheriff' s
department, providing that the deputy sheriff has given a first
warning to the person(s) responsible for the gathering to abate
the threat to the public peace, health, safety, or general
welfare of the public. The second response and subsequent
responses may also result in arrest or citation or both for
violations of the Penal Code or other provisions of this code.
(Ord. .91- 51 , § 1 . )
54-3.005 SHERIFF'S SERVICES' FEE. The sheriff' s services' fee
shall not exceed five hundred dollars ($500) for a single
gathering, provided, however, .that the county does not hereby
waive its right to seek reimbursement for actual costs exceeding
five hundred dollars ($500) through other legal remedies. The
sheriff' s services' fee shall be deemed a debt to the county
owed by the person(s) responsible for the gathering or, if he or
she is a minor, by his or her parents or guardians. Any person
owing a sheriff' s services' fee shall be liable in an action
brought in the name of the county for recovery of such fee,
including reasonable attorney' s fees. (Ord. 91-51 , § 1 . )
SECTION II. SEVERABILITY. The board declares that, if any portion of this
ordinance and chapter 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 and chapter. The board further declares that it would have
adopted this ordinance and chapter irrespective of the fact that any one or
more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, or phrases, orportions
thereof, may be declared invalid or unconstitutional . (Ord. 91110 , § 2. )
ORDINANCE NO. 91- 5-1
Page 3
SECTION III: EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance becomes effective 30 days after
passage, and within 15 -days of passage shall be published once with the names
of the supervisors voting for and against it in the Contra Costa Times
a newspaper published in this County.
PASSED ON November 19 , 1991 by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisor' s' *Fanderi,'''Schroder ;''McPeak',' Toriakson,` `Powers
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
ATTEST: PHIL BATCHELOR, Clerk of
the Boards and County Administrator
B
Y
i
oard Chair
[SEAL]
PSA\jh\ct
(10-I5-91)
(10-21-91)
J-l:a:W cohol.ord
ORDINANCE NO. 91- 51