Chapter 8.38 SANITATION

8.38.010 Drainage and sewerage overflow.

8.38.020 Refuse in public streets.

8.38.030 Keeping sidewalks clean.

8.38.040 Cost of cleanup.

8.38.050 Cesspools.

8.38.060 Stagnant water.

8.38.070 Expectoration.

8.38.080 Vacating disease-infected buildings.

8.38.090 Dangerous or insanitary buildings, etc. abatement.

8.38.100 Complaint and hearing on dangerous or insanitary condition.

8.38.110 Abatement proceedings.

8.38.120 Expense of abatement--Assessed against property.

8.38.130 Lien to draw interest--Statute of limitations.

8.38.140 Transportation of offensive matters.

8.38.150 Separation of ashes from garbage.

8.38.160 Premises to be kept sanitary.

8.38.170 Dumping garbage.

8.38.180 Rats.

8.38.190 Return of certain merchandise prohibited.

8.38.200 Transportation of radioactive materials.

8.38.010 Drainage and sewerage overflow.

It is unlawful for any person holding or having control of any premises to suffer or permit any sewerage or drainage other than clear water from such premises to enter into or upon any public street, way, square, park, natural watercourse, or storm sewer in the city. (Prior code § 4-5.01)

8.38.020 Refuse in public streets.

Any person who sweeps into or deposits in any roadway, gutter, culvert, or storm water inlet any such material moved from adjacent sidewalk, garden, yard or building, is guilty of an infraction. (Prior code § 4-5.011)

8.38.030 Keeping sidewalks clean.

The occupant or tenants, or in the absence of occupant or tenant, the owner, lessee, or proprietor of any real estate in the city in front of which there is a paved sidewalk shall maintain said sidewalk free of dirt or refuse. Sweepings from said sidewalk shall not be swept or otherwise made or allowed to go into the gutter or roadway, but shall be disposed of in the same manner as required for the disposal of garbage. Any of the above enumerated parties who shall be notified by the Superintendent of Streets that provisions of this section are being violated shall be liable for continued violations. (Prior code § 4-5.012)

8.38.040 Cost of cleanup.

Any person who dumps or causes to be dumped any waste matter in or upon any public road, including any portion of the right-of-way thereof, or in or upon any public park or other public property other than property designated or set aside for that purpose by the governing board or body having charge of that property is liable to the city for the costs of cleaning up such dumping if that person fails to perform such cleanup or pay to have such cleanup performed.
Further, any person who places, deposits, or dumps or causes to be placed, deposited, or dumped, any rocks or dirt in or upon any road, including any portion of the right-of-way thereof, or in or upon any public park or other public property, without consent of the state or city agency having jurisdiction over road or property shall be liable to the city for the costs of cleanup except as otherwise stated above. (Prior code § 4-5.013)

8.38.050 Cesspools.

It is unlawful for any person to construct or use or have or maintain any cesspool upon any lot or land owned or occupied by him or her in the city within one hundred fifty (150) feet of either line of any street having a sewer therein unless such cesspool is properly connected with the street sewer, and at all such connections there shall be a trap or other device to prevent the escape of gas or other obnoxious odors therefrom into the open air so as to be offensive to the senses of persons in the immediate neighborhood thereof, and in all such connections there shall be maintained a constant supply of water sufficient to prevent accumulation in said cesspool or the pipes of drains thereof. (Prior code § 4-5.02)

8.38.060 Stagnant water.

It is unlawful for any person having possession or control of any real property in the city to cause, permit or allow any stagnant water, or any obnoxious or offensive substance, to stand or remain thereon. (Prior code § 4-5.03)

8.38.070 Expectoration.

It is unlawful for any person to spit or expectorate within the city upon the floor or steps or any public car or conveyance, or any public building, or upon any sidewalk or crosswalk. (Prior code § 4-5.04)

8.38.080 Vacating disease-infected buildings.

Whenever it shall be certified to the City Manager by the Health Officer of the city that any building or part thereof is unfit for human habitation by reason of its being so infected with disease or from other causes as to be likely to cause sickness or disease among its occupants, the City Manager may issue an order requiring all persons therein to vacate said building or the objectionable part thereof, and shall also cause a copy of said order to be affixed conspicuously upon the front of the said building, and shall also cause a copy of said order to be served personally, or by mail if personal service cannot be made, upon the owner, agent or lessee of said building. Said order shall state the reasons for requiring the infected building or portions thereof to be vacated, and shall require that such premises be vacated within ten days after affixing said order thereon; provided, however, that if in the opinion of the Health Officer, the public health and safety shall require the said premises to be vacated sooner than as hereinabove provided, the City Manager may require, and said order shall provide for, the vacating of such premises within a shorter time than ten days, in no case, however, to be less than twenty-four (24) hours from the time of affixing a copy of the order on the premises. (Prior code § 4-5.05)

8.38.090 Dangerous or insanitary buildings, etc. abatement.

Every dangerous or insanitary condition which may exist upon any premises in the city may be abated by the Health Officer in the manner provided in this chapter. (Prior code § 4-5.06)

8.38.100 Complaint and hearing on dangerous or insanitary condition.

The Health Officer may file with the City Manager a written complaint setting forth facts showing that a dangerous or insanitary condition exists upon any premises in the city. Upon receipt of such complaint the City Manager shall present the same to the City Council, and the City Council shall forthwith by resolution fix a time and place for a public hearing on such complaint.
The Health Officer shall cause a copy of such resolution and complaint to be served upon the person in possession of such premises, or upon the owner thereof, not less than five days prior to the time fixed for such hearing. Such service may be by delivery of a copy of such resolution and complaint to the owner or occupant personally or by enclosing the same in a sealed envelope, postage prepaid, addressed to the occupant at such premises, or to the owner at his or her last known address as the same appears on the last equalized assessment rolls of the city, and depositing the same in the United States mail. Service shall be deemed completed at the time of the deposit in the United States mail. (Prior code § 4-5.07)

8.38.110 Abatement proceedings.

Upon the date and at the place and hour fixed for the hearing on such complaint, the Council of the city shall hear such evidence as may be presented by any interested party. Such hearing may be continued from time to time by the City Council. Upon the completion of such hearing the City Council shall either dismiss the complaint, or shall direct that the dangerous or insanitary condition shall be abated. The Health Officer shall forthwith give written notice, in the manner provided in Section 8.38.100, to the owner or occupant of said premises to abate such condition forthwith. If such abatement is not commenced within five days thereafter, and diligently prosecuted to completion, the Health Officer shall cause the same to be abated.
The Council shall order to be paid, and the Auditor shall audit and the Treasurer shall pay all sums which may be necessarily expended by the Health Officer in abating such condition. In lieu of employing a contractor, or other person to abate such condition, the Health Officer may call upon the Street Department or other department of the city to abate such condition. (Prior code § 4-5.08)

8.38.120 Expense of abatement--Assessed against property.

The expense incurred by the Health Officer or any department of the city in the abatement of any dangerous or insanitary condition shall be assessed against the real property upon which the same was located. The Health Officer shall give the owner or occupant of such premises a written notice in the manner provided in Section 8.38.100, showing the itemized cost of such abatement, and requesting payment thereof. If the amount of such expense as shown in such statement is not paid to the Health Officer within five days after such notice, the Health Officer shall record in the Office of the County Recorder of the county of Alameda, state of California, a certificate substantially in the following form:
Notice of Lien
Pursuant to authority vested in me by Resolution No. __________ C.M.S., of the Council of the City of Oakland, passed on the _____ day of __________, 19_____, and the provisions of Chapter 8.38 of the Oakland Municipal Code, I did, on the _____ day of __________, 19_____, cause a dangerous (insanitary) condition located upon the hereinafter described real property to be abated at the expense of the owner thereof, in the amount of $__________, and that said amount has not been paid nor any part thereof, and the City of Oakland does hereby claim a lien upon the hereinafter described real property in said amount; the same shall be a lien upon the said real property until said sum with interest thereon at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of the recordation of this lien in the Office of the County Recorder of the County of Alameda, State of California, has been paid in full. The real property hereinabove mentioned and upon which a lien is claimed is that certain parcel of land lying and being in the City of Oakland, County of Alameda, State of California, and particularly described as follows, to-wit:
_________________________
_________________________
(Insert description of property)
Dated this _____ day of __________, 19_____.
_________________________
Health Officer
City of Oakland

And the same shall be a lien against the property described therein until the amount thereof, plus accrued interest, has been paid in full. (Prior code § 4-5.081)

8.38.130 Lien to draw interest--Statute of limitations.

The amount of such lien shall draw interest at the rate of six percent per annum from the date of the recordation of such lien in the Office of the County Recorder, and the statute of limitations shall not run against the right of the city to enforce the payment of such lien. (Prior code § 4-5.082)

8.38.140 Transportation of offensive matters.

It is unlawful for any person to convey or transport upon any public street, lane or alley within the limits of the city, any swill, garbage, filth, offal of any kind, or any offensive or ill-smelling matter between the hours of twelve noon and six in the evening; or to use any cart or vehicle at any time for such transportation or conveyance of any such offensive or ill-smelling matter, unless such means of conveyance is so constructed and covered as to prevent any leakage thereof or any smell to emit therefrom. (Prior code § 4-5.09)

8.38.150 Separation of ashes from garbage.

It is unlawful for any person, whether as owner, agent or occupant of any premises in the city, to cause or permit any ashes or cinders that may accumulate on such premises to be or become mixed with any swill, garbage or filth of any kind, or any rubbage or any offensive or ill-smelling matter. (Prior code § 4-5.10)

8.38.160 Premises to be kept sanitary.

Every person owning, occupying or controlling any premises in the city shall maintain the same in a clean and sanitary condition, and free from any accumulation of garbage, filth, decayed matter, or any matter detrimental to health. All garbage or waste matter on such premises shall be placed in a metal can and shall be kept tightly covered.
It shall be the duty of the Health Officer of the city to cause any person who shall allow any accumulation of any offensive matter, as in this section prohibited, to be notified in writing to abate such condition; and in case such person shall fail to comply with such notice within twenty-four (24) hours, such condition may be abated by the Health Officer in the manner provided by this chapter, and in addition thereto the person failing to comply with such notice shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. (Prior code § 4-5.11)

8.38.170 Dumping garbage.

It is unlawful for any person to dump or place on any land or in any water or waterways within the city, any dead animal, butcher offal, fish or parts of fish, or any waste vegetable or animal matter whatever. (Prior code § 4-5.12)

8.38.180 Rats.

Every person owning, occupying or controlling any wharf, building or basement in the city shall use for the protection thereof such funnels, screens, netting, cement or other materials as may be necessary to prevent the ingress of rats thereto, and shall, when so directed by the Health Officer of the city, use on such premises such rat traps or other means or methods of rat eradication as may by said Health Officer be deemed necessary. (Prior code § 4-5.13)

8.38.190 Return of certain merchandise prohibited.

It is unlawful for any person engaged in the sale at retail of the following articles of merchandise: (A) mattresses, blankets, sheets, comforters, pillows and other bedding; (B) heating pads and metal hot water bottles, stockings made of rubber, reducing rollers, water bags and other rubber goods of a like or similar kind; (C) combs, hair brushes, toothbrushes, barrettes, bath brushes, powder puffs, lipsticks, compacts, broken packages of powder, creams and rouges; (D) corsets, brassieres, underwear, union suits, bloomers, bathing suits; (E) articles made of hair to be worn by a person, and veils; to accept from the purchaser of any of the above articles, once delivery is effected; provided, that this section shall not be construed to prohibit the return of articles misfitting or defective in their construction, which shall be disinfected before being offered for resale, or articles which are sold in tightly sealed packages and returned with such original sealed package unbroken. (Prior code § 4-5.14)

8.38.200 Transportation of radioactive materials.

Any individual or entity transporting hazardous radioactive materials or their by-products into or through the city shall first obtain from the Fire Marshal a Certificate of Transport for each shipment.
The term “hazardous radioactive material” as used herein means a radioactive substance or combination of radioactive substances which, because of its quantity, concentration, or physical or chemical characteristics, may cause or significantly contribute to an immediate increase in mortality or an immediate increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness to unconsenting members of the public or a substantial hazard to the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of or otherwise managed.
To obtain a certificate of transport, an individual, entity or its designated representative must notify the Fire Marshal at least forty-eight (48) hours prior to transport, informing the Fire Marshal of the quantity and type of radioactive material to be transported, the proposed date and time of transport, the proposed type of carrier and containers, the proposed route to be utilized, and proposed security methods. All such methods of transport and equipment must be of the latest type approved by the appropriate federal and state agencies and must be in the highest state of operating and physical condition. The route shall be on freeways to the maximum extent feasible subject to other safety conditions.
The Fire Marshal shall notify and coordinate said proposed transporting with the Chief of Police. After considering all of the information, the Fire Marshal with the concurrence of the Chief of Police shall issue a certificate of transport to the individual or entity shipping the radioactive material with such conditions as are appropriate to safeguard the health, welfare and safety of the citizens of the city. This certificate of transport must be available for inspection by law enforcement officers at all times during transport within the city.
This section is not intended to apply to the transporting of radioactive materials where the risk to the public is minimal in the event of an accident or other improper handling because of the small quantity, concentration or physical or chemical characteristics of the radioactive material being transported. Examples of such exclusions are as follows:
A. Radioactive materials transported to physicians, hospitals, licensed medical suppliers or licensed medical users, intended for diagnostic or therapeutic use;
B. Radioactive materials transported in approved smoke alarms and other similar devices for use by the public;
C. Radioactive materials transported in approved testing or measuring equipment for use by the public or in construction or industry. (Prior code § 4-5.15)