Ordinance No. 05 (2026)
2 WHEREAS, examples of the dangers posed by unauthorized camping, establishing encampments, and living in vehicles parked on public places include, but are not limited to:
a. Dumping waste and human waste into storm drains and natural water courses;
b. Storing human waste in buckets;
c. Using water and storm water prevention materials from neighboring properties, without permission;
d. Leaving pets unattended or off-leash;
e. Accumulating trash and/or personal belongings in adjacent areas, impeding access to sidewalks and other public places;
f. Camping near parks;
g. Impeding the flow of traffic and access by emergency vehicles; h. Running power cords from recreational and other camping vehicles to nearby property, which can dangerously overheat and cause fires; i. Operating power tools, generators, heating and cooking appliances on the streets and other public places;
j. Preventing others from using parking spaces;
k. Increased calls for service to the Sheriff and Fire Departments related to encampments; and
l. Fires breaking out at or near encampments.
WHEREAS, the presence of unauthorized encampments has been associated with increased criminal activity, including theft, vandalism, damage to property, noise violations, littering, prowling, trespassing, and drug-related offenses, thereby undermining public health and safety; and
WHEREAS, the City desires to regulate unauthorized camping and encampments on public places in order to protect the life, health, safety, and welfare of its residents, businesses, and general public, and protect and preserve its natural resources.
NOW THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Diamond Bar hereby ordains as follows:
Section 1. The City Council finds that the above recitals are true and correct.
Section 2. Diamond Bar City Code Section 10.16.115 titled “Prohibited Parking” is hereby repealed in its entirety.
Section 3. Chapter 8.28 is hereby added to Title 8, Health and Safety, of the Diamond Bar City Code to read as follows:
Ordinance No. 05 (2026)
3 CHAPTER 8.28 - CAMPING ON PUBLIC PLACES AND
INTERFERING WITH PUBLIC ACCESS
8.28.010 – Purpose, findings and definitions.
(a) Purpose and findings. The City Council finds that in order to serve the public health, safety and welfare of residents and businesses within the City of Diamond Bar, public streets, public rights-of-way, and city-owned, operated and maintained facilities and property, and other public places, should be readily accessible to residents and the public at large for use and enjoyment consistent with their designated and intended use. The use of these areas for sleeping, camping, storage of personal property, the accumulation of waste, or unauthorized parking interferes with the rights of others to use the areas for their intended purpose. The purpose of this Chapter is to maintain public streets, public rights-of-way, cityowned, operated or maintained property and facilities, and other public places in a clean, safe and accessible condition.
(b) Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following terms, words and phrases have the meanings as defined in this section, unless another meaning is clearly apparent from the context:
Camp or Camping means use of space on public places for living accommodation purposes such as sleeping activities, or making preparations to sleep (including the laying down of bedding, cots, beds, sleeping bags, mattresses, or couches for the purpose of sleeping), or storing personal belongings, or using any tents, tarps, hammocks, camp stoves, cooking equipment, buckets, dressers, furniture, shelter or other structure or vehicle for sleeping. The above-listed activities constitute camping when it reasonably appears, in light of all the circumstances, that the participants, in conducting these activities, are using the area as a living accommodation regardless of the nature of any other activities in which they may also be engaging.
City means City of Diamond Bar.
Camp facilities. Includes tents, huts, vehicles of any kind including recreational vehicles, or other temporary physical shelters when used to camp.
Camp paraphernalia includes, but is not limited to, tarps, sleeping bags, hammocks or bedrolls, mattresses, open fires, cooking equipment, heating equipment, appliances and other similar equipment.
Open space means any public property that is held out by the city or used by the public for passive recreational purposes, conservation, habitat preservation, or that maintains or enhances the conservation of natural or scenic resources.
Ordinance No. 05 (2026)
4 Public park means any public property, whether developed or undeveloped, held out by the city or used by the public for active or passive park and recreation uses, including adjacent buffer lands and natural areas of any adjacent parking lots and perimeter sidewalks.
Personal property means tangible personal belongings or possessions that is a physical or movable item that is subject to ownership and can be seen, weighed, measured, felt or touched, including but not limited to, clothing, bicycles, wagons, carts, furniture, appliances, camping equipment, gear, and tools.
Public places means the locations listed in Section 8.28.020.
Public property means any publicly owned or maintained property in the city, including but not limited to public parks, trails and open space areas, public alleyways, buildings, parking lots, public passageways, public rights-of-way, publicly owned or maintained landscaped areas, greenbelts, sidewalks, streets, flood control facilities, and utility easements.
8.28.020 – Unauthorized sleeping, camping and storage of personal property; locations prohibited.
(a) Camping on public places. It is unlawful for any person to camp in or upon any Public Property, including any street, alleyway, sidewalk, median, parkway, driveway, rights-of-way, public restroom, public bench, bus bench or bus shelter, Public Park, Open Space, storm drain, public building or parking lot. (b) Sleeping on public places. No person may sleep on a public street, alleyway, sidewalk, median, parkway, driveway, rights-of-way, public restroom, public bench, bus bench or bus shelter, or in any pedestrian or vehicular entrance to public or private property abutting a public sidewalk, at any time as a matter of individual and public safety.
(c) Interfering with public access. It is unlawful for any person to camp, sleep, lie, or place personal property where such activity:
1. Obstructs or impedes passage, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act; or
2. Is within twenty feet of an entrance or exit to any building, establishment, retail store, restaurant, office building or other place into which the public is invited; or
3. Is within twenty feet of an automatic teller machine or any door or entrance that provides access to the automatic teller machine; or
Ordinance No. 05 (2026)
5 4. Is within two hundred fifty feet of a public or private school or day care center; or
5. In a manner that unreasonably interferes with the use of the public rights-ofway by motor vehicles, pedestrians or bicycles. (d) Unattended personal property. No person shall fix in place, store, maintain or leave personal property that is unattended on public property, including any street, alleyway, sidewalk, median, parkway, driveway, rights-of-way, park, open space, bus shelter, storm drain, public building or parking lot.
8.28.030 – Removal and recovery of personal property.
(a) The City Council may, by resolution, adopt procedures for the removal and recovery of personal property left upon public places where camping is prohibited per section 8.28.020. Such procedures need not conform to those provided for in subsection (b), below.
(b) Absent the City Council's adoption of a resolution per subsection (a) above, personal property left upon public places where camping is prohibited for more than twenty-four hours may be removed by the city and may be recovered by the owner for up to ninety days.
(c) Abandoned Personal Property.
1. Any personal property or possessions located on public property that are unattended and whose owner cannot be readily identified are presumed to be abandoned. A reasonable effort shall be made to ascertain whether the unattended personal property or possessions have been abandoned and, if so, to thereafter cause their removal subject to subdivisions (a) or (b) above.
2. Unattended personal property or possessions that are unsanitary, soiled, spoiled or verminous may be summarily abated and destroyed at any time without notice.
8.28.040 – Exceptions. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to the following:
(a) Anyone sleeping or camping in a specified camping area designated by the city.
The City Council may by Resolution establish one or more specified camping areas on public property.
(b) When authorized by the Director of Emergency Services in response to firefighting activities or other public emergencies.
(c) Any event involving camping that is approved or sponsored by the city.
Ordinance No. 05 (2026)
6 Section 4. Severability. If any section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one (or more) section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase had been declared invalid or unconstitutional.
Section 5. Effective date. This Ordinance shall take effect and be in force thirty (30) days after its passage.
Section 6. Certification. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this Ordinance and shall cause a certified copy of this Ordinance to be posted within fifteen (15) days after this Ordinance is passed and adopted, in the Office of the City Clerk and two additional public places, together with the vote for and against the same.
PASSED AND ADOPTED, at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Diamond Bar on this ___ day of ______, 2026.
CITY OF DIAMOND BAR
__________________________
Steve Tye, Mayor
ATTEST:
I, Kristina Santana, City Clerk of the City of Diamond Bar, California, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance was introduced at the regular meeting of the City Council held on the ____day of _____, 2026, and was duly passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the __ day of ______, 2026, by the following vote:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS:
__________________________
Kristina Santana, City Clerk
City and County boundaries as of 10/22/24 (CA Board of Equalization) CAL FIRE State Responsibility Areas (SRA25_1)
CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZSRA23_3, FHSZLRA_25_1) Data Sources:
Daniel Berlant, State Fire Marshal, CA Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Joe Tyler, Director/Fire Chief, CA Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Wade Crowfoot, Secretary for Natural Resources, CA Natural Resources Agency The State of California and the Department of Forestry and Fire Gavin Newsom, Governor, State of California Protection make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy of data or maps. Neither the State nor the Department shall be liable under any circumstances for any direct, special, incidental, or consequential damages with respect to any claim by any user or third party on account of, or arising from, the use of data or maps. and other relevant factors including areas where winds
have been identified by the Office of the State Fire Marshal as a major cause of wildfire spread.
statewide criteria and based on the severity of fire hazard that is expected to prevail in those areas. Moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones shall be based on fuel loading, slope, fire weather, Government Code section 51178 requires the State Fire
Marshal to identify areas in the state as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones based on consistent Waterbody
Unzoned LRA
Incorporated City
Projection: NAD 83 California Teale Albers
Scale: 1:41,000 at 11" x 17"
Km 0 1 2 3
Mi 0 1 2
Very High High Moderate
Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) in Local Responsibility Area (LRA), as Identified by the State Fire Marshal
Diamond Bar
57 60
UNINCORPORATED
LOS ANGELES
CO.
UNINCORPORATED
LOS ANGELES CO.
CHINO HILLS
INDUSTRY
POMONA
WALNUT
WEST
COVINA
L
O
S
A
N
G
E L E S C O
.
S A N
B
E
R
N
A
R
D
I
N
O
C
O
.
March 24, 2025
As Identified by the
State Fire Marshal
Local Responsibility Area
Fire Hazard Severity Zones
CITY OF DIAMOND BAR – LOS ANGELES COUNTY
Fire Hazard Severity Zones in State Responsibility
Area (SRA), Effective April 1, 2024
Very High High Moderate
ORDINANCE NO. 10(2013)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR
PROHIBITING PARKING OF VEHICLES ON CITY STREETS AND PUBLIC
PROPERTY FOR THE PURPOSE OF SLEEPING
A. RECITALS
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR, CALIFORNIA, HEREBY FINDS AND DETERMINES AS FOLLOWS:
1. On-street parking and parking on public property is limited. A primary purpose for parking on City streets and public property is to provide places where persons can temporarily park their vehicles in order to access nearby residences, businesses and public uses for social, business or recreational purposes.
2. A secondary purpose is to provide parking for . residents or employees of nearby residences and businesses which may not have sufficient parking.
3. In establishing the number of parking spaces for public property, the City's parking standards are based upon projections of the number of spaces that are reeiuired for persons using the property. These standards do not contemplate that parking spaces will be utilized by persons for the ---1purposes.of.sleepingras.ahomaor.as.lllQteL
4. Persons who park their vehicles on City streets and public property for the purpose of sleeping are utilizing limited parking spaces and thereby limiting access to residential, commercial · and public property for persons who seek to use such places for their intended purpose.
Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Diamond Bar does ordain as follows:
Section 1 . .. Section 10.16.225 is added to the Diamond Bar Municipal Code to provide as follows:
"Section 10.16.115. - Prohibited Parking
No person shall park and leave standing any vehicle on any public street, any public alley or upon any public property for the purpose of sleeping, unless otherwise authorized by this Code or by the owner of such property.
Section 2. Severability. If any section, clause, phrase, word 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 hereby declares that it would have adopted this Ordinance and each other section, clause, phrase, word or portion thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, sentences, clauses, phrases, words or portions thereof be declared invalid or unconstitutional.
Section 3. The Mayor shall sign this ordinance and the City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this Ordinance and shall cause the same, or the summary thereof, to be . published and posted pursuant to applicable provisions of law and this Ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after adoption.
i
i
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council .on the5th day of October· 2013.
c9:Jao
Jack Tanaka, Mayor •
. I, Tommye Gribbins, City Clerk of the City of Diamond Bar, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance was introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Diamond Bar held on the 15th. day of October , 2013 and was finally passed at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Diamond Bar held on 5th day of November , 2013, by the following vote:
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Chang, Herrera, Tye, MPT/Everett, M/Tanaka
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None
ABSTAINED: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None