ORDINANCE NO. 3899
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING DIVISION 4 BY
AMENDING SECTION 45.6.6
WHEREAS, on July 13, 2021, the City of Torrance ("City'') adopted an ordinance amending Torrance Municipal Code section 45.6.6 to establish an anti-camping ordinance in compliance with the holding in Martin v. City of Boise; and
WHEREAS, a violation of Torrance Municipal Code Section 45.6.6 is a misdemeanor; and WHEREAS, to remove any ambiguity regarding the offense level of a violation of this code, the City is adopting a new subsection (c) designating a violation of the code as a misdemeanor; and
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TORRANCE DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1
Section 45.6.6 of the Torrance Municipal code is amended to read in its entirety as follows:
"45.6.6 CAMPING IN PUBLIC PLACES.
a) It shall be unlawful for any person to use any of the streets, highways, sidewalks, parks or public places, including, but not limited to parkways, beaches, bus stop sites, the transit center, the civic center, and the Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center as a camping place at any time; provided, that this section shall not prohibit sidewalk vending operations pursuant to a permit issued by the Finance Director under Chapter 14 Sidewalk Vendors, Division 4 Public Health and Welfare of this Code.
1) The term 'camp' or 'camping' shall mean the use of public property as a temporary or permanent place of dwelling, lodging or residence, or as a living accommodation at any time;
2) lndicia of camping may include, but are not limited to, storage of personal belongings, using tents or other temporary structures for sleeping or storage of personal belongings, carrying on cooking activities or making any fire in an unauthorized area, or any of these activities in combination with one another or in combination with either sleeping or making preparations to sleep (including the laying down of bedding for the purpose of sleeping).
b) Police officers shall not enforce this camping section when the individual is on public property and there is no available temporary shelter.
1 ) The term 'available temporary shelter' is a public or private shelter, with an available temporary space, for an individual experiencing homelessness, at no charge, as defined in subsection b.2.
2) The term 'available temporary shelter' shall not include the following:
A) Shelter space where an individual cannot stay because the individual has exceeded a shelter's maximum stay rule or because shelter is unavailable due to · the individual's sex or sexual orientation.
1 B) Shelter space that cannot reasonably accommodate the individual's mental or physical needs or disabilities.
C) Shelter space that does not permit a minor child to be housed iri the same facility with at least one parent or legal guardian.
D) Shelter space for which an individual is required to attend or participate in religious activities or programs as a condition of utilizing the shelter space. 3) Prior to enforcing the provisions of this Section, a police officer or enforcement personnel shall confirm that a shelter has available space that can be utilized by that particular individual. No police officer or enforcement personnel shall take enforcement action pursuant to this Section against a homeless person sleeping, lying, sitting, or camping in a public place unless the officer first confirms the shelter has available space that can be utilized by the individual.
A) The term "enforcement personnel" includes those classifications of officers and employees of the City of Torrance designated in Section 11.2.5 with the duty to enforce the provisions of this section.
c) Any person violating the provisions of this Section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars or imprisoned for a period not to exceed six months, or both.
SECTION2
Any provisions of the Torrance Municipal Code or its appendices, or any other ordinances of the City inconsistent with this ordinance to the extent of the inconsistencies and no further, are repealed .
SECTION 3
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, the decision will not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the ordinance. The City Council declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentence, clauses or phrases are declared invalid or unconstitutional.
2 SECTION 4
This ordinance will take effect thirty days after the date of its adoption. Within fifteen days following adoption, this ordinance or a summary of this ordinance, if authorized by the City Council, will be published at least once in the Daily Breeze, a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated in the city of Torrance.
INTRODUCED and APPROVED this 26th day of April 2022 .
ADOPTED and PASSED this 10th day of May 2022 .
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
PATRICK Q . SULLIVAN
CITY ATTORNEY
ATTEST : -,_
TORRANCE CITY COUNCIL ORDINANCE NO. 3899
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
CITY OF TORRANCE
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I, Rebecca Poirier, City Clerk of the City of Torrance, California, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance was duly introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the 26th day of April, 2022 and was duly adopted at a regular meeting of said Council held on the 10th day of May, 2022 by the following roll call vote :
AYES : COUNCILMEMBERS Ashcraft , Chen , Griffiths , Kalani, Mattucci, Walser, and Mayor Furey.
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None .
ABSTAIN : COUNCILMEMBERS: None .
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None .
This ordinance was duly published in accordance with State law (Gt 4.Q806).
Date : 6]11/lJOW -~------Reb e a Po irier, MMC
City C rk of the City of Torrance
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