HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/6/2000 - STAFF REPORTS (15) DATE: December 6, 2000
TO: City Council
FROM: Recycling Coordinator VIA Redevelopment Director
APPROVING AMENDMENT TO PALM SPRINGS MUNICIPAL CODE ORDINANCE
SECTION 6.04.180 OF TITLE 6 PERMITTING TRANSPORT OF WASTE OVER CITY
STREETS IN SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City of Palm Springs approve an amendment to Section 6.04.180 of Title 6 of
the Palm Springs Municipal Code permitting the transport of waste over City streets in
specific circumstances.
SUMMARY:
This change in Section 6.04.180 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code makes explicitly
legal the current practice of allowing residents to haul waste to the twice-yearly
community cleanup events now conducted by Palm Springs Disposal Services.
Heretofore residents have been allowed to haul their waste to these events because the
City sponsored the events with the hauler. This action amends the Municipal Code to
remove any doubt that a resident has the ability to participate in these events, while
maintaining the current restrictions on the hauling of waste within the City.
BACKGROUND:
For the past several years, staff has received inquiries from one resident requesting the
City Council's express permission to bring his excess trash to special City-sponsored
clean-up days. The resident believes he needs to have this special permission in order
to take any trash off of his property, since it is states in Section 6.04.180 of Title 6 of the
Palm Springs Municipal Code that "No person shall transport or have waste (other than
bulky items or yard waste such as clippings, branches, leaves and the like) in, over or
upon the streets, alleyways or other public rights-of-way of the city unless and until a
license, contract or other permission to do so has been granted by the City Council."
This provision, of course, exists to preserve the City's right to control the collection and
hauling of solid waste within its boundaries.
Staff has sent several letters over the past five years assuring the resident that his
participation in the cleanup event was legal and did not violate the ordinance, without
the ordinance specifically referring to cleanup events, however, the resident remained
unpersuaded. Once again, staff was contacted by this resident in early October 2000
as another City clean-up day approached, staff gave the same assurances with the
same result.
IM
Finally, staff presented the situation to the City Attorney who drafted an amendment to
Municipal Code Section 6.04.180 spelling out the legality of transporting appropriate
materials for approved "Clean-Up Days" or to certified disposal sites. By approving this
amendment, staff believes it should eliminate any further confusion about the private
hauling of waste to special cleanup days, without compromising the City's ability to
control the collection of solid waste within its borders.
z/6"
ELAINE L. WEDEKjND-/ �JO
S. R Y OND
Recycling Coordinator irector of Redevelopment
Approved ' =—� F � e
DAVID H. READY—\
City Manager
Attachment:
Ordinance
Letter from Clas Ekwall
AW
Palm Springs, October 25, 2000
Ms Elaine Wedekind, Recycling Coordinator
City of Palm Springs
P O Box 2743
Palm Springs CA 92263
Dear Ms Wedekind:
As you may recall, I have pointed out to you that there is a dichotomy between,
• on the one hand, the City's endorsement of and cooperation with Palm Springs
Disposal Services' collection of debris brought in by the residents
"Take additional items to large debris boxes at PS City Hall,North Parking Lot,enter off Civic Dr"
"A.B.O.P.hazardous waste collection site on Saturdays only:3000 E.Alejo Rd.Palm Springs,
from 9AM to 2PM, accepting:antifreeze,batteries,motor oil and latex paint only"
and, on the other hand, Palm Springs Municipal Code 6.04.180.
"No person shall transport or have waste(other than bulky items or yard waste such as clippings,
branches, leaves and the like)in,over or upon the streets,alleyways or other public rights-of-way
of the city unless and until a licence,contract or other permission to do so has been granted by the
city council."
To avail myself of the former I would have to break the rules of the latter.
Since I have a proclivity to follow the law, I visited with you on October 5, well in
advance of the Disposal Services' semi-annual waste collection on October 21,to get
enough clarity on the issue to be able to participate. While you agreed with me that Code
6.04.180 should be adhered to, you opined that the city would never have arranged for
this waste collection method if it were a breaking of the law for the citizens to transport
the waste to the collection sites and that it, therefore, was acceptable to do so. You also
suggested that Code 6.04.180 addressed business behavior only, although you admitted
that the code does not say so. We both knew that a claim of ignorance is no legal
defense. We ended our conversation by your promise to study the issue and to come
back to me with your findings.
I did not hear from you and left you a voicemail reminder on October 11. No response.
On October 16 I again called you, and you said that you had been away and that you
would get back to me. I said that I hoped that I could get this issue resolved in an
informal mariner without having to make it into a memorandum-writing exercise, and you
wholeheartedly agreed.
l�lA3
At this time I see that nothing will happen. The semi-annual waste collection has come
and gone, and now is the time to put this issue in writing, in the hope that I can avail
myself of the next clean-up arrangement, in April 2001. Of course, I would also like to
dispose of old oil paint and turpentine that has been sitting in my garage for years waiting
for a lawful way to disappear.
Maybe you can find a legal facility by which I, as a private resident, will be able to get
rid of my debris by hauling it to the "official'collection sites proffered by Palm Springs
Disposal Services, but I somehow doubt that it could be done without amending Code
6.04.180. You may suggest that Mr Ready,the City Manager, could issue a clarification
of the code to obviate its impact. However, it appears to me that such a clarification
would not be valid, since any supplemental rule must not be inconsistent with the law, as
stated in Code 6.04.230.
"The city manager shall have the power and authority to promulgate rules or regulations
supplemental to and not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter governing the keeping,
placement for collection,and the collection,removal and disposal of municipal solid waste and
recyclables..."
Ms Wedekind, of course there are ways for me to get rid of my debris without breaking
the law, and, since we both dismissed them, I want to restate them for the record to avoid
them to be suggested as valid alternatives:
• 1 could hire a private contractor to come with a dump truck and pick up my 2 or 3
gallons of toxic waste and my few other waste items. That would be wrong for two
reasons: I do not think that I should have to pay the not insignificant fee for this
service, and, what is more, other people in the same situation but less funds would be
prohibited from using this method.
• I could, since I am over 65 years old, request the city to bring a container for my toxic
wastes and then pick up the container. That again would be wrong for two reasons:
This facility was set up to aid old people with physical difficulties to get rid of toxic
waste, which is not the case for me at all, and other people who are younger would
then have to leave their toxic waste in their garage until they reach 65 years of age.
• I could apply for a permission from the City Council and then bring my waste to the
collection sites. I actually did this once; I had found a few 20 or 30 pound blocks of
poured cement under ground in my back yard (probably from the time of the building
of my house),that, according to the Palm Springs Disposal Services rules, could not
be placed among the regular waste("Sod,construction materials,bricks,dirt,etc.will not be taken").
The Disposal Services refused to take them, even as bulky items during their semi-
annual cleanups. So I wrote an application letter to the City Council; I got no
response at all. Then I wrote a letter to each of the five City Council members and
got a response from Jeanne Reller-Spurgin, where she gave her permission. Although
this was admittedly not the City Council speaking, I brought my cement pieces to the
dumpster, but I still felt queasy about it. This is not the way to go. And what if
everybody in town requested such permits from the City Council?
l�Ay
Now I have stated the problem, Ms Wedekind. Please solve it. Do not tell me that
everybody transports waste to the collection places and nobody ever gets cited—our
society is and should be built on laws to be followed, not conveniently overlooked.
I expect to hear from you within a couple of weeks, even if you say that you are
working on the issue and will let me have your answer by a later, specified date. I do not
believe that to be an unreasonable request from my side.
Yours truly,
Clas Ekwall
2381 North Junipero Avenue
Palm Springs CA 92262
cc: David Ready, City Manager, City of Palm Springs
/VA
ORDINANCE NO.
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PALM
SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING
SECTION 6.04.180 OF TITLE 6 OF THE
PALM SPRINGS MUNICIPAL CODE
PERMITTING THE TRANSPORT OF WASTE
OVER CITY STREETS IN CERTAIN
CIRCUMSTANCES
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS,CALIFORNIA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
Section 1. That Title 6, Chapter 4 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code be amended by
amending Section 6.04.180 concerning the transport of waste over City streets to read as
follows:
"6.04.180 Handling of any waste prohibited except in specified circumstances.
No person shall transport or haul waste in, over or upon the streets, alleyways, or
other public rights-of-way of the City except as follows:
(1) Yardwork such as clippings, branches, leaves and the like being transported
to a certified disposal site;
(2) Bulky items of other appropriate materials being transported to the site
selected for an approved municipal"Clean-Up Day," or being transported to
a certified disposal site;
(3) Waste being transported by a hauler, pursuant to a franchise agreement
approved by the City Council;
(4) Waste being transported pursuant to a license or approval granted by the
City Manager
Nothing herein shall excuse any person from paying the appropriate service fees
and charges for mandatory service pursuant to Section 6.04.200."
SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE, This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect thirty (30)
days after passage.
,�fA
SECTION 3. PUBLICATION. The City Clerk is hereby ordered to and directed to certify to
the passage of this Ordinance, and to cause the same or summary thereof or a display
advertisement, duly prepared according to law, to be published in accordance with law.
ADOPTED this day of 2000.
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
ATTEST: CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA
By:
City Clerk Mayor
REVIEWED &APPROVED AS TO FORM
/vie z