BUENA PARK : Changes to City Code Would Require Fines

Residents who fail to take in their trash containers after pickup day could be fined up to $500 if the City Council approves three recommendations of the Planning Commission.

The commission last week voted to recommend several changes in the city code affecting both residences and businesses and to institute fines for violators. Currently, the city’s only recourse to punish violators is to charge them in court with misdemeanors.

City Planner Rick Warsinski said the proposed code changes were the result of complaints to the city. The changes include:

* A limit on promotional banners, such as “going out of business” to 30 days per business per year. Also, fines would be issued to people with too many signs at one location or signs that exceed size limits.

* A ban on lights that glare into neighbors’ yards.

Under the code revisions, offenders could be fined up to $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and $500 for the third.

Warsinski said that code-enforcement officers will issue warnings and that the fines are an “additional tool” to get people to comply with the city code.

However, Planning Commissioner Jerry Sigler, who voted against the fine system, said the code doesn’t explicitly require warnings first.

“The way it is written doesn’t call for a warning,” Sigler said. “This gives code-enforcement officers the strong arm. We don’t want the city becoming a Gestapo-type state.”

A public hearing on the proposals is expected in August.