No Matter Is Too Minor for Laying Down a New Law

In San Juan Capistrano it is now illegal to toss your trash into someone else’s commercial garbage bin. In Santa Ana, shop owners can no longer hawk their wares outside their own doors. And in Laguna Beach, those who would dig a hole in the sand be warned: There could be a misdemeanor ticket in your future.

The millennium ends thus, with yet more laws on the books and less wiggle room for miscreants.

Many of the dozens of ordinances passed by Orange County’s municipal governments this year dealt with critical issues of health and safety, from regulating Anaheim’s transient motels to banning smoking on Seal Beach’s wooden pier.

But others, such as Rancho Santa Margarita’s decision to set hours for door-to-door salesmen--between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.--didn’t quite carry that same tone of urgency.

Still, the law’s the law. Magazine vendors, beware: Hold your knocks until 8:01 a.m.

* Health: Regulating motels became a trend among city councils, as Anaheim ordered two motels to limit stays by guests, and Stanton adopted an ordinance mirroring those in Buena Park, Cypress and Garden Grove that bar permanent residency at motels. The issue arose after complaints of unsafe conditions in several motels that catered to long-term guests. The downside: Residents said they turned to the motels because they couldn’t afford Orange County’s skyrocketing apartment rental rates.

With an eye toward persistent problems with runoff pollution along county beaches, Mission Viejo officials barred dumping pollutants on city streets. The new law establishes fines for those who dump used oil or other materials in places where it can run into storm drains, then to the ocean.

* Safety: In Seal Beach, customers were momentarily stranded at a Ruby’s Restaurant at the end of the city pier April 1 after a discarded cigarette started a fire on the wooden walkway. City officials promptly banned smoking on the pier, sparking a debate over smokers’ rights and public safety. The smokers lost.

Stanton Takes Aim at Pool Halls

Stanton council members barred tinted windows at pool halls, limited game-playing to one room, required patrons to check out only one cue at a time and demanded owners hire security guards. The new regulations followed a double-homicide the previous year outside Tri-Q Billiard and were aimed at making it easier for police to monitor pool halls. The limit on checking out cues was intended to cut down on available weapons should a fight break out.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors plugged a loophole it inadvertently created a year earlier when the supervisors scrapped what they thought was an outdated ordinance. It wasn’t. Fences are once again required around swimming pools.

And in Laguna Beach, concerns over beach safety led to tighter regulations for seaside play. Holes deeper than two feet are banned, as is playing with flying disks and balls. City officials defended the rules, saying they give lifeguards the clout they need to control beachgoers, especially when warranted by crowded conditions.

* Vendors: In Santa Ana, conformity became the law as the City Council ordered pushcart vendors to dress in uniform Mexican-style shirts. The new rules also limit where vendors can operate, limit cart sizes to 3 feet by 8 feet and require multiple umbrellas on one cart to be color-coordinated. Vendors, who had sued the city over an earlier ban on their business, applauded the measures.

Santa Ana also banned freelance curb painters, making it illegal for anyone other than a city-contracted firm to stencil house numbers on curbs. The law arose after residents complained that would-be painters intimidated them into having numbers painted, or painted first and then asked for money.

Selling surfing contests in Newport Beach became harder as the City Council limited the number of events to eight a year. As requests for surfing-contest permits increased to 14 this year, the city received more complaints from residents about increased traffic and litter, and decreased access to beaches near their homes. Hereafter, events are banned on Memorial Day and from June 15 through Sept. 10.

And in Seal Beach, bed-and-breakfast inns fell under city control with an ordinance that restricts them to limited areas of town and requires they be established only in buildings at least 75 years old. The ordinance was approved amid a local debate over whether residential Seal Beach might find itself converted into a seasonal vacation strip.

* Behavior: That which used to be simply crude is now illegal. The county Board of Supervisors outlawed public urination--and drinking alcohol in public--in all unincorporated areas of the county. The law extended existing bans that applied to county parks, beaches and the lobby of John Wayne Airport.

Massage parlors were the targets of ordinances in several cities. Rancho Santa Margarita, a new city in the Santa Ana Mountain foothills, required licenses for massage parlors, including background and fingerprint checks for masseuses.

The Fullerton City Council allowed massage parlors to install doors to massage rooms, but only if they can’t be locked from the inside and include a peephole allowing someone to look in from the outside. Saloon-style doors or drapes also were allowed. The regulations were aimed at curbing prostitution.

And Fullerton also toughened credential standards for masseuses, requiring they pass written and practical tests and complete 500 hours of certified training.

* Aesthetics: If Southern California has a slogan, it is “Looks are everything.” So it is now illegal to store trash containers in full view of public streets in Fullerton, a local ordinance already on the books in many other Orange County cities. And it is also illegal to get a jump on your chores by putting the trash can curbside before 1 a.m. on the day before collection day.

A Banner Year for Banning Signs

Santa Ana shopkeepers no longer can entice shoppers by placing displays outside their doors. And La Habra officials empowered themselves to clean up weeds and debris around the city, including privately owned vacant lots.

Signs were an issue just about everywhere, with city councils in Laguna Beach, Yorba Linda and San Clemente enacting laws governing the display and removal of signs.

* Unclassifiable: If you find yourself in San Juan Capistrano with some garbage and no place to put it, whatever you do, don’t toss it in a commercial bin. The city enacted the ban in January after landscapers and repair workers kept dumping solid waste in commercial bins reserved for commercial lots.

Animals made the agenda at an Irvine City Council meeting, where council members approved an ordinance encouraging residents to neuter pets. Owners who retrieve runaways from the city animal shelter now must pay a fine ranging from $35 to $100 if their pets are not neutered.

And in Westminster, the economic boom had a trickle-down effect. After applauding the city’s “prudent budgeting,” the City Council in January approved an ordinance lowering the city’s utility users tax from 5% to 4%. The largess translated into an annual tax cut of about $2.80 per household.