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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1581ORDINANCE NO. 1581 (2012 Series) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO ADDING SECTION 6.20.070 (MENACING AND AGGRESSIVE ANIMALS) TO CHAPTER 6.20 OF THE SAN LUIS OBISPO MUNICIPAL CODE WHEREAS, the City contracts with the San Luis Obispo County Division of Animal Services for the provision of animal care and control services; and WHEREAS, the City is required to enact municipal codes, which are similar to and consistent with the County's codes regarding the care, keeping, and management of animals; and WHEREAS, the City Council desires to support the safe and responsible keeping of animals within the City; and WHEREAS, the City desires to protect the safety and welfare of responsible pet owners and their pets from animals demonstrating aggressive or menacing behavior that threatens to cause or actually causes harm to city residents and their pets; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds that current laws governing aggressive and menacing animals are insufficient to address the adverse health, safety and welfare impacts of aggressive and menacing animals within the City; and WHEREAS, the County of San Luis Obispo recently enacted an ordinance to strengthen the regulation of aggressive and menacing animals, which the City Council finds to serve the best interests of the citizens of the City of San Luis Obispo. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the City of San Luis Obispo as follows: SECTION 1. Section 6.20.070 (Menacing and aggressive animals) is hereby added to Chapter 6.20 of the San Luis Obispo Municipal Code, to read as follows: 6.20.070 Menacing and aggressive animals — Animal owner and property owner responsibility. A. It is unlawful for any person to keep, harbor, or maintain any aggressive or menacing animal which threatens, harasses, or intimidates a person who is peaceably and lawfully upon public or private property, unless it is contained in an enclosure of a construction adequate to keep it securely confined and prevent its escape. B. It is unlawful for any person to permit any animal owned, harbored, or controlled by him or her to attack and cause severe bodily injury or death to another domestic or captive animal while off the property of its owner or keeper. C. Upon notification of a violation of subsection A, the animal owner(s) must immediately confine the animal to an enclosure or location which mitigates the aggressive and menacing behavior. 01581 Ordinance No. 1581 (2012 Series) Page 2 D. For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply: 1. "Aggressive animal" any animal whose observable behavior causes a person observing that behavior reasonably to believe that the animal may attack a person or another animal without provocation. 2. "Menacing animal" means any animal which, through its behavior, causes a person observing or subject to that behavior to be in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of animals kept by him or her. Police or military service canines being utilized in an official capacity are excluded from this definition. 3. "Severe bodily injury" means any physical injury which results in deep lacerations with separation of subcutaneous tissues, muscle tears or lacerations, fractures or joint dislocations, or permanent impairment of locomotion or special senses. E. Penalties for violation: 1. $350 for the first violation. 2. $700 for the second violation of subsection A or B within one year. 3. $1000 for each additional violation of subsection A or B within one year. 4. For the purposes of this section, a first violation of subsection A will be deemed to have occurred if the menacing or aggressive animal is not confined as required by subsection C within 24 hours of notification; a separate violation of subsection A shall be deemed to exist for each 24 hour period following notification in which an animal's menacing or aggressive behavior continues unmitigated. 5. Where criminal enforcement of this section is pursued, any violation of this section shall be deemed a misdemeanor, notwithstanding Section 1. 12.060 of this Code. F. Liability of property owners 1. Owners of properties upon which a tenant keeps, harbors, or maintains any aggressive or menacing animal may, along with the animal owner(s), be jointly and severally liable for penalties related to violations of subsection A, provided that they have received at least 14 days prior written notice of the existence of such violation and the violation has not been abated. No penalty shall be imposed upon the property owner if the property owner can demonstrate, within 14 days following notification that a violation has occurred, that the property owner has initiated action to abate the illegal activity on the property. SECTION 2. If any section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unenforceable, such invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses or phrases of this Ordinance or the rules adopted hereby. The City Council of the City of San Luis Obispo hereby declares that it would have adopted each section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase hereof, Ordinance No. 1581 (2012 Series) Page 3 irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses or phrases hereof be declared invalid or unenforceable. SECTION 3. A summary of this ordinance, together with the names of Council members voting for and against, shall be published at least five (5) days prior to its final passage, in The Tribune, a newspaper published and circulated in this City. This ordinance shall go into effect at the expiration of thirty (30) days after its final passage. INTRODUCED on the 5th day of June 2012, AND FINALLY ADOPTED by the Council of the City of San Luis Obispo on the 19`" day of June 2012, on the following vote: AYES: Council Members Ashbaugh, Carter and Smith, Vice Mayor Carpenter and Mayor Marx NOES: None ABSENT: None May Jan Marx ATTEST: & ,,(� c3 �(-- � � � Sheryll Schroeder Interim City Clerk APPROVED AS TO F J ristine Dietrick City Attorney