G-08-03-27-7B1 - 3/27/2008 ORDINANCE NO. -60-03-7_1--:'t;4
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 6, CODE OF
ORDINANCES, CITY OF ROUND ROCK, TEXAS, BY ADDING
SECTION 6.800 REGARDING GRAFFITI; PROVIDING FOR
ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTY; PROVIDING FOR A SAVINGS
CLAUSE AND REPEALING CONFLICTING ORDINANCES AND
RESOLUTIONS.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ROUND
ROCK, TEXAS:
I.
That Chapter 6, Code of Ordinances, (1995 Edition) , City of
Round Rock, Texas is hereby amended by adding a new Section
6 . 800 to read as follows :
SECTION 6.800 GRAFFITI
6.801 DEFINITIONS
The following words, terms, and phrases, when used in this section shall have the
meaning ascribed to them in this section, unless the context of their usage clearly
indicates a different meaning:
(1) Chief of Police means the Chief of Police of the City of Round Rock or his designee.
(2) Etching or engraving device means a device that makes a delineation or impression on
property, regardless of the manufacturer's intended use for that device.
(3) Graffiti means temporary or permanent visual blight or any unauthorized form of
painting, scratching, writing, marking, or inscription including initials, slogans,
symbols or drawings, regardless of the content or nature of the material that has been
applied to any wall, building, fence, window, sign or other structure or surface and is
visible from any public property or right-of-way or is visible from the private property
of another person. "Graffiti" does not include any of the foregoing used for advertising
purposes placed on any property in compliance with any applicable City ordinance or
regulation, or state or federal law.
(4) Graffiti implement means an aerosol paint container, paint stick or graffiti stick,
etching or engraving device, brush, indelible marker or any other device capable of
scarring or leaving a visible mark on any natural or man-made surface.
(5) Indelible marker means a device that makes a mark with a paint or ink product that is
specifically formulated to be more difficult to erase, wash out, or remove than ordinary
paint or ink products.
(6) Minor means any person under seventeen (17) years of age.
080306B1
(7) Paint stick or graffiti stick means any device containing a solid or liquid form of paint,
chalk, wax epoxy, or other similar substance that leaves a visible mark upon
application to a surface.
(8) Owner means:
(a) Any owner of record as noted in the appraisal district records of the county in
which the property is located;
(b) Any owner of record as noted in the tax rolls of the City;
(c) Any registered owner of property if the property is required to be registered;
(d) Any person who has primary responsibility for control of the property or for
repair or maintenance of the property;
(e) Any person who has contractual responsibility for the property; or
(f) Any occupant, lessee, tenant, manager or operator of the property.
(9) Parent means a person who is a natural parent or adoptive parent of a minor. As used
herein, "parent" shall also include a court-appointed guardian or other person twenty-
one (21) years of age or older, authorized by the parent, by a court order, or by the
court-appointed guardian to have the care and custody of the minor or a public or
private agency with whom a minor has been placed by a court.
(10) Person means any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or
organization of any kind.
(11) Properly means:
(a) Real property, including any lot, tract or parcel of land or portion thereof
whether improved or unimproved, or any building or portion thereof whether
occupied or unoccupied; or
(b) Tangible or intangible personal property, including anything severable or
severed from land.
(12) Unauthorized means:
(a) Without the consent of the owner. It shall be presumed that an owner did not
consent under circumstances tending to show:
(i) the absence of immediate or obvious evidence of specific authorization
by the owner;
(ii) that the graffiti is inconsistent with the design or the use of the subject
property; or
(iii) that the person causing the graffiti was unknown to the owner; or
(b) In violation of or without authority of any City ordinance or regulation, or state
or federal law.
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6.802 DECLARATION OF NUISANCE
(1) The City Council finds that graffiti that is visible from a public place, public right-of-
way, or the property of others:
(a) is detrimental to the safety and welfare of the public;
(b) tends to reduce the value of private and public property;
(c) invites vandalism, additional graffiti, and other criminal activities; and
(d) produces urban blight adverse to the maintenance and development of the City
of Round Rock.
(2) The presence of graffiti on property where it is visible from a public place, public
right-of-way or from another's property is therefore declared to be a public nuisance.
In addition to the penalties provided in this Section, the City shall have all remedies
available at law and equity to abate such nuisance.
6.803 POSSESSION BY MINORS
(1) It shall be unlawful for any minor to possess any graffiti implements.
(2) It shall be an affirmative defense to a violation of this section that at the time of
possession:
(a) The minor was accompanied or supervised by a parent;
(b) The minor was accompanied or supervised by a teacher or other authorized
school official in connection with a bona fide school project;
(c) The minor possessed the graffiti implement on the property on which he or she
lives;
(d) The possession occurred as part of an organized event sponsored by a school,
church or some other officially recognized entity and supervised by an adult
representative of the organization; or
(e) The possession occurred during employment while the minor was supervised
by his or her employer.
6.804 POSSESSION PROHIBITED IN DESIGNATED AREAS
It shall be unlawful for any person to possess any graffiti implement while in or upon any
public facility, transportation vehicle, park, playground, swimming pool, recreation facility, or
other public building or structure owned or operated by the City or while in, on or within fifty
(50) feet of an underpass, overpass, bridge abutment, storm drain, or similar type of
infrastructure, unless authorized by the City.
6.805 PERMITTING OR ALLOWING A MINOR TO CREATE GRAFFITI OR POSSESS
GRAFFITI IMPLEMENT
It shall be unlawful for a parent of a minor to intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with
criminal negligence permit or allow a minor to make or create or cause to make or create
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graffiti on any property within the City or to permit or allow a minor to possess any graffiti
implement in violation of Section 6.803.
6.806 OWNER RESPONSIBILITY
(1) If graffiti is visible from any public property or right-of-way or from any private
property other than the property on which the graffiti exists, an owner of such property
commits an offense if the owner fails to paint over or completely remove all graffiti
from the owner's property within seventy-two hours after the owner is served with
notice to remove the graffiti as provided below.
(2) Before issuing a citation for a violation under subsection (1) of this section, the Chief
of Police shall serve the owner with notice to remove the graffiti within seventy-two
(72) hours from the date the notice was served. The notice shall contain:
(a) the date and nature of the violation;
(b) the physical location of the violation by street address, legal description or by
any other method that reasonably describes the location;
(c) the name of owner, if known; and
(d) a statement that if the condition is not corrected within seventy-two (72) hours
of service of such notice, the City may, without further notice, enter upon the
property by its agent or its contractors, remove the graffiti and charge the costs
incurred to the owner. If the graffiti is removed by the City, the cost may be
charged to a property owner and a lien may be filed against the property.
(3) The notice may be served by personal delivery to an owner of the property, or by
United States mail to an owner at the owner's last known address or the address as
shown on the tax rolls or the appraisal district records of the county in which the
property is located. If an address for an owner cannot be reasonably determined or the
notice is returned by the United States Postal Service as undeliverable, then an owner
may be notified by:
(a) Publication at least twice within ten (10) consecutive days in a newspaper of
general circulation within the City;
(b) Posting the notice on or near the front door of a building on the property in
violation; or
(c) If the property contains no buildings, posting the notice on a placard attached to
a stake driven into the ground on the property.
(4) Notice is deemed to be served:
(a) for personal delivery, on the date and time an owner is personally served with
notice;
(b) for mailed notice, at 5:00 pm on the third day after the notice is mailed;
(c) for published notice, at 5:00 pm on the date the last notice is published in the
newspaper; or
(d) for posted notice, at 5:00 pm on the third day after the notice is posted.
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(5) If an owner fails to timely abate the graffiti, the City may, without further notice, enter
upon the property by its agent or its contractors, remove the graffiti and charge the
costs incurred by the City to an owner. If the graffiti is removed by or at the direction
of the City, the cost may be charged to a property owner.
(6) An owner maintains a public nuisance if he fails to remove graffiti or refuses to allow
graffiti to be removed from the property after having been notified by the City.
6.807 ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTY
It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police to enforce this Section. This Section shall be
considered an ordinance, rule or police regulation related to public health and sanitation
regulation and violations of this Section shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand
dollars ($2,000.00). Each day that a violation continues or is permitted to exist shall constitute
a separate offense.
II.
A. All ordinances, parts of ordinances, or resolutions in
conflict herewith are expressly repealed.
B. The invalidity of any section or provision of this
ordinance shall not invalidate other sections or provisions
thereof.
C. The City Council hereby finds and declares that
written notice of the date, hour, place and subject of the
meeting at which this Ordinance was adopted was posted and that
such meeting was open to the public as required by law at all
times during which this Ordinance and the subject matter hereof
were discussed, considered and formally acted upon, all as
required by the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551, Texas Government
Code, as amended.
READ and APPROVED on first reading this the rpk- day
of U/ V- , 2008 .
-yNREAD, APPROVED and ADOPTED on second reading this the
2� - day of kVVV�/Vim' , 2008 .
5
MAX LL, Mayor
ATTEST: y
Ci o Round Rock, Texas
SARA L. WHITE, City Secretary
6
DATE: March 20, 2008
SUBJECT: City Council Meeting - March 27, 2008
ITEM: *7B1. Consider an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances by adding
Section 6.800, prohibiting graffiti. (Second Reading)
Department: Police Department
Staff Person: Bryan Williams, Chief of Police
Tim Ryle, Assistant Chief of Police
Justification:
The proposed ordinance defines graffiti as a public nuisance, and makes the possession of
graffiti implements (such as aerosol pain cans) by minors an ordinance violation. In
addition, it becomes an ordinance violation to possess any graffiti implements in designated
public places or to allow a minor to create graffiti. The ordinance also places the
responsibility for removing graffiti from property visible for public property or rights-of-way
on property owners. Failure to abate graffiti in a timely manner results in an ordinance
violation, and the City may remove the graffiti itself and charge abatement costs to a
property owner. Failure to pay the costs of city-abated graffiti on an owner's property may
result in a lien filed against the property.
Funding:
Cost: None
Source of funds: None
Outside Resources: None
Background Information•
This ordinance provides the Police Department with an additional tool to address crime and
quality-of-life issues in the City.
Public Comment: None