03-1031 City Code Parks Regulations Ord
CITY OF MERIDIAN
ORDINANCE NO. 03- / tJ j /
BY: ek/e. !f¿C{àh.d&¡I
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MERIDIAN ENACTING A NEW
CHAPTER 2 OF TITLE 13 PARKS TO BE KNOWN AS PARK REGULATIONS;
PROVIDING FOR THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS DEFINITIONS; MOTOR
VEHICLES IN PARKS; ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES; RESERVATION OF
FACILITIES; HOURS OF PARK OPERATION; CLOSURE BY ORDER OF THE
DIRECTOR; CAMPING; ANIMALS IN CITY PARKS; DAMAGE TO PARK
PROPERTY; EXCLUSION; AND TRESPASS IN CITY PARKS; PROVIDING
FOR THE REPEALING OF SECTIONS 3-2-6(A), 8-7-1, AND 8-7-1(E);
PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, CONFLICT, VALIDITY, SAVINGS
CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE,
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MERIDIAN, ADA COUNTY, IDAHO:
SECTION 1: A new Chapter 2 of Title 13 to be known as Park Regulations is hereby
enacted and shall read as follows:
13-2-1: Short Title: This Chapter may be cited as Park Regulations.
13-2-2 Def"mitions:
Adequate Leash:
Means a leash of not more than six (6) feet in length.
At Large:
Means a dog or other animal off the premises of the owner and not
under control by adequate leash.
Camp:
Means to remain overnight, to attempt to remain overnight, to erect
a tent or other shelter, or to use sleeping equipment, a vehicle, or a
trailer camper, for the purpose of, or in such a way as will permit,
remaining overnight.
Park:
Means all parks, squares, drives, trails, playgrounds, playfields,
greenbelts, parking lots and other park, recreation and open space
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Enacting a New Chapter 2 Title 13
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Park Rule:
areas and buildings and facilities comprising the parks and
recreation system ofthe City of Meridian under the management
and control of the Parks and Recreation Director.
Means those particular rules or codes of conduct the Parks and
Recreation Director has adopted and the City Council has
designated by resolution as those for which a violation may lead to
exclusion from a City park.
Violation:
Means an act or omission or combination thereof that is contrary to
any park rule or any civil or criminal provision of the Meridian
City Code or the Idaho State Code.
13-2-3 Motor Vehicles in Parks:
Except for emergency vehicles, and City owned vehicles, no car, motorcycle or other
motorized vehicle of any kind shall be driven within the boundaries of any City park,
except upon designated roadways within said park, without written approval of the Parks
and Recreation Director.
13-2-4 Alcoholic Beverages (replaces 3-2-6(A»:
A. Consumption or Possession Prohibited: Except as provided below, it shall be
unlawful and illegal for any person to consume or have in their possession any type of
alcoholic beverage in any shape or form, in or on a City park.
B. Park Alcoholic Beverage Permit; Fee: . If otherwise lawful, a person may consume or
have in possession an alcoholic beverage within a park if the person has obtained, or
is attending an event for which the organizer has obtained, a park alcoholic beverage
permit from the City Clerk and the alcoholic beverage is possessed or consumed in
the area, and during the time and date, designated in the permit. The City Clerk may
issue park alcoholic beverage permits upon application therefor upon proof of age,
and payment of the required fee as set forth by resolution of the City Council;
provided, however, no permit shall be issued allowing consumption or possession of
alcoholic beverages in the park for a period of longer than six (6) hours in anyone
twenty four (24) hour period nor during any period of time when a park is closed.
The person obtaining the permit shall have the permit available at the park for
inspection, upon demand, by any police officer or other City official, and the failure
to have the permit for inspection shall subject the person who actually obtained the
permit, and all other persons in his corporation, partnership, association or
organization to the critninal penalties cited in subsection A ofthis section. The
person obtaining the permit shall be responsible for ensuring that those persons who
possess and consume alcohol pursuant to the permit obtained are lawfully able to
possess and consume alcohol.
13-2-5 Reservation of Facilities (replaces 8-7-1):
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A. Reservation Fees: The Mayor and City Council shall, by resolution, after notice and
hearing, adopt fees for the use of park facilities in order to recover some of the City's
costs for processing applications and a portion of the maintenance costs of the picnic
shelters, picnic tables, softball fields, and other park facilities.
B. Application Required; Record Kept: Persons, associations, corporations, and other
entities, desiring to use facilities in City parks shall apply at the Parks and Recreation
Department for the use of a facility, reserve a time of use of the facility, if that time is
available, and pay the appropriate fee. The Parks and Recreation Department shall
keep a record of the scheduled times and fees paid for reservations.
C. Reservation Required; Removal From Facility: Ifpersons, associations, corporations,
and other entities using a facility have not reserved the time and paid the appropriate
fee, and are using the facility at a time that has been reserved for another person,
association, corporation, or other entity, they shall be asked to vacate the facility. If
they refuse to vacate the facility, they may be excluded from the park pursuant to
Meridian City Code 13-2-10.
D. Reservation List Maintained: A list of reservations for a particular facility shall be
maintained to inform the public who has reserved the facility and the time, or times,
for which the facility has been reserved.
13-2-6 Hours of Park Operation (replaces 8-7-1(E»:
City parks shall be open to the public every day of the year ITom one-half (112) hour
before sunrise to one-half (1/2) hour after sunset. Persons and vehicles shall be excluded
ITom the parks during the hours of closure.
13-2-7 Closure By Order ofthe Director:
The Parks and Recreation Director has the authority to temporarily close any park, or any
portion thereof, at such times as he deems necessary to protect the park, or in the best
interest of the City.
13-2-8 Camping:
Camping is prohibited in City parks unless otherwise designated, or permitted in writing,
by the Parks and Recreation Director or designee.
13-2-9 Animals in City Parks:
A. Dogs running at large are prohibited in City Parks unless written permission is
obtained in advance ITom the Director to have a dog or dogs at large. This
prohibition does not apply to any designated "off-leash" area dnring designated times.
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B. No person owning, harboring, controlling or keeping any dog shall permit the dog to
deposit fecal material on any property unless the material is immediately removed.
C. Horses or other livestock are not permitted in City parks unless written permission is
obtained in advance from the Director.
D. A violation of this section shall be an infraction, the penalty for which shall be
twenty-five dollars ($25.00) excluding court costs and fees. An infraction is a civil
public offense, not constituting a crime, which is punishable only by a penalty not
exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00) and for which no period of incarceration
may be imposed, There is no rights to trial by jury of a citation or complaint for an
infraction and such trials shall be held before the court without a jury.
13-2-10 Damage to Park Property:
No person in any park shall willfully mark, deface, disfigure, injure, tamper with, or
displace or remove any building, fixture, bridge, table, bench, fireplace, railing, paving or
paving material, water lines, play equipment, skate park feature, or any other park
property. A violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to
exceed three hundred dollars ($300.00) or by imprisonment in the Ada County Jail not to
exceed one hundred eighty days (180) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
13-2-11 Exclusion:
A. The Director or his designee may, by delivering an exclusion notice in person to the
offender, exclude from a City park anyone who within a City park:
a. Violates any provision of this Chapter; or
b. Violates any park rule as defined in Meridian City Code I 3-2-I(E); or
c. Violates any provision of the Meridian City Code or the Idaho State Code.
B. The offender need not be charged, tried, or convicted or any crime or infraction in
order for an exclusion notice to be issued or effective. The exclusion may be based
upon observation by the Director or his designee or upon the sort of civilian reports
that would ordinarily be relied upon by police officers in the determination of
probable cause.
C. The Director or his designee may exclude the offender from the City park in which
the current violation occurred fora period not exceeding seven (7) days ITom the date
of the exclusion notice.
D. The exclusion notice shall be in writing and shall contain the date of issuance. The
exclusion notice shall specify the length and places of exclusion. It shall be signed by
the issuing individual. Warning of the consequences for failure to comply shall be
prominently displayed on the notice.
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E. An offender receiving an exclusion notice may, within two (2) days excluding
weekends and holidays from service or receipt of the exclusion notice, appeal to the
City Council for the purpose of having the City Council review the exclusion. The
notice of appeal shall be filed with the City Clerk. The appeal must be in writing and
must set forth the reason why such exclusion should not be enforced. The exclusion
shall be stayed upon filing of a notice of appeal.
F. The City Council shall hear the appeal at the second regular Council meeting
following the date the appeal is filed with the City Clerk. The City Council may
uphold the exclusion, overturn the exclusion, or shorten the length of the exclusion.
The decision of a majority of the City Council may be appealed to the Fourth Judicial
District Court pursuant to the Idaho Administrative Procedures Act.
G. No determination of facts made by the City Council shall have any collateral estoppel
effect on a subsequent criminal prosecution or civil proceeding and shall not preclude
litigation of the same facts in a subsequent criminal prosecution.
H. This section shall be enforced so as to emphasize voluntary compliance with laws and
park rules and in such a way that inadvertent minor violations can be corrected
without resort to an exclusion notice.
13-2-12 Trespass in City Parks:
A. Any person who knowingly enters or remains in a park from which he or she has been
excluded during the period covered by an exclusion notice pursuant to Meridian City
Code 13-2-2; or any person who enters, remains in, or is otherwise present within the
premises of a park during the hours when the park is closed to the public; shall be
guilty of trespass in parks.
B. A violation of this section is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed three
hundred dollars ($300.00) or by imprisonment in the Ada County Jail not to exceed
one hundred eighty (180) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION 3: That sections 3-2-6(A), 8-7-1, and 8-1-I(E), Meridian City Code, be, and
the same are hereby repealed.
SECTION 4: All ordinances, resolutions, orders or parts thereof in conflict herewith are
hereby repealed, rescinded and annulled.
SECTION 5: VALIDITY: The Meridian City Council hereby declares that any
section, paragraph, sentence or word of this ordinance as adopted and amended herein be
declared for any reason to be invalid it is the intent of the Meridian City Council that it
would have passed all other portions of this ordinance independent of the elimination
herefrom of any portion as may be declared invalid.
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SECTION 6: SAVINGS CLAUSE: This ordinance does not affect an action or
proceeding commenced or right accrued before this ordinance takes effect.
SECTION 7: DATE OF EFFECT: This ordinance shall be in full force and effect
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PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MERIDIAN, IDAHO, this
22-1'Ul. day of J~ ,2003.
APPROVED BY THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF MERIDIAN, IDAHO, this
22- J<.d., day of Jidq ,2003,
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An Ordinance of the City of Meridian BÝ:~I&IHU. ~~~ Jr., City Clerk
First Reading: 7-2-2--03 """'"""",
Adopted after first reading by suspension of the Rule as allowed pursuant to Idaho Code
50-902: YES~ NO-
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
Attest:
STATE OF IDAHO,)
: ss.
County of Ada.
On this_day of ,2003, before me, the undersigned, a
Notary Public in and for said State, personally appeared ROBERT D. CORRIE and
WILLIAM G. BERG, JR., known to me to be the Mayor and City Clerk, respectively, of
the CITY of Meridian, Idaho, and who executed the within instrument, and
acknowledged to me that the City of Meridian executed the same.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my
official seal the day and year first above written.
(SEAL)
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Park Regulations Ordinance
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