Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 06/19/2018 - ITEMS RELATING TO AMENDING CITY CODE, CHAPTER 17 -Agenda Item 13 Item # 13 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY June 19, 2018 City Council STAFF Sara Lynd, Police Sergeant Joe Olson, City Traffic Engineer Jeremy Yonce, Police Lieutenant Bronwyn Scurlock, Legal SUBJECT Items Relating to Amending City Code, Chapter 17 - Miscellaneous Offenses. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A. First Reading of Ordinance No. 083, 2018, Amending Articles III, IV, VI, and VII of Chapter 17 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins Pertaining to Trespass, Theft, Littering, Criminal Mischief, Resisting Arrest, Throwing of Missiles, and Disorderly Conduct. B. First Reading of Ordinance No. 084, 2018, Amending Article VII of Chapter 17 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins Pertaining to Staying on Medians. C. First Reading of Ordinance No. 085, 2018, Amending Article VII of Chapter 17 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins Pertaining to Panhandling. The purpose of this item is to amend certain Sections of Chapter 17 regarding trespass, theft, littering, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, throwing of missiles, and disorderly conduct to be consistent with state statutes; to amend Section 17-122 to make that section more specific to prohibit staying on medians in locations where safety issues arise given median width, traffic volumes, and/or traffic speed; and to eliminate Section 17-127 in its entirety pertaining to panhandling. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinances on First Reading. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION Ordinance No. 083, 2018, Amending Articles III, IV, VI, and VII of Chapter 17 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins Pertaining to Trespass, Theft, Littering, Criminal Mischief, Resisting Arrest, Throwing of Missiles and Disorderly Conduct. The Colorado General Assembly has amended the state statues regarding trespass, theft, littering, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, throwing of missiles, and disorderly conduct. This Ordinance will bring our Code sections pertaining to these offenses in line with the state statutes. Ordinance No. 084, 2018, Amending Article VII of Chapter 17 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins Pertaining to Staying on Medians. The “Staying on medians prohibited” in City Code Section 17-122 was added in 2011 to address safety concerns around pedestrians loitering in close proximity to vehicle travel lanes and in locations (medians) Agenda Item 13 Item # 13 Page 2 where pedestrians may not be expected (as opposed to along roadside edges). The current ordinance prohibits staying on medians less than thirty (30) feet wide for longer than is reasonably necessary to cross the street. In the past year, staff has been reviewing this section of the Code and is recommending that the language be tailored to address median locations where staff has identified that serious safety concerns exist for pedestrians based on median width, vehicular speed and/or volume of traffic. The proposed changes prohibit staying on medians that are: • less than 8 feet wide, or; • less than 18 feet wide and adjacent street vehicular volumes exceed 15,000 vehicles/day, or; • less than 18 feet wide and adjacent street speed limit is 35 mph or more. A map with all prohibited median locations will be available on-line to put the public on notice of the prohibited locations, and to ensure Fort Collins Police Services can properly enforce such locations. Ordinance No. 085, 2018, Amending Article VII of Chapter 17 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins Pertaining to Panhandling. On February 10, 2015, five individual plaintiffs and Greenpeace, Inc. filed in Colorado Federal District Court a class-action lawsuit against the City. On February 27, 2015, City Council repealed seven specific time, place, and manner panhandling restrictions in City Code Section 17-127. Four panhandling restrictions remain in the City Code, and cover unlawful behaviors including disorderly conduct, harassment, disturbing the peace, obstruction of a passageway and assault. These criminal behaviors are already specifically addressed in Chapter 17 as follows: Section 17-124 (Disorderly Conduct), Section 17-126 (Harassment), Section 17-121 (Disturbing the Peace), Section 17-128 (Obstructing a Highway or Passageway), and Section 17-21 (Assault). This duplication causes unnecessary confusion among officers, and therefore, Fort Collins Police Services recommends eliminating the misdemeanor crime of panhandling in its entirety. ATTACHMENTS 1. Justification for Medians Selected (PDF) Justification for Medians Selected for Ordinance No. 084, 2018 In this Ordinance, certain medians have been selected for regulation based on traffic volume and traffic speeds. Traffic Volume Traffic volume correlates to crash risk. As can be seen below, the higher the traffic volume, the greater the risk of a crash. 15,000 vehicles per day was selected because that is the point at which Traffic Engineers begin considering the need for 4-lane roads that are indicative of a more complex and challenging urban environment. Source: Colorado Department of Transportation ATTACHMENT 1 Traffic Speed Traffic speed correlates to crash severity. The higher the speed, the more severe the crash tends to be. We selected 35 mph as a threshold because the risk of death tends to increase most rapidly starting about that point. Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety -1- ORDINANCE NO. 083, 2018 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING ARTICLES III, IV, VI, AND VII OF CHAPTER 17 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS PERTAINING TO TRESPASS, THEFT, LITTERING, CRIMINAL MISCHIEF, RESISTING ARREST, THROWING OF MISSILES AND DISORDERLY CONDUCT WHEREAS, the Colorado General Assembly has amended the state statutes regarding trespass, theft, littering, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, throwing of missiles, and disorderly conduct; and WHEREAS, Fort Collins Police Services recommends amending City Code provisions regarding these offenses to conform with state law; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds it is in the best interests of the City to approve the changes to the City Code that have been recommended by Fort Collins Police Services. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. Section 2. That Section 17-1 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 17-1. Definitions. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this Chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this Section: Enter or remain unlawfully shall mean: (1) To enter or remain in or upon privately owned property when not licensed, invited, privileged or otherwise authorized to do so; (2) To enter or remain in or upon publicly owned property that is not open to the public; (3) To fail to leave property, whether privately or publicly owned, after being directed to do so by a person lawfully in control of the property; or (4) To conduct oneself in a public place in violation of any rule or regulation issued by any officer or agency having the power of control, management, or supervision thereof, which limits or prohibits the use, activities or conduct in such public place, provided that the rule or regulation is: (i) prominently posted at all -2- public entrances to the property; (ii) posted in such a way as to be clearly visible from the site of the infraction; or (iii) actually known to the offender. . . . Litter shall mean all rubbish, waste material, refuse, garbage, trash, debris, or other foreign substances, solid or liquid, of every form, size, kind, and description. . . . Section 3. That Section 17-36 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 17-36. Theft. No person shall knowingly obtain, retain, or exercise control over anything of value of less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.) of another without authorization or by threat or deception when such person: (1) Intends to deprive the other person permanently of the use or benefit of the thing of value; or (2) Knowingly uses, conceals or abandons the thing of value in such manner as to deprive the other person permanently of its use or benefit; or (3) Uses, conceals or abandons the thing of value intending that such use, concealment or abandonment will deprive the other person permanently of its use or benefit; or (4) Demands any consideration to which he or she is not legally entitled as a condition of restoring the thing of value to the other person; or (5) Knowingly retains the thing of value more than seventy-two hours after the agreed-upon time of return in any lease or hire agreement. Section 4. That Section 17-37 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby deleted in its entirety and this Section number shall become reserved. Sec. 17-37. Theft of rental property. No person shall: (1) Obtain the temporary use of personal property of another, which is available only for hire, by means of threat or deception, or knowing that such use is without the consent of the person providing the personal property; or -3- (2) Having lawfully obtained possession for temporary use of the personal property of another which is available only for hire, knowingly fail to reveal the whereabouts of or to return the property to the owner thereof or a representative of the owner or to the person from whom the property was received within seventy-two (72) hours after the time at which the person agreed to return it where the value of the thing involved is less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.). Section 5. That Section 17-39 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 17-39. Criminal mischief. No person shall knowingly injure, damage or destroy the real or personal property of one (1) or more other persons, including property owned by the person jointly with another person or property owned by the person in which another person has a possessory or proprietary interest, in the course of a single criminal episode where the aggregate damage to the real or personal property is less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.). Section 6. That Section 17-41 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 17-41. Littering. (a) No person shall throw, deposit, scatter or leave any litter upon any sidewalk, alley, street or other public place, in any waters, or on any private property any loose paper, rags, rubbish, waste material, refuse, garbage, trash, debris or other foreign substances, nor shall any person owning or occupying any lot or ground allow or permit any such material litter which may be liable to be blown or scattered by the wind or otherwise to remain upon such lot or grounds. (b) For the purposes of this Section, the distribution of advertising circulars or handbills in such manner so that they are securely placed or deposited upon real property so as to prevent the same from being blown or scattered by the wind does not constitute littering. (c) Whenever litter is thrown, deposited, dropped, or dumped from any motor vehicle in violation of this section, the operator of said motor vehicle is presumed to have caused or permitted the litter to be so thrown, deposited, dropped, or dumped therefrom. Section 7. That Section 17-64 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 17-64. - Resisting arrest. (a) No person shall prevent or attempt to prevent a peace officer, acting under color of official authority, from effecting an arrest of any person by: -4- (1) Using or threatening to use physical force or violence against the peace officer or another; or (2) Using any other means which creates substantial risk of causing bodily injury to the peace officer or another. (b) A peace officer is acting under color of official authority when, in the course of his or her duties, the peace officer is called upon to make or does in fact make a good faith judgment based on surrounding facts and circumstances that an arrest should be made. It is no defense to a prosecution under this Section that the arrest was unlawful if the peace officer was acting under color of official authority and did not use unreasonable or excessive force in effecting the arrest. A peace officer acts “under color of official authority” when, in the regular course of assigned duties, such officer is called upon to make, and does make, a judgment in good faith based upon facts and circumstances that an arrest should be made. (c) The term “peace officer” as used in this Section means a peace officer in uniform or, if out of uniform, one who has identified himself or herself by exhibiting credentials as such peace officer to the person who arrest is attempted. Section 8. That Section 17-102 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 17-102. - Throwing of missiles. (a) No person shall throw any stones, snowballs or missiles upon or at any vehicle, building or other public or private property or upon or at any person in any public place. (b) As used in this section, missile means any object or substance. Section 9. That Section 17-124 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 17-124. - Disorderly conduct. It is unlawful for any person to intentionally, knowingly or recklessly: (1) Make a coarse and obviously offensive utterance, gesture or display in a public place when such utterance, gesture or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace; or (2) Fight with another in a public place except in an amateur or professional contest of athletic skill; or (3) Not being a peace officer, display a deadly weapon in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm.; or -5- (4) Make unreasonable noise in a public place or near a private residence that such person has no right to occupy; or (5) Not being a peace officer, discharges a firearm in a public place except when engaged in lawful target practice or hunting or the ritual discharge of blank ammunition cartridges as an attendee at a funeral for a deceased person who was a veteran of the armed forces of the United states; or (6) An offense under subsection (1) or (4) of this section is a petty offense; except that, if the offense is committed with intent to disrupt, impair, or interfere with a funeral, or with intent to cause severe emotional distress to a person attending a funeral, it is a misdemeanor. Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 19th day of June, A.D. 2018, and to be presented for final passage on the 3rd day of July, A.D. 2018. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on the 3rd day of July, A.D. 2018. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk -1- ORDINANCE NO. 084, 2018 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING ARTICLE VII OF CHAPTER 17 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS PERTAINING TO STAYING ON MEDIANS WHEREAS, in 2011, Fort Collins Police Services encountered persons occupying the medians within the City for extended periods of time and were concerned with the safety risks to pedestrians and motorists; and WHEREAS, to address those safety concerns, Fort Collins Police Services brought forward, and City Council adopted Ordinance No. 117, 2011, that added a new Section to Article VII of Chapter 17 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins prohibiting persons from standing on medians less than 30 feet wide for longer than reasonably necessary to cross the street; and WHEREAS, staff has now reviewed the 30-foot width provision in order to craft more narrowly tailored language using specific criteria not only including median width, but also vehicular speed and/or volume of traffic; and WHEREAS, staff has proposed amending the Code to prohibit persons from standing on medians at locations where such medians are less than eight feet wide, or less than 18 feet wide with adjacent street vehicular volume exceeding 15,000 vehicles a day, or less than 18 feet wide with adjacent street speed limit that is 35 miles per hour or more; and WHEREAS, such criteria have enabled staff to identify the medians within the City that pose the greatest safety concern to both pedestrians and motorists when persons are standing on such medians longer than reasonably necessary to cross the street; and WHEREAS, the City Council believes that it would be in the best interests of the City to approve such changes to the City Code. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. Section 2. That Section 17-122 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 17-122. - Staying on medians prohibited. (a) No person shall stand or be upon a median of any street for longer than is reasonably necessary to cross the street. (b) For the purposes of this Section, median shall mean: -2- (1) The area of a street, generally in the middle, whichthat separates traffic traveling in one direction from traffic traveling in another direction, or whichthat, at intersections, separates traffic turning left from traffic proceeding straight. Such an area is physically defined by curbing, landscaping or other physical obstacles to the area's use by motor vehicles, or by traffic control markings whichthat prohibit use of a portion of the pavement of a street by motor vehicles other than to drive generally perpendicularly across the markings, or to wait there awaiting the opportunity to cross or merge with the opposing lanes of traffic (also known as painted medians, whichthat are wider than a double yellow line); or (2) The area of a street at an intersections between the streets and a right turn only lane, roughly triangular in shape, and separated from the motor vehicular traffic lanes by curbing, landscaping or other physical obstacles to the area's use by motor vehicles (also known as a right turn island). (c) This Section does not shall only apply to: (1) medians eight (8) feet wide or less, regardless of the volume of traffic around such median; (2) medians which are thirty (30) eighteen (18) or more feet wide or less where the average volume of traffic around such median in either direction is greater than fifteen thousand (15,000) vehicles per day as measured by the Traffic Engineer; or (3) medians eighteen (18) feet wide or less where the speed limit around such median in either direction is thirty-five (35) miles per hour or greater, regardless of the volume of traffic around such median. (d) This Section does not apply to persons maintaining or working on the median for either a public entity thatthe government which owns the underlying right-of-way or for a public utility. (e) A map of identified medians posted by the Traffic Engineer on the City’s website shall constitute prima facie evidence that Subsection (c) applies to that median. Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 19th day of June, A.D. 2018, and to be presented for final passage on the 3rd day of July, A.D. 2018. -3- __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on the 3rd day of July, A.D. 2018. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk -1- ORDINANCE NO. 085, 2018 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING ARTICLE VII OF CHAPTER 17 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS PERTAINING TO PANHANDLING WHEREAS, in 1995, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 070, 1995, adding Section 17-127 to the City Code to impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on certain aggressive panhandling conduct that was then occurring and has continued to occur within the City; and WHEREAS, on February 10, 2015, five individual plaintiffs and Greenpeace, Inc. (the “Plaintiffs”) filed in Colorado Federal District Court a class-action lawsuit against the City (the “Lawsuit”); and WHEREAS, the Plaintiffs challenged in the Lawsuit the constitutionality of seven specific time, place and manner panhandling restrictions in City Code Section 17-127, and asked the Court to preliminarily and permanently enjoin the City’s enforcement of these challenged provisions (the “Challenged Provisions”); and WHEREAS, on February 27, 2015, City Council repealed the Challenged Provisions; and WHEREAS, the Plaintiffs did not, however, challenge the constitutionality of the four other time, place and manner panhandling restrictions in City Code Section 17-127, as currently found in subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), (b)(3) and (b)(4); and WHEREAS, the four remaining panhandling restrictions in City Code Section 17-127 cover unlawful behaviors that are already identified as specific crimes in Chapter 17, including disorderly conduct (17-124), harassment (17-126), disturbing the peace (17-121), obstruction of a passageway (17-128) and assault (17-21); and WHEREAS, these overlapping provisions addressing the same criminal behaviors cause confusion among Fort Collins Police Services officers when determining which provision to cite on a criminal citation; and WHEREAS, because of this overlap and confusion, Fort Collins Police Services recommends eliminating the four remaining panhandling restrictions in (b)(1), (b)(2), (b)(3) and (b)(4), and the City Council believes that it would be in the best interests of the City to approve such changes to the City Code. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. -2- Section 2. That Section 17-127 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby deleted in its entirety. Sec. 17-127. - Panhandling. (a) When used in this Section, the following words, terms and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this Subsection (a): (1) Knowingly shall mean, with respect to the conduct or circumstances described in this Section, that a person is aware that such person's conduct is of that nature or that the circumstances exist. With respect to a result of such conduct, this means that a person is aware that such person's conduct is practically certain to cause the result. (2) Obscene shall mean a blatantly offensive description of an ultimate sexual act or solicitation to commit an ultimate sexual act, whether or not such ultimate sexual act is normal or perverted, actual or simulated, including masturbation, cunnilingus, fellatio, anilingus or excretory functions. (3) Obstruct shall mean to render impassible or to render passage unreasonably inconvenient or hazardous. (4) Panhandle shall mean to knowingly approach, accost or stop another person in a public place and solicit that person, whether by spoken words, bodily gestures, written signs or other means, for a gift of money or thing of value. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person to panhandle if such panhandling occurs: (1) In a manner that involves the person panhandling knowingly engaging in conduct toward the person solicited that is intimidating, threatening, coercive or obscene and that causes the person solicited to reasonably fear for his or her safety; (2) In a manner that involves the person panhandling knowingly directing fighting words to the person solicited; (3) In a manner that involves the person panhandling knowingly touching or grabbing the person solicited; or (4) On a sidewalk or other passage way in a public place used by pedestrians and is done in a manner that obstructs the passage of the person solicited or that requires the person solicited to take evasive action to avoid physical contact with the person panhandling or with any other person. -3- Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 19th day of June, A.D. 2018, and to be presented for final passage on the 3rd day of July, A.D. 2018. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on the 3rd day of July, A.D. 2018. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk