Chapter 12.40
CITY PARKS
Sections:
12.40.020 Prohibited activities – Violation and penalty.
12.40.040 Trespass in parks – Definition – Punishment.
12.40.020 Prohibited activities – Violation and penalty.
(a) Bicycle, scooter and skateboard riding is not allowed in all parks within the corporate limits of the city with the exception of subsection (b) of this section.
(b) Skateboard riding shall be allowed at the city’s skate park where the facilities are in place to skate, and to ride bikes and scooters.
(c) Violation of this section shall be a civil infraction, with law enforcement officers empowered to issue citations under the general penalty defined in DMC 1.04.010. (Ord. 1024 § 1, 2009; Ord. 929 § 1, 2004; Ord. 831 § 1, 1998; Ord. 660, 1989).
12.40.030 Park exclusion.
(a) The law enforcement may, by delivering an exclusion notice in person to the offender, exclude from a city park zone or zones anyone who within a city park:
(1) Violates any provision within this chapter; or
(2) Violates any park rule; or
(3) Violates any provision of the Davenport Municipal Code or Revised Code of Washington;
The offender need not be charged, tried, or convicted of any crime or infraction in order for an exclusion notice to be issued or effective. The exclusion may be based upon observation by the law enforcement or upon the sort of civilian reports that would ordinarily be relied upon by police officers in the determination of probable cause.
(b) If the offender:
(1) Has not been excluded from any city park zone by an exclusion notice issued within one year prior to the violation and the current violation is not a felony violation or weapon violation, then the law enforcement may exclude the offender from the city park zone in which the current violation occurred for a period not exceeding seven days from the date of the exclusion notice;
(2) Has been the subject of only one prior exclusion notice issued within one year prior to the current violation and neither the current nor the past violation was a felony violation or weapon violation, then the law enforcement shall exclude the offender from the city park zone in which the current violation occurred for a period of 90 days from the date of the exclusion notice;
(3) Has been the subject of one or more prior exclusion notices issued within one year prior to the current violation, all from the same city park zone in which the current violation occurred, or if the current violation is a felony violation or weapon violation, then the law enforcement shall exclude the offender from the city park zone in which the current violation occurred for a period of one year from the date of the exclusion notice;
(4) Has been the subject of one or more prior exclusion notices within one year prior to the current violation and, in combination, the current violation and those prior violations took place in one or more city park zones, then the law enforcement shall exclude the offender from all city park zones for a period of one year from the date of the exclusion notice.
(c) 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.
(d) Only the mayor or mayor’s designee (hearing official), after a hearing, may rescind or shorten an exclusion notice.
(e) An offender receiving an exclusion notice longer than seven days may seek a hearing before the hearing official to have the exclusion notice rescinded or the period of exclusion shortened. The request for a hearing shall be delivered to the office of the city clerk or postmarked no later than seven days after the issuance date of the exclusion notice. The request for hearing shall be in writing and shall be accompanied by a copy of the exclusion notice on which the hearing is sought. The hearing should occur within seven days after the hearing official receives the request for hearing. The hearing official shall take reasonable steps to notify the offender of the date, time, and place of the hearing.
(f) The hearing official may issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents, and shall administer oaths to witnesses. The hearing official shall not issue a subpoena for the attendance of a witness at the request of the offender unless the request is accompanied by the fee required by RCW 5.56.010 for a witness in district court. The offender shall be responsible for serving any subpoena issued at the offender’s request.
(g) At the hearing, the violation must be proved by a preponderance of the evidence in order to uphold the exclusion notice. If the exclusion notice was issued because of the alleged violation of any criminal law, the offender need not be charged, tried, or convicted for the exclusion notice to be paid. The exclusion notice establishes a prima facie case that the offender committed the violation as described. The hearing official shall consider a sworn report or a declaration under penalty of perjury as authorized by RCW 9A.72.085, written by the individual who issued the exclusion notice, without further evidentiary foundation. The certifications authorized in Rule 6.13 of the Criminal Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction shall be considered without further evidentiary foundation. The hearing official may consider information that would not be admissible under the evidence rules in a court of law but which the hearing official considers relevant and trustworthy.
(h) If the violation is proved, the exclusion notice shall be upheld; but upon good cause shown, the hearing official may shorten the duration of the exclusion. If the violation is not proved by a preponderance of the evidence, the hearing official shall rescind the exclusion. If the hearing official rescinds an exclusion, the exclusion shall not be considered a prior exclusion.
(i) The decision of the hearing official is final. An offender seeking judicial review of the hearing official’s decision must file an application for a writ of review in the Lincoln County superior court within 14 days of the date of that decision.
(j) The exclusion shall remain in effect during the pendency of any administrative judicial proceeding.
(k) No determination of facts made by a person conducting a hearing under this section shall have any collateral estoppels effect on a subsequent criminal prosecution or civil proceeding and shall not preclude litigation of those same facts in a subsequent criminal prosecution or civil proceeding.
(l) This section shall be enforced so as to emphasize voluntary compliance with laws and park rules, and so that inadvertent minor violations that would fall under subsection (b)(1) of this section can be corrected without resort to an exclusion notice. (Ord. 965 § 1, 2006).
12.40.040 Trespass in parks – Definition – Punishment.
(a) Any person who knowingly:
(1) Enters or remains in a park from which he or she has been excluded during the period covered by an exclusion notice pursuant to DMC 12.40.030; or
(2) Enters, remains in, or is otherwise present within the premises of a park during hours which the park is not open to the public, unless the person is present within the park to participate in an activity either conducted by the department or conducted pursuant to the terms of a permit issued by the city, shall be guilty of trespass in parks, a gross misdemeanor subject to the provisions of DMC 1.04.010.
(b) It is not a defense to the crime of trespass in parks:
(1) That the underlying exclusion issued pursuant to this chapter is on appeal when the excluded person is apprehended, charged, or tried under this section; nor
(2) That the excluded person entered or remained in the park pursuant to a permit that was issued in the name of another person either before or after the date of the exclusion notice.
(c) Any person convicted of this crime may be punished by a fine in any sum not to exceed $5,000 or by imprisonment for a term not to exceed one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. (Ord. 965 § 2, 2006).