The presence of litter, vandalism, debris, urination/defecation on buildings and entrances, and similar conditions is a growing public health, safety, and welfare concern for City employees as well as community members. These incidents cost City resources and employee time to address, and can present sanitary risks for those having to perform the cleanup. Community members (adults, youth and small children) who come to the Civic Center grounds are exposed to these conditions as well.
The City’s parks and open space areas are currently closed at night, between the hours of 30 minutes past sunset and sunrise the following day. (Fairfield Mun. Code § 12B.11.) This provision does not apply to the Fairfield Civic Center complex, which include the grounds surrounding City Hall, the Fire Department, the Police Department, the Community Center, the County Library, and the Adult Recreation Center, as shown below.
It would not be feasible to adopt the same closure hours for the Civic Center grounds as for City parks, because meetings and other events frequently extend long past sunset, and occasionally past midnight. The public has the right to attend these meetings. Importantly, the public also has the Constitutional right to assemble, express ideas, and petition their government. The Civic Center grounds would likely be considered a traditional public forum under First Amendment caselaw; accordingly, any regulations on speech must be reasonable and content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions, which are narrowly tailored to achieve the City’s significant governmental interests. (See Prigmore v. City of Redding, 211 Cal.App.4th 1322 (2012) (holding that a library plaza was a traditional public forum); Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781 (1989)). To that end, the proposed Ordinance seeks to address the City’s public health, safety, welfare, and park maintenance concerns by closing the Civic Center grounds between the limited hours of 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., with exemptions allowed for persons participating in authorized activities or needing to access the Police Department.
The proposed Ordinance is modeled off a similar ordinance adopted by the City of Santa Monica, CA. Fairfield Police Department staff met with Santa Monica Police and City staff and learned of their city ordinance and how it has worked for them. Based on Santa Monica’s experience, staff believes that the proposed Ordinance will help to reduce the amount of unlawful activities taking place on the Civic Center grounds.
The Ordinance was drafted in coordination with the City Attorney’s Office and the Solano District Attorney’s Office. The Solano County District Attorney’s Office suggested that the ordinance be progressive in severity, starting as an infraction and elevating to a misdemeanor upon the fourth offense. This process is important as it will show and indicate the offense is from a habitual offender when it reaches a misdemeanor level.