THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SUNNYVALE DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. CHAPTER 9.90 TITLE AMENDED. The title of Chapter 9.90 is hereby amended by striking "Police" to read as follows:

SECTION 2. SECTION 9.90.010 AMENDED. Section 9.90.010 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:

The purpose of this chapter is to set forth regulations governing the use of alarm systems and the carrying on of an alarm business within the city of Sunnyvale and to provide for fees to be charged for excessive false alarms.

SECTION 3. SECTION 9.90.020 AMENDED. Section 9.90.020 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:

(1)– (2) [Text unchanged.]

(3) "Alarm system" means any device designed to summon police or fire assistance from the department of public safety to a designated site. An "audible alarm system" means a system that produces an audible or visible signal at the point of origin. A "remote alarm system" means a system that transmits a silent signal from a location to a remote processing center or other location for retransmission to the city.

(4) [Text unchanged.]

(5) [renumbered, text unchanged]

(6) [renumbered, text unchanged]

(7) [renumbered, text unchanged]

(8) "Emergency" means an occasion that reasonably calls for a response by the department of public safety. A response due to failure of the alarm system, personnel error in transmission or reporting of an alarm, or repair or maintenance of an alarm system is not an emergency.

(9)- (10) [Text unchanged.]

(11) "Local alarm system" means an alarm system which is annunciated only on the premises and is not intended to cause a request for emergency response.

(12) – (15) [Text unchanged.]

SECTION 4. SECTION 9.90.060 AMENDED. Section 9.90.060 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code is hereby amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:

. . .

(d) Notification. In the event of an alarm that indicates that there may be a life hazard involved, the department shall be immediately informed.

SECTION 5. SECTION 9.90.090 AMENDED. Section 9.90.090 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code is hereby amended by amending subsections (a) and (c) to read as follows:

(a) The council finds and determines that repeated responses to false alarms by the city may result in a significant expenditure of department of public safety time and resources and increased costs to the public. The council, therefore, finds that it is necessary and appropriate for the city to seek to recover the costs of repeated responses to false alarms from the persons responsible for such alarms through the imposition of false alarm fees. Fees shall be as established by resolution of the council.

(b) (Text unchanged.)

(c) After the first false alarm from an alarm system during a three-hundred-sixty-five-day period, the director of public safety shall deliver a warning notice to the person responsible for the alarm which shall state the date and time of the first false alarm, and that if subsequent false alarms resulting from causes other than acts of nature should occur within a three-hundred-sixty-five-day period, then beginning with the third false alarm that is not exempted, the director may impose false alarm fees pursuant to this section. This warning notice shall state the amount of the false alarm fees which could be imposed.

SECTION 6. SECTION 9.90.150 AMENDED. Section 9.90.150 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:

It shall be unlawful for any person to activate an alarm system for the purpose of summoning assistance from the department when the person knows an emergency does not exist.

SECTION 7. EXEMPTION FROM CEQA. The City Council finds, pursuant to Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 15061(b)(3), that this ordinance is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in that it is not a Project which has the potential for causing a effect on the environment.

SECTION 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect thirty (30) days from and after the date of its adoption.

SECTION 9. POSTING AND PUBLICATION. The City Clerk is directed to cause copies of this ordinance to be posted in three (3) prominent places in the City of Sunnyvale and to cause publication once in an adjudicated newspaper of general circulation in the City of Sunnyvale, of a notice setting forth the date of adoption, the title of this ordinance, and a list of places where copies of this ordinance are posted, within fifteen (15) days after adoption of this ordinance.

Introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council held June 10, 2003, and adopted as an ordinance of the City of Sunnyvale at a regular meeting of the City Council held on _____________________, 2003, by the following vote:

(SEAL)