Santee, CA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Section 10.24.010 finds, consistent with Vehicle Code Section 22660, that accumulating abandoned or inoperative vehicles reduces property values, promotes blight, invites plundering, creates fire hazards, attracts children into a hazardous condition, and harbors rodents and insects, so it declares such vehicles a public nuisance abatable under the chapter. Section 10.24.140 then makes it unlawful, an infraction, and a public nuisance to abandon, park, store or leave such a vehicle on private or public property (not including highways) unless it is completely enclosed within a building and not visible from the street or other property, or is lawfully stored on private property in connection with a licensed dismantler's, vehicle dealer's or junkyard's business.

Abatement runs through Sections 10.24.060 to 10.24.130: the Director serves a notice of intention to abate by first-class mail to the registered owner (Section 10.24.060), copies the California Highway Patrol (Section 10.24.070), and the owner of the vehicle or the land may appeal and request a hearing before the Director acting as hearing officer (Sections 10.24.080 through 10.24.100), with further appeal to the City Council. If the landowner proves the vehicle was placed without consent, the City will not assess removal or administration costs against that landowner under Section 10.24.130. Removed vehicles go to a scrap yard or licensed dismantler and may never be reconstructed or made operable again under Section 10.24.110.