Arcadia, CA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Chapter 2 of Article V, Rodent and Pest Control, is enforced by the Health Officer, defined in § 5210 as the person the City employs and designates, or the person employed by a public agency the City has contracted with. Under § 5210.1 the Health Officer can enter any lot, yard, enclosure or other premises to inspect, and when a violation is found must notify in writing the owner, agent, lessee or occupant to correct the condition within a reasonable time stated in the notice. Under § 5210.2, refusing or resisting the Health Officer's entry, or refusing a lawful order, is itself prohibited.

The core rule is § 5230, which bars maintaining any building, lot, premises, vehicle or place in such an insanitary condition that flies, rats, bedbugs, cockroaches, lice, fleas or any vermin can breed or harbor there. Rubbish is covered by § 5220.3: an accumulation that can shelter rats must be elevated not less than eighteen inches above the ground with a clear space underneath.

Part 2 adds structural ratproofing for slaughterhouses, packing houses, bakeries and any building used to make, store, handle or display food or grain products that the Health Officer finds is or is likely to become rat infested (§ 5220). Under § 5220.1 the Health Officer can serve a written notice to ratproof the whole structure or only a specified portion within a stated time. Dwellings and apartments are excluded from the § 5220.2 requirements for food and grain buildings. Those buildings need continuous foundations as specified for Type V buildings (§ 5220.2.1), a twelve inch strip of noncorrodible metal lath under wall coverings at floor level on inside and outside of exterior stud walls (§ 5220.2.2), and screening of underfloor vents, foundation openings, roof vents and skylights with hardware cloth of at least one-half inch mesh (§ 5220.2.3).

The general penalty chapter, § 1200, makes each day of a violation a separate offense.