The city enacted the ordinance in 2011 at the urging of District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and county supervisors.
The City Council on Tuesday will consider reversing an ordinance that bans registered sex offenders from city parks and private parks run by homeowners associations.
The council unanimously passed the law in 2011 at the urging of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, his staff and county supervisors, who urged councils countywide to institute such bans, saying the move would bolster public safety, especially for children.
Laguna Hills became the seventh city in the county to pass such an ordinance, following the county Board of Supervisors’ April 2011 approval of a ban on all registered sex offenders from county parks, beaches and harbors without Sheriff’s Department permission.
The ordinance approved in Laguna Hills was modeled on the county law, but contained additional provisions, including posting signs at parks noting the law and its requirements, establishing criteria for waivers and requiring waivers to be date, time and location specific. The provisos were intended to help defend the ordinance in court, City Attorney Greg Simonian said at the time.
Laguna Hills also enacted the ban for private parks. Under the law, homeowners association boards had to request the law be enforced in their parks. None has to date, Assistant City Manager Don White said Monday.
When Laguna Hills approved the ban, Rackauckas and his staffers said the District Attorney’s Office was confident the law was constitutional.
But soon after more than a dozen Orange County cities passed similar regulations, a registered sex offender anonymously filed a federal lawsuit contending the ban violated his constitutional rights. The suit named the cities of Lake Forest, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Seal Beach. Citing concern about the potential cost of litigation, Lake Forest reversed its ban in December 2012.
In January 2014, a state appeals court struck down regulations barring registrants from county parks and Irvine parks without written permission from police; in April, the state Supreme Court rejected requests to review those decisions, effectively rendering such ordinances unenforceable, according to a Laguna Hills staff report.
Following the April decision, District Attorney’s Office officials ended their efforts to uphold the Orange County sex-offender ordinances.
Also a factor for Laguna Hills is the threat of litigation by the California Reform Sexual Offender Laws organization and the American Civil Liberties Union if the ordinance is not repealed, according to the staff report. ..Source.. by SARAH de CRESCENZO / STAFF WRITER
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