Rancho Santa Margarita Moves Closer to Barring Sex Offenders from Parks

The City Council on Wednesday approved the latest version of a proposed ordinance to bar sex offenders from city parks.

At its July 27 meeting, officials directed their staff to draft an ordinance that would make it a crime for anyone on California’s sex offender registry to enter a city park without written permission from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; the request must be time and date specific.

After hours of debate over a couple of meetings in which it labored over two options, it took fewer than four minutes to come to agreement after Jerry Holloway asked City Attorney Greg Simonian whether including a time- and date-specific element to the ordinance would protect the city's interests against a potential legal challenge.

"I think that it would strengthen it even more," Simonian answered.

Following planned discussions with six of the city’s homeowners associations, the staff hopes to bring the proposal back to the City Council by the Aug. 10 meeting for first reading, the first step in the two-part process for making it into law.

After the unanimous vote, council member Steven Baric, , said the whole process “turned out well.”  

“I don’t think it’s ever been a question of it’s going to pass, it was just what format,” Baric said after the meeting. “The council was able to balance everything, and the primary concern was to protect the community, and I think we accomplished that tonight. “

The proposed ordinance would be the . The county law affects county-owned parks, harbors and beaches but does not affect city-owned parks.

The night’s discussion centered mainly on the choice between two ordinance options.

Both ordinances would have prohibited California registered sex offenders from entering city parks without permission, and both would have required that signs be posted in city parks alerting park-goers to the law.

However, there was a key difference between the options: Option 2 included a set of five reasons by which the sheriff may justify a sex offender's request to enter a park. Option 1 did not.

(Scroll to the bottom of the story for a list of the five reasons).

Council member Baric motioned that the council go with option 1 and said he was concerned that if it didn't, sex offenders would try to use the five proposed criteria against the city.

“They’re very conniving; they're very crafty,” Baric said. “My concern … is that they would see this criteria and they would utilize it to their advantage to prey on our children.”

Mayor Tony Beall made a substitute motion, saying that option 2 protects residents from sex offenders and from lawsuits.

“Option 2 allows us to provide the same tools to police while increasing the likelihood that we would survive a legal challenge,” Beall said.

The discussion made a decisive shift when Holloway turned to the city attorney on his right and asked if requiring sex offenders to specify the time and date of using the park would improve the city’s legal footing in a potential lawsuit.

“Mayor and Council, I think that it would strengthen it even more,” Simonian said. "... I think that would be even better."

Moments later, Holloway submitted the night’s final substitute motion: A direction to the staff to draft option 2 but with the requirement that the applicant for a waiver provide a specific date and time for using a park.

Holloway’s substitute motion, seconded by council member Carol Gamble, passed unanimously without additional discussion.

The vote on Wednesday was not a vote for final approval of the ordinance. It was a decision on what draft of the law “should be presented to the homeowner associations for outreach efforts,” Simonian said.

Because the city does not maintain any of the 21 parks within its borders, the six homeowners associations that maintain them are crucial to the discussion. 

Staffers hope to get input from the HOA presidents in time to bring the item back for first reading, Aug. 10.

On July 15, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackaukas sent the mayor a letter in support of the council passing an ordinance similar to the county ordinance.

After the meeting, Susan Schroeder, chief of staff for the D.A., praised the council’s efforts.

“I think RSM took a big step in protecting children,” Schroeder said.

Since the April passage of the county’s ordinance, one waiver has been granted to a registered sex offender—the waiver allowed that person to visit a county harbor to fulfill work-related duties, according to Lt. Brian Schmutz, city chief of police services.

Reasons that may justify a request to enter into the parks include:

1. Accompanying a minor for whom the registrant is a parent or legal guardian and where the registrant is not otherwise prohibited under any condition of parole or probation.
2. Accessing the park for the purposes of exercising the rights of free speech or assembly.
3. Accessing the park for purposes of lawful employment.
4. Accessing the park for the purposes of voting in any local, state, or federal election.
5. Accessing the park for the purpose of attending a religion service. 

 Other business

• City officials and staff are considering a softball game against Mission Viejo city officials and staff sometime in September.
• The next summer concert takes place Sunday, July 31, at 6 p.m.
• City Manager Steve Hayman thanked city staff for its work coordinating