Section 1-1-1. Municipal Code--Citation. The ordinances of the City of Northglenn codified as provided by this ordinance shall be known and cited as the Municipal Code of the City of Northglenn, Colorado. Such ordinances may also be cited as Northglenn Municipal Code. Any ordinance of the City of Northglenn may also be cited and referred to by its title or by ordinance number.

[Source: Ord. 175, 1972]

Section 1-1-2. Classification--Chapters. For the purposes of the Municipal Code of the City of Northglenn, the ordinances of the City shall be arranged in chapters and classified as follows:

Chapter	Title
1	General Provisions
2	Administration
3	Procedure
4	Public Safety
5	Finances
6	Contracts and Purchasing
7	Automobiles and Traffic
8	Municipal Court
9	General Offenses and Nuisance Control
10	Building Regulations
11	Planning and Zoning
12	Subdivision Regulations
13	Elections
14	Animal Control
15	Local Improvement Districts
16	Public Property, Utilities and Services
17	Parks and Recreation
18	Licensing
19	Special Proceedings
20	Miscellaneous Provisions
21	Sign Code

[Source: Ord. 175, 1972; 1665, 2014]

Section 1-1-3. Classification--Articles and Sections. Within the chapter headings provided by section 1-1-2, the ordinances shall be arranged in articles and assigned such article numbers as may be provided by the several bills heretofore or hereafter enacted as ordinances. Each article shall be divided into appropriate sections, and such sections may be appropriately subdivided.

[Source: Ord. 175, 1972]

Section 1-1-4. Citation By Chapter, Article and Section. The provisions of the Municipal Code may be cited and referred to by chapter, article and section numbers, e.g., the citation of this section is section 1-1-4, Municipal Code.

[Source: Ord. 175, 1972]

Section 1-1-5. Definitions and Rules of Construction. In the construction of the Municipal Code and of all ordinances of the City, the following definitions and rules of construction shall be observed, unless it shall be otherwise expressly provided in any section or ordinance, or unless inconsistent with the manifest intent of the ordinance:

"City" or "municipality" means the City of Northglenn, Colorado.

"Mayor" means the elected mayor of the City; and includes a mayor pro-tem or other person duly authorized to act as mayor in the absence or disability of the mayor or during the period of any vacancy in the office.

"City council" means the governing body of the City.

"City administrator" means the chief administrative officer of the City, appointed by the City Council to execute the laws and administer the City government.

"Code" means and includes any building, construction, safety, health or other regulatory code adopted by the City, whether adopted by reference and by ordinance or otherwise, as published and subsequently amended, unless the context requires otherwise.

"Municipal code" means the Municipal Code of the City of Northglenn, as published and subsequently amended, unless the context requires otherwise.

"Person" shall mean and include an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization acting as a group or unit.

"County" means the County of Adams in the State of Colorado.

"Day" is any period of time between any midnight and the midnight following. When a period of time is defined as a number of days, the date on which the period commences shall be excluded and the last date of such period included in the computation.

"Daytime" means the period of time between sunrise and sunset.

"Nighttime" means the period of time between sunset and sunrise.

"In the City" shall mean and include all territory over which the City now has, or shall hereafter acquire, jurisdiction for the exercise of its police powers and other regulatory powers.

"Month" means a calendar month.

"Oath" means and includes any oath or affirmation required by law or ordinance.

"Ordinance" means the ordinances of the City and includes the ordinances codified or the Municipal Code.

"Owner" when applied to a building or land, shall include any and all owners in fee, joint owner, tenant in common, joint tenant, or tenant by the entirety of the whole or a part of such building or land, and, when applied to any personal property, animal or vehicle, shall mean any person who has the legal title or right to or has possession of a thing.

"Preceding" means next before; "Following" means next after.

The term "Property", unless qualified, shall include real property and personal property, whether tangible or intangible. "Real property" shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments.

"Public way" shall mean and include any street, highway, alley, boulevard, parkway, sidewalk or other public thoroughfare.

"Street" shall mean and include any public way, highway, street, avenue, boulevard, parkway, alley or other public thoroughfare, and each of such words shall include all of them.

"Sidewalk" means and includes the portion of the street between the curb line and the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians.

"Tenant" or "Occupant", applied to a building, premises or land, or any part thereof, shall include any person who occupies the whole or a part of such building, premises or land, whether alone or with others.

"Year" means a calendar year.

"State" means the State of Colorado.

"Shall" is mandatory and "May" is permissive.

All words and phrases shall be construed and understood according to the common and approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law shall be construed and understood according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning.

When an ordinance requires an act to be done which may as well be done by an agent as by the principal, such requirement shall be construed to include all such acts when done by an authorized agent.

If the time limited for the doing of an act shall expire on a Sunday or legal holiday, the act shall be done upon the day next following such Sunday or legal holiday. If the time limited for filing or issuing any application, permit, license, paper or document with or by the City shall expire on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the same may be done on the business day next following.

Every word in every ordinance shall be applied in a gender neutral manner and shall further extend to and be applied to associations and bodies corporate as well as individuals.

In all cases where any ordinance shall require any act to be done in a reasonable time or reasonable notice to be given, such reasonable time or notice shall be deemed to mean such time only as may be necessary for the prompt performance of such duty, or compliance with such notice.

[Source: Ord. 175, 1972; 1824, 2022]

Section 1-1-6. Effect of Titles and Numbers. The title or number of any chapter, article, section or subsection of the Municipal Code, or of the ordinances of the City, shall not be deemed to restrict, qualify or limit the effect of the provisions set forth and contained in any such chapter, article, section or subsection. The title of a bill which is enacted as an ordinance shall not be a part of such ordinance and shall not be deemed to restrict, qualify, or limit the effect of the provisions set forth and contained in such ordinance or any part thereof.

[Source: Ord. 175, 1972]

Section 1-1-7. Amendments. Additions or amendments to the ordinances of the City shall be made by ordinance.

[Source: Ord. 175, 1972]

Section 1-1-8. Severability. The provisions of the ordinances of the City of Northglenn are hereby declared to be severable, and if any section, provision or part thereof, or the application of such section, provision or part to any person or circumstance, is held unconstitutional or invalid, the remainder of the ordinances shall continue in full force and effect, it being the legislative intent that every such ordinance would have been adopted even if such unconstitutional or invalid matter had not been included therein. It is further declared that if any provision or part of such ordinances, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the ordinances and the application thereof to other persons shall not be affected thereby.

[Source: Ord. 175, 1972]

Section 1-1-9. Repeal--Effect. The repeal, of any amendment or supersession of any ordinance or part of any ordinance of the City shall not release, extinguish, alter, modify or change in whole or in part any penalty, liability or right which may have been incurred or obtained under such ordinance or part thereof, nor any action or proceedings commenced under or by virtue of the provision repealed; and such ordinance or part thereof so amended, repealed or superseded shall be treated and held as remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any and all proper actions, suits, proceedings and prosecutions, for the enforcement of such penalty, liability or right and for the purpose of sustaining any judgement, decree or order which can or may be rendered, entered or made in such actions, suits, proceedings or prosecutions, and shall be treated and held as remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any and all proceedings, actions, acts, decisions, hearings and appeals relating to the City of Northglenn and pending before any board, officer, agency, court or governing body of the State, County, or City, or any court of record.

[Source: Ord. 175, 1972]

Section 1-1-10. General Penalty--Continuing Violations.

Whenever by any ordinance of the City of Northglenn any act is prohibited or declared to be unlawful or an offense, or a misdemeanor, or the doing of any act is required, or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or an offense, or a misdemeanor:

Where a specific criminal or civil penalty is provided therefor, or such ordinance, or the charter or article of the Municipal Code within which such ordinance provision is contained, provides a criminal or civil penalty for any violation of the provisions of such ordinance, chapter or article, any violations of such ordinance, chapter or article shall be punished as therein provided.

Where no specific criminal or civil penalty is provided therefor, any person convicted of violating an ordinance may be incarcerated in the Adams County jail for a period not to exceed one year or fined in an amount not to exceed two thousand six hundred fifty dollars ($2,650.00) per violation, or both, unless a lesser fine or lesser imprisonment may be provided by such ordinance; provided that where the person convicted is under the age of eighteen (18), at the time of the offense, then only the fine shall be applied. The maximum fine amount set forth herein shall be adjusted for inflation on January 1, 2014, and on January 1 of each year thereafter, as provided by Section 31-16-101, C.R.S. (2013).

Where an offense or failure to act is declared by the Municipal Code to be a civil infraction, the act or inaction shall be punishable only by civil penalties of not more than four hundred ninety-nine dollars ($499.00), to be determined and assessed at the discretion of the municipal judge. Civil infractions constitute civil matters.

Any person who pleads guilty or no contest to, or is convicted of a civil infraction shall be assessed the applicable civil penalty in an amount to be determined at the discretion of the Municipal Court judge. At any trial for a civil infraction, the burden of proof shall be upon the people or the City to prove the civil infraction beyond a reasonable doubt.

If a person charged with a civil infraction fails to appear at a hearing before the court at the date and time specified in the summons and complaint, or at such other time as the court may order, the Municipal Court shall enter a default judgment, assess an appropriate civil penalty and assess applicable court costs against such person. A default judgment shall have the same legal effect as a plea of guilty or a conviction at trial. Upon motion made not later than one hundred eighty (180) days following an entry of a default judgment, the Municipal Court may vacate a default judgment upon adequate showing of excusable neglect, or that the default judgment violates the Constitution or laws of the United States, the Constitution or laws of Colorado, or the Charter or ordinances of the City, or for any other reason justifying relief from the operation of a default judgment.

Each and every day on which any violation of the ordinances of the City, or the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to such ordinances, is committed, exists or continues shall be deemed a separate offense.

[Source: Ord. 1034, 1991; 1130, 1995; 1659, 2013; 1801, 2020]