2005 California Civil Code Sections 3479-3484 TITLE 1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

3479.  Anything which is injurious to health, including, but not
limited to, the illegal sale of controlled substances, or is indecent
or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of
property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life
or property, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the
customary manner, of any navigable lake, or river, bay, stream,
canal, or basin, or any public park, square, street, or highway, is a
nuisance.
(3480.) Section Thirty-four Hundred and Eighty.  A public nuisance
is one which affects at the same time an entire community or
neighborhood, or any considerable number of persons, although the
extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted upon individuals may be
unequal.
3481.  Every nuisance not included in the definition of the last
section is private.
3482.  Nothing which is done or maintained under the express
authority of a statute can be deemed a nuisance.
3482.1.  (a) As used in this section:
   (1) "Person" means an individual, proprietorship, partnership,
corporation, club, or other legal entity.
   (2) "Sport shooting range" or "range" means an area designed and
operated for the use of rifles, shotguns, pistols, silhouettes,
skeet, trap, black powder, or any other similar sport or law
enforcement training purpose.
   (3) "Indoor shooting range" means a totally enclosed facility
designed to offer a totally controlled shooting environment that
includes impenetrable walls, floor and ceiling, adequate ventilation
and lighting systems, and acoustical treatment for sound attenuation
suitable for the range's approved use.
   (4) "Nighttime" means between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
   (b) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (f), a person who
operates or uses a sport shooting range in this state shall not be
subject to civil liability or criminal prosecution in any matter
relating to noise or noise pollution resulting from the operation or
use of the range if the range is in compliance with any noise control
laws or ordinances that applied to the range and its operation at
the time construction or operation of the range was approved by a
local public entity having jurisdiction in the matter, or if there
were no such laws or ordinances that applied to the range and its
operation at that time.
   (2) Except as provided in subdivision (f), a person who operates
or uses a sport shooting range or law enforcement training range is
not subject to an action for nuisance, and a court shall not enjoin
the use or operation of a range, on the basis of noise or noise
pollution if the range is in compliance with any noise control laws
or ordinances that applied to the range and its operation at the time
construction or operation of the range was approved by a local
public entity having jurisdiction in the matter, or if there were no
such laws or ordinances that applied to the range and its operation
at that time.
   (3) Rules or regulations adopted by any state department or agency
for limiting levels of noise in terms of decibel level which may
occur in the outdoor atmosphere shall not apply to a sport shooting
range exempted from liability under this section.
   (c) A person who acquires title to or who owns real property
adversely affected by the use of property with a permanently located
and improved sport shooting range may not maintain a nuisance action
with respect to noise or noise pollution against the person who owns
the range to restrain, enjoin, or impede the use of the range where
there has been no substantial change in the nature  or use of the
range.  This section does not prohibit actions for negligence or
recklessness in the operation of the range or by a person using the
range.
   (d) A sport shooting range that is in operation and not in
violation of existing law at the time of the enactment of an
ordinance described in subdivision (b) shall be permitted to continue
in operation even if the operation of the sport shooting range at a
later date does not conform to a new ordinance or an amendment to an
existing ordinance if there has been no substantial change in the
nature or use of the range.  Nothing in this section shall be
construed to limit the authority of a local agency to enforce any
term of a conditional use permit.
   (e) Except as otherwise provided in this section, this section
does not prohibit a local public entity having jurisdiction in the
matter from regulating the location and construction of a sport
shooting range after the effective date of this section.
   (f) This section does not prohibit a local public entity having
jurisdiction in the matter from requiring that noise levels at the
nearest residential property line to a range not exceed the level of
normal city street noise which shall not be more than 60 decibels for
nighttime shooting.  The subdivision does not abrogate any existing
local standards for nighttime shooting.  The operator of a sport
shooting range shall not unreasonably refuse to use trees, shrubs, or
barriers, when appropriate, to mitigate the noise generated by
nighttime shooting.  For the purpose of this section, a reasonable
effort to mitigate is an action that can be accomplished in a manner
and at a cost that does not impose an unreasonable financial burden
upon the operator of the range.
   (g) This section does not apply to indoor shooting ranges.
   (h) This section does not apply to a range in existence prior to
January 1, 1998, that is operated for law enforcement training
purposes by a county of the sixth class if the range is located
without the boundaries of that county and within the boundaries of
another county.  This subdivision shall become operative on July 1,
1999.
3482.5.  (a) (1) No agricultural activity, operation, or facility,
or appurtenances thereof, conducted or maintained for commercial
purposes, and in a manner consistent with proper and accepted customs
and standards, as established and followed by similar agricultural
operations in the same locality, shall be or become a nuisance,
private or public, due to any changed condition in or about the
locality, after it has been in operation for more than three years if
it was not a nuisance at the time it began.
   (2) No activity of a district agricultural association that is
operated in compliance with Division 3 (commencing with Section 3001)
of the Food and Agricultural Code, shall be or become a private or
public nuisance due to any changed condition in or about the
locality, after it has been in operation for more than three years if
it was not a nuisance at the time it began.  This paragraph shall
not apply to any activities of the 52nd District Agricultural
Association that are conducted on the grounds of the California
Exposition and State Fair, nor to any public nuisance action brought
by a city, county, or city and county alleging that the activities,
operations, or conditions of a district agricultural association have
substantially changed after more than three years from the time that
the activities, operations, or conditions began.
   (b) Paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall not apply if the
agricultural activity, operation, or facility, or appurtenances
thereof obstruct the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of
any navigable lake, river, bay, stream, canal, or basin, or any
public park, square, street, or highway.
   (c) Paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall not invalidate any
provision contained in the Health and Safety Code, Fish and Game
Code, Food and Agricultural Code, or Division 7 (commencing with
Section 13000) of the Water Code, if the agricultural activity,
operation, or facility, or appurtenances thereof constitute a
nuisance, public or private, as specifically defined or described in
any of those provisions.
   (d) This section shall prevail over any contrary provision of any
ordinance or regulation of any city, county, city and county, or
other political subdivision of the state.  However, nothing in this
section shall preclude a city, county, city and county, or other
political subdivision of this state, acting within its constitutional
or statutory authority and not in conflict with other provisions of
state law, from adopting an ordinance that allows notification to a
prospective homeowner that the dwelling is in close proximity to an
agricultural activity, operation, facility, or appurtenances thereof
and is subject to the provisions of this section consistent with
Section 1102.6a.
   (e) For purposes of this section, the term "agricultural activity,
operation, or facility, or appurtenances thereof" shall include, but
not be limited to, the cultivation and tillage of the soil,
dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any
agricultural commodity including timber, viticulture, apiculture, or
horticulture, the raising of livestock, fur bearing animals, fish,
or poultry, and any practices performed by a farmer or on a farm as
incident to or in conjunction with those farming operations,
including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market,
or delivery to carriers for transportation to market.
3482.6.  (a) No agricultural processing activity, operation,
facility, or appurtenances thereof, conducted or maintained for
commercial purposes, and in a manner consistent with proper and
accepted customs and standards, shall be or become a nuisance,
private or public, due to any changed condition in or about the
locality, after it has been in continuous operation for more than
three years if it was not a nuisance at the time it  began.
   (b) If an agricultural processing activity, operation, facility,
or appurtenances thereof substantially increases its activities or
operations after January 1, 1993, then a public or private nuisance
action may be brought with respect to those increases in activities
or operations that have a significant effect on the environment.  For
increases in activities or operations that have been in effect more
than three years, there is a rebuttable presumption affecting the
burden of producing evidence that the increase was not substantial.
   (c) This section does not supersede any other provision of law,
except other provisions of this part, if the agricultural processing
activity, operation, facility, or appurtenances thereof, constitute a
nuisance, public or private, as specifically defined or described in
the provision.
   (d) This section prevails over any contrary provision of any
ordinance or regulation of any city, county, city and county, or
other political subdivision of the state, except regulations adopted
pursuant to Section 41700 of the Health and Safety Code as applied to
agricultural processing activities, operations, facilities, or
appurtenances thereof that are surrounded by housing or commercial
development on January 1, 1993.  However, nothing in this section
precludes a city, county, city and county, or other political
subdivision of this state, acting within its constitutional or
statutory authority and not in conflict with other provisions of
state law, from adopting an ordinance that allows notification to a
prospective homeowner that the dwelling is in close proximity to an
agricultural processing activity, operation, facility, or
appurtenances thereof and is subject to provisions of this section
consistent with Section 1102.6a.
   (e) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
apply:
   (1) "Agricultural processing activity, operation, facility, or
appurtenances thereof" includes, but is not limited to rendering
plants licensed pursuant to Section 19300 of the Food and
Agricultural Code and collection centers licensed pursuant to Section
19300.5 of the Food and Agricultural Code, the canning or freezing
of agricultural products, the processing of dairy products, the
production and bottling of beer and wine, the processing of meat and
egg products, the drying of fruits and grains, the packing and
cooling of fruits and vegetables, and the storage or warehousing of
any agricultural products, and includes processing for wholesale or
retail markets of agricultural products.
   (2) "Continuous operation" means at least 30 days of agricultural
processing operations per year.
   (3) "Proper and accepted customs and standards" means the
compliance with all applicable state and federal statutes and
regulations governing the operation of the agricultural processing
activity, operation, facility, or appurtenances thereof with respect
to the condition or effect alleged to be a nuisance.
   (f) This section does not apply to any litigation pending or cause
of action accruing prior to January 1, 1993.
3483.  Every successive owner of property who neglects to abate a
continuing nuisance upon, or in the use of, such property, created by
a former owner, is liable therefor in the same manner as the one who
first created it.
3484.  The abatement of a nuisance does not prejudice the right of
any person to recover damages for its past existence.