This page is dedicated to everything uniquely illegal in Davis. If these could be linked to the correct city ordinance, it could make this page more interesting. If you're trying to search the muni code, you can add site:city.davis.ca.us/cmo/citycode/ to your google search.

If you know it's illegal then add it to the list:

  1. Snoring too loudly.

  2. Pub bouncing with an open container (a Susie Boyd law.)

  3. Zipping through stop signs on your bike or Bicycling drunk. — Illegal everywhere, but enforced far more in Davis than other places.

  4. Clothes lines? (40.26.080 looks legal, more information needed)

  5. Nuclear stuff. —Berkeley is also a Nuclear-Free Zone

  6. Roosters. (5.01.020 up to 6 Hens ok, Rooster not ok.)

  7. Installation of Ceiling Fans without a building permit.

  8. Light pollution (Chapter 8.17 Outdoor Lighting Control)

  9. Shooting a pump, spring, or gas powered bb-pellet gun inside city limits.

  • May be illegal but it's only loosely enforced. Technically airsoft guns qualify, but I am pretty sure they only care about metal bb's. We were playing airsoft like crazy at 2 or 3 am in the park/woods near the airport during my freshmen year. A cop car rolled up, he didn't even care. Just told us to not leave a flashlight on under a tree (fire hazard). We had pump/spring and gas powered pistols, a shotgun, and two rifles.

  • Cutting trees that are on your property that the city has declared ownership of.

    • Someone verify this in the books? I'm pretty sure that if a tree or plant is growing into or over your yard/property you are allowed to trim it if the owners do not. Was it a rental property?

    • Perhaps it was a street tree? Covered under section 37.02.040 of the City Code?

    • Not surprising.. my parents needed a permit to get rid of the tree in front of our house in San Jose, and they wouldn't even let us do it.

      • Well, there's a large difference between cutting it down completely and (what I first read the thing as) cutting some branches off and trimming it.

        • This is true, I have a large tree planted on the street behind my house, it grew so large that the branches were touching our house, scratching at the windows and making creepy sounds. I trimmed it back and then got a lecture from the guy who was trimming them a few months later. If it is a street tree, you can't touch it... Street trees are on public land or can be declared street trees even on private property.

      • Our property documents include a city easement for a street tree, which would make it city property. -RussBowlus

  • Smoking outside while standing still. Technically, you cannot smoke while loitering, so smoking around an establishment you are doing business is okay. Otherwise, you must be going at least 0.5 m/s. (Chapter 34.02.010)

  • Parking without a permit. This is illegal everywhere, but with a zoo of parking permits on and off-Campus, it's especially easy to do in Davis. (Chapter 22.08)

  • Bug bombs cannot be used anywhere in Yolo county.

  • Fireworks. OK in Woodland and Sacramento, but not Davis.

  • Urinating or defecating in public (Chapter 26.01.045). That includes the police station front step, unless you're 5 or younger. Inside an office within the police station may be legal.

  • Bicycling with headphones on both ears. Bicyclists must obey the vehicle code , which requires statewide that one ear remain headphoneless.

  • Being annoying. (Repealled in 2010. (Ironically, many people were annoyed by this very annulment.))

  • Jaywalking

  • Scavenging recyclables from Recycle Bins . Note, this is a statewide law (Assembly Bill 1778), but often better-enforced in Davis than in other jurisdictions. For more, see http://archive.cityofdavis.org/pw/recycle/ScavengingRecyclables.cfm.

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    I'm not sure, but I remember this old man complained about the Pirate Ship shows two year ago. He said, "If I can't fly my model airplane, you kids can't play your rock music!" So, uh..what about flying model airplanes? - jenn

    • Flying a gas-powered model airplane within city limits would be stupid and dangerous. not to mention illegal. - ArlenAbraham
      • Please elaborate on what is "stupid and dangerous" about flying model planes? - Brett
        • I think it would be the part where gas powered airplanes (he specifically referenced those) move at too high a speed for any area in town. Also, in the event of a crash, gas engines are far more likely to start a fire, which makes them dangerous pretty much anywhere in California, especially right now. - JoePomidor
    • You know, the text of ordinance seems to only apply to parks, even though the title seems to suggest it might also apply to open spaces. I wonder if someone could get away with it if they had a big field on the outskirts of town? Model boats are illegal, too.. hmm..
      • If it's fun, you can't do it in California. Especially in Davis.

    The problem with upscale communities (i.e. Davis) is that they accumulate too many overly restrictive laws. People tend to make laws against things that they would never do themselves, without considering that other people may.

    • That, and upscale communities like Davis live in a fake utopia where they think everyone is like them.
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