This title and the accompanying Zoning Map shall be known as the "Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance of the City of Vernon" (hereinafter this "title"), which for convenience may be referred to as the "Zoning Ordinance."

The purpose of this title is to consolidate and coordinate all existing zoning regulations and provisions into one comprehensive zoning plan that designates, regulates, and restricts the use, location, and size of buildings, ancillary structures, and land for industrial uses and other permitted purposes and that establishes performance and development standards in order to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. To achieve these purposes, this title establishes zones within the City and various overlay zones of such number, shape, and area as have been deemed best suited to carry out these regulations and provide for the administration and enforcement of said regulations. It is declared that in the enactment of this title, the City Council has given due and special consideration to the industrial nature of the City, and to the City's continuing focus on providing a suitable location for industry and the infrastructure and services required to serve industrial activities. The City's intent is to continue to support the ongoing industrial character of the City, while recognizing the changing industrial environment throughout the United States and globally, and to respond appropriately. The City Council has further seriously considered the impact of the City's historically industrial environment and resulting land use incompatibilities with certain other uses as a result of, among other issues, the storage, use, transportation, and processing of hazardous materials; background contamination; noxious odors; noise pollution; and truck and railroad traffic throughout the City.

This title supersedes and replaces all prior zoning codes or ordinances and amendments thereto, and represents the entire and complete zoning ordinance for the City as of the date of its effective date. Wherever the requirements of this title are at variance with the requirements of any other lawfully adopted rule, regulation, or ordinance, the most restrictive or that imposing the higher standards shall govern.

This title shall apply as follows:

Nothing in this title shall create or be construed to create any vested right in any person.

If any provision or clause of this title or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this title which can be carried out without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this title are declared to be severable.

Except as otherwise provided in the California Government Code Section 65009, no action or proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the City Council's decision to adopt or amend its General Plan or this Code, or any decision on the granting or denial of a Conditional Use Permit, Minor Conditional Use Permit, Temporary Use Permit, Variance, or Development Agreement, or to determine the reasonableness, legality, or validity of any condition attached to a Conditional Use Permit, Minor Conditional Use Permit, Temporary Use Permit, Variance, or Development Agreement or any other permit, or concerning any of the proceedings, acts, or determinations taken, done, or made prior to any decision in connection with any of the above, shall be maintained by any person unless such action or proceeding is commenced and service is made on the City Council within 90 days after the date of the City Council's decision. Thereafter all persons are barred from any such action or proceeding or any defense of invalidity or unreasonableness of such decision or of such proceedings, acts, or determinations.