660.20 ABATEMENT OF NUISANCES.
(a) Authority of Safety Director, Director of Public Works and Building Commissioner. Whenever there shall be done or exist within the City any act, thing or condition of a kind which has been or may hereafter be defined by ordinance or by these Codified Ordinances as a nuisance, the Safety Director, Director of Public Works or Building Commissioner is authorized and directed promptly to cause its abatement, as hereinafter provided.
(b) Notice to Owner of Real Estate. When the nuisance is located on or originates from real estate not owned by the City, the Safety Director, Director of Public Works or Building Commissioner upon finding that the nuisance exists, may cause written notice or order to be served on the owner of the real estate. The notice or order shall set forth the nature of the nuisance, the Director’s estimate of the cost of abating the same if done by the City, a reasonable time determined by the Director within which the owner shall abate the nuisance or pay the estimated cost to the City, and the statement that unless the nuisance is abated within the stated time it may be abated by the City and the cost of abatement assessed on the real estate involved, or the City may prosecute the owner for failure to comply with the order of the Director.
(c) Service of Notice. The notice may be served by delivering it personally to the owner or leaving it at the owner’s usual place of business or residence, or by posting it in a conspicuous place on the real estate involved, or by mailing it to the owner, or by publishing it once in a newspaper of general circulation within the City if it cannot be served in any of the other ways above mentioned.
(d) Abatement by Director. If the nuisance is not abated within the required time, the Director may cause its abatement and report the cost thereof to Council, which may assess the same on the real estate on which the nuisance existed or the cause or source thereof was located. If the nuisance consists of uncut and growing grass or weeds, only one notice to the property owner as provided in subsection (c) hereof shall be necessary in any one growing season and the Director may cause such nuisance to be abated or removed more than once in any growing season as conditions may require. No property owner who is ordered to abate the nuisance or to pay to the City the estimated cost of the abatement shall fail to comply with such order.
(e) Obstruction of Sewers by Roots of Trees. In case the nuisance consists of roots of trees which obstruct sewers, the Director may abate the nuisance immediately and without service of notice or estimate of the cost of the abatement. The Director shall, however, furnish the owner of the real estate from which the nuisance originates with a statement of the cost of abating the same as soon as the cost can be ascertained, and shall notify the owner to pay the cost within such reasonable time as the Director shall fix, but not less than thirty days. In case the cost is not paid within the time fixed by the Director, the Director shall report such fact to Council which may assess the same on the real estate from which the nuisance originated.
(f) Abatement of Exterior and Interior Violations. In case of a nuisance consisting of exterior violations, including but not limited to any items listed in Chapter 1355 (Basic Standard of Residential Occupancy) and Chapter 1371 (Commercial Structural Maintenance Code), the Safety Director or the Building Commissioner has the authority to abate/complete any exterior violations that constitute a blighting/deteriorating influence on the housing stock or commercial properties in the City of Beachwood, including the abatement of the uncompleted exterior portions of residential and commercial projects. The Safety Director or the Building Commissioner also has the authority to abate unsafe or unsanitary conditions in the interior of any structure.
(Ord. 2008-112. Passed 8-12-08.)