1171.11 ABANDONMENT.

   (a)    If any automobile service station or filling station is abandoned, such station shall be presumed to be a nuisance affecting or endangering surrounding property values and to be detrimental to the public health, safety, convenience, comfort or property or the general welfare of the community and shall be abated. Abandoned is defined, for the purpose of this chapter, as a failure to operate the service station or filling station for at least six consecutive months in any eighteen-month period.

   (b)    Whenever the Building Commissioner finds any service station or filling station to be abandoned within the meaning of this chapter, he shall give notice in the same manner as service of summons in civil cases, or by certified mail addressed to the owner of record of the premises at his last known address or to the address to which tax bills are sent, or by a combination of the foregoing methods, to abate such abandoned condition within sixty days either by placing the station in operation in accordance with this Zoning Code and other applicable laws and regulations of the City; adapting and using the building or structure for another permitted use in the district in which it is located; or by razing the station, removing the pumps and signs, removing underground storage tanks in accordance with accepted safe practice as prescribed by the National Fire Protection Association in Appendix C to N.F.P.A. No. 30, under the supervision of the City's Fire Chief, and filling depressions to the grade level of the lot. However, if the station is in operation at the time notice is given and remains in operation for ninety consecutive days thereafter, the provisions of this section shall not apply, and provided further, that if there should be declared a national emergency which would curtail the operation of motor vehicles or if Council should determine that there exists a state of general economic depression, the provisions of this section shall not apply.

(Ord. 81-32. Passed 5-5-81.)

   (c)    Upon the failure, neglect or refusal of any owner to comply with the notice to abate such abandonment, the Building Commissioner shall take such action as may be necessary to abate such nuisance.

   (d)    Inoperative service stations and filling stations which do not come within the definition of an abandoned station, as defined in subsection (a) hereof, shall be maintained in accordance with the provisions of this Zoning Code and other applicable laws and regulations, and the owner shall cut all grass and remove all rubbish and weeds from the premises. The parking of motor vehicles upon such premises shall be strictly prohibited, and the owner shall place in the window of such station a sign of at least ten square feet in area notifying the public of this fact. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Zoning Code, if the Building Commissioner finds that such notice is not complied with by the public, he may order the owner of the premises on which any station is inoperative for more than six months to install fencing or barricades approved by such Building Commissioner which will be sufficient to block motor vehicle access to such property.

(Ord. 72-13. Passed 7-11-72.)