(A) Pests. Permitting buildings or premises to become infested by insects, rodents or other pests is prohibited, and constitutes a public nuisance. Any such building or premises shall be promptly exterminated by acceptable processes which will not be injurious to human health. After extermination, proper precautions shall be taken to prevent infestation.
(B) Environmental public nuisances and public health nuisances. Permitting or causing an environmental public nuisance or a public health nuisance, as defined herein, on public or private property, is prohibited and constitutes a public nuisance.
(C) Junk.
(1) It is declared to be a nuisance and unlawful for any person or entity to place, permit, allow or have upon their premises, whether leased or owned, or to place, permit or allow to be placed upon public property in the town, trash, litter, rags, accumulation of barrels, boxes, crates, packing cases, tin cans, pallets or lumber not neatly piled; filthy or littered cellars, house yards, barnyards, stable yards, or factory yards; garbage in any quantity which is not securely protected in tightly closed receptacles scheduled for pickup within 24 hours; or any other substance or material that would lead to the attraction, breeding, or multiplying of insects, vermin or rodents.
(2) It shall further be unlawful for any resident or nonresident persons or businesses to blow, sweep, place or deposit any garbage, debris or refuse, including, but not limited to construction material or structural debris, rock, earth or sod, grass clippings, shrub clippings, leaves, vines, small trees, brush, limbs, burn barrels, tires, animal carcasses or parts thereof, appliances and hazardous waste, whether generated by households or business; in a street or public right-of-way, in and around the town.
(D) Weeds and rank vegetation; tall grass. It shall be unlawful for any property owner in the town to permit weeds, grasses, plants, or vegetation, other than bushes, trees, flowers, ornamental plants or garden plants to grow to a height of more than six inches within the town boundaries. Any such weeds and rank vegetation or grass shall be considered a nuisance.
(E) Obstruction of rights-of-way. It is unlawful and a nuisance for any person, firm, corporation or legal entity to obstruct or block any portion of any public sidewalk with any object or article which will prevent the full use of the sidewalk by citizens desiring to use the same.
(F) Spitting. It shall be a nuisance for any person to spit on any of the sidewalks of the town or deposit on any of the sidewalks any tobacco quid, cigar or cigarette stub.
(G) Burning.
(1) Open fires, also called outdoor fires, are prohibited within the town except as specifically permitted by this section.
(2) A person may open burn as follows:
(a) On residentially zoned real estate, when contained in a fire pit with a metal or gravel bottom, or similar structure no more than five feet in diameter, or within a non-combustible container with a screen cover, in which only clean (uncoated or unpainted) wood or wood products are burned.
(b) For maintenance purposes a person may open burn vegetation from a farm, orchard, nursery, tree farm, or a drainage ditch, as permitted by Indiana law.
(c) The town Street Department may burn vegetation and wood products derived from pruning or clearing a roadside.
(d) For recreational, social, or religious purposes, a person may open burn for cooking, celebration, religious or social ceremonies, or personal comfort, provided that such fires comply with the following:
1. Only clean wood products, paper, charcoal, or clean petroleum products may be burned;
2. The nearest local fire department must be notified at least 24 hours prior to any burning where the size of the pile being burned is more than 125 cubic feet;
3. Fires shall not be ignited prior to two hours before the activity or meeting is to take place and shall be extinguished upon the conclusion of the activity or meeting; and
4. No fire shall be used for refuse disposal purposes.
(e) For special circumstances approved by the Town Council, including but not limited to:
1. Environmentally prescribed burning;
2. Burning of vegetation by fire departments and firefighters to create fire breaks or for training;
3. When a variance from 326 IAC 4-1 has been approved by the state's Department of Environmental Management; and
4. Emergency burning following natural disasters.
(f) Any open burning is subject to the following conditions:
1. A person who open burns shall extinguish the fire if the fire creates:
a. A pollution problem;
b. A threat to public health;
c. A nuisance; or
d. A fire hazard.
2. Burning may not be done during unfavorable meteorological conditions such as high winds, temperature inversions or air stagnations.
3. All fires must be attended at all times during burning until completely extinguished.
4. No non-wood building materials, including asbestos, may be burned.
5. Burning may not be commenced before sunrise or added to after sunset, and must be extinguished by one hour after sunset.
6. Burning shall be more than 20 feet from any structure owned by the person performing the burn, a road, or a power line; and 100 feet from any fuel storage area, pipeline, or structure not owned by the person.
(3) The following burning is prohibited:
(a) Burning of any material is prohibited on any real estate zoned other than residential or agricultural.
(b) Burning of any substance other than those permitted in this section is prohibited.
(c) Burning that causes annoyance or creates a condition which interferes with the health or well-being of any individual in his or her home or place of employment or recreation, or which interferes with the normal use and enjoyment of any such place.
(d) Burning on a paved street or surface any leaves that have fallen from trees or shrubs, non-woody plant matter, weeds, grass clippings, or other material that can be composted is prohibited.
(4) In addition to any penalty imposed in § 10.99, the offender shall be responsible for all costs of abatement and the recording and administrative fees as set forth above, and for any legal costs incurred by the town to collect any such abatement costs, administrative fees, or penalties.
(H) Offensive odors. It is unlawful to erect, use, or maintain any building, structure or place for the exercise of any trade, employment or business, or for the keeping or feeding of any animals, animals or fowls which by occasioning noxious exhalations or noisome or offensive smells, becomes injurious to the health, comfort or property of individuals or the public; or whoever causes or suffers any filth or noisome substance to be collected or to remain in any place to the damage, prejudice, or discomfort of others or the public; or whoever obstructs or encumbers by fences, structures or otherwise continues or maintains any obstruction or essentially to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life, will upon a five-day written notice from the Council to abate such nuisance.
(I) Noise pollution. On Sunday through Thursday, between the hours of 10:00 p.m. E.D.T. and 7:00 a.m. E.D.T., and on Friday and Saturday, between the hours of 11:00 p.m. E.D.T. and 7:00 a.m. E.D.T., it shall be unlawful for any person within the town limits of the Town of Boswell, to make loud or obnoxious noises, play loud music, gather in a noisy assemblage, or to disturb the peace and quiet of the citizens of the town by making such noises (collectively, "disturbances of the peace"). Such disturbances of the peace shall be declared a nuisance.
(J) Standing water. All low places in lands and ponds, depressions, excavations, ditches and drains in or on lands within the corporate limits of the town in which water will stand and will not rapidly run off therefrom after a rain fall, and in which water on standing therein will stagnate, are hereby declared to be a nuisance, and any owner or owners of real estate within the corporate limits of the town who maintains or continues any pond, depression, excavation, ditch or drain in or on his or her real estate within the corporate of the town in which water will stand and will not rapidly run off after a rainfall and in which water will stagnate on standing therein, is hereby declared to be guilty of maintaining a nuisance.
(K) Mobile homes. The maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remain on any public or private property of any dismantled, dilapidated or uninhabitable mobile home or manufactured housing, or part thereof, for more than ten days, shall constitute a public nuisance, unless any person, firm or corporation causing the condition to exist obtains a permit to do so from the Town Council, which the permit may be issued only after a public meeting during which citizens are given an opportunity to voice their support or objection to any conduct. The permit shall cost $50 upon issuance, and shall be valid for only ten days, after which, an additional permit must be obtained. Further permits will also be subject to the requirement of a public meeting to discuss the permit.
(Ord. 2022-0412, passed 4-12-2022)