(a) Any service station which is abandoned is hereby deemed to be a nuisance affecting or endangering surrounding property values and detrimental to the public health, safety, convenience, comfort, property or general welfare. Such nuisance shall be abated. As used in this section, "abandoned" means a service station which has not been sued for the retail sale of gasoline, other petroleum products and related accessories for a continuous period of six months.
(1) In order to comply with Ohio R.C. 3791.12, and fully recognizing the limitations of the City Charter as to inspections, the City Manager and the Service Director, acting jointly, hereby designate the Chief Inspector and his successors to make inspections as set forth in Ohio R.C. Chapter 3791 dealing with abandoned service stations. The Inspector of Abandonment's duties will be to inspect stations which appear to be abandoned as service stations as described in Ohio R.C. 3791.11(A)(2) or any other bona fide business purpose. The Inspector shall have the right to enter upon and inspect any service station that is, or appears to be, no longer in use as described in this section.
(2) Persons constructing or operating a service station will be required to file a bond annually in the amount of three thousand dollars ($3,000) for each station to provide for the cost of removal should such station be abandoned. A property owner or lessee, other than a person leasing and operating a service station pursuant to a contract with a supplier of gasoline and other petroleum products, who owns, leases or is constructing two or more service stations may instead deposit money, securities or a bond with the State Treasurer in the amount of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). If such bond or deposit is reduced to less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) as a result of payment of costs under this chapter, it must be restored to one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) of coverage.
(3) Whenever the Inspector of Abandonment finds that any service station is abandoned, as defined in subsection (a) hereof, he shall make a written report to the executive authority of the municipal corporation and a hearing shall be held not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days after receipt of the report to determine whether the station is, in fact, abandoned. The executive authority shall send written notice of the place, date and time of the hearing, together with a copy of the Inspector's report and information that the service station may be ordered repaired or removed if determined to be abandoned, to all persons listed in the bond of subsection (a)(2) hereof and to all persons listed in the records of the County Recorder or County Clerk of Courts as holding lien on the affected property. Such notice shall be sent by certified mail to the address shown on such records. The hearing shall consider the testimony of all interested parties.
If the executive authority finds the station to be abandoned, he shall order the owner to repair or remove the station by giving notice, either in the same manner as is used in the 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 at the address to which his tax bills are sent, or by a combination of the foregoing methods, to abate such nuisance within sixty days. Such abatement shall be accomplished either by placing the station in operation in accordance with the applicable provisions of this Building Code, by adapting and using the building for another permitted use or by razing the service station structure, removing the pumps and signs, abandoning underground storage tanks in accordance with accepted safe practice as prescribed by the National Fire Protection Association and filling depressions to the grade level of the lot.
If this order is not obeyed, the bond will be forfeited and the municipal corporation may effect the repair or removal itself, using the proceeds of the bond deposited with the municipal corporation or the bond or deposit in the hands of the State Treasurer. If the costs of repair or removal and restoration exceed the amount collected on the bond, the owner and any lessee, other than a person leasing and operating the service station pursuant to a contract with a supplier of
gasoline and petroleum products, shall be jointly and severally liable for the deficiency. Such remedy shall be in addition to the penalty provided in Section 1460.99.
(4) However, if the station is in operation at the time such notice is given and remains in operation for ninety consecutive days thereafter, the provisions of this section shall not apply. Furthermore, if a national emergency curtailing the operation of motor vehicles is declared, or if Council deter mines that a state of general economic depression exists, the provisions of this section shall not apply.
(5) Inoperative service stations which are not included in the definition of abandoned service stations provided in subsection (a) hereof, shall be main tained in accordance with the applicable provisions of this Building Code 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 prohibited and the owner shall place in the window of such service station a sign not less than ten square feet in area notifying the public of such fact. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Building Code, if the Inspector finds that such notice is not complied with by the public, he may order the owner of the premises on which any such service station has been inoperative for more than six months to install fencing or a barricade which has been approved by the Inspector and which will be sufficient to block motor vehicle access to such property.
(Ord. 4-79. Passed 2-12-79.)