The following may be defenses to the charge of maintaining a public nuisance.
(A) It shall be a defense to the allegation that a person has maintained a public nuisance if the owner or occupant of the premises can prove that when a call for police assistance was made, and police were dispatched to the premises, that a criminal offense was committed but that all of the occupants of the premises were acting lawfully.
(B) It shall be a defense to the allegation that a person has maintained a public nuisance if the owner or occupant of the premises can prove that when a call for police assistance was made, and police were dispatched to the premises, that the particular occupant of the premises was acting lawfully and is the victim of a criminal offense.
(C) It may be a defense to the owner of premises if, within 15 calendar days after nuisance behavior that is a violation of this section occurs, the owner has instituted an eviction proceeding against the offending occupants of the subject premises and the owner completes the eviction process of those occupants within 75 calendar days of commencement.
(D) It may be a defense to an occupant (but not owner) if, in the case of multi-unit dwellings, apartment buildings or mixed use buildings, there is clear and convincing evidence that the only parties participating in the nuisance behavior were not occupants of the premises where the nuisance behavior actually occurred. However, this defense shall not apply if dwellings are different structures.
(E) It may be a defense to an owner of premises if reasonable steps were immediately taken to abate all nuisance behavior, including but not limited to, removing the offending occupant, notifying police of violation(s) of criminal laws and/or securing vacant property.
(F) No person shall be deemed to have maintained a public nuisance unless at least one incident of nuisance behavior occurs after this chapter takes effect.
(Ord. 2016-OR-07, passed 2-15-2016)