To:
(Insert names and addresses of property owners and occupants)
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that you have permitted [nuisance vegetation] [rubbish] [pests] [weeds] to exist on the following property owned or occupied or otherwise controlled by you within the corporate limits of the Village of Chatham, in violation of Chapter 93 of the Code of Ordinances of the Village of Chatham.
The address of the property is , Chatham. Illinois.
The conditions constituting the violation are generally described as follows:
You are hereby ordered to remove such [nuisance vegetation] [rubbish] [pests] [weeds] within ten calendar days of the date of this Notice.
Chapter 93 of the Code of Ordinances provides that any person violating its provisions is subject to a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $750 for each day a violation is allowed to continue. If the Village must prosecute you, either in its Code Hearing Department or in the Circuit Court, for the violations described above, it will seek fines beginning from the date of this Notice. Chapter 93 of the Code of Ordinances also provides that if you fail to remove rubbish, nuisance vegetation or pests, the Village may do so, or may hire someone to do so, and may place a lien on the premises described in this Notice if you fail to pay for the work. If the Village itself performs the work, it will charge a minimum of $100 per hour for the work.
Definitions of “nuisance vegetation,” “rubbish”, “pests”, and “weeds” from § 93.20 of the Code of Ordinances are found on the reverse side of this form.
This Notice is dated this day of , 20 .
Enforcement officer
NUISANCE VEGETATION. Includes:
(1) Trees, shrubs, bushes, weeds {as defined herein) or plants permitted to grow on premises in a village roadway or roadway right-of-way, or adjacent to any street or alley or other public way in a manner as to obstruct the view and endanger traffic conditions.
(2) Weeds (as defined herein), and dead or dying trees or bushes, stumps and roots, on land within the village.
(3) Elm trees infected with Dutch elm disease or ash trees infected with the emerald ash borer.
PESTS. Undesirable arthropods (including certain insects, spiders, mites, ticks, and related organisms), wood-infesting organisms, rats, mice, and other obnoxious undesirable animals, but does not include a feral cat, a “companion animal” as that term is defined in the Humane Care for Animals Act (510 ILCS 70). “animals” as that term is defined in the Illinois Diseased Animals Act (510 ILCS 50). or animals protected by the Wildlife Code (520 ILCS 5).
RUBBISH. Any unsightly material, waste products, refuse, debris, trash or waste lumber deposited, left, piled or scattered that may become a breeding place for insects, rodents or vermin, or that may give off unpleasant odors or create a health or fire hazard where located.
WEEDS. Annual or perennial herbaceous plants of volunteer growth, not cultivated or useful for human food or enjoyment. They shall include, but not be limited to, the following: jimson, burdock, ragweed, thistles of all kinds, cockleburr. barberry (tall, common or other horticultural varieties), poison ivy, yellow dock, Indian mallow, sweet clover, wild mustard (including black mustard and yellow mustard). May weed, lambs’ quarters, pig weed, beggar ticks, wild lettuce, shepherds purse, smart weed, sow-thistle, tumbleweed. milk weed, dandelions, and the like; any plant that, when in blossom, gives off an unpleasant or obnoxious order or pollen irritating to human tissue; and any plant growth that may conceal rubbish, debris or filthy deposits, or constitute a fire hazard when dry; and grass that is more than 12 inches in height, random growth or volunteer growth of bushes or brush that may conceal rubbish, debris or filthy deposits, or constitute a fire hazard when dry; or any plant that causes or adds its influence in bringing on hay fever or other similar or noxious plant; and all plants fitting within the term “weeds” as used in the Illinois Municipal Code.
(Ord. 15-34, passed 8-11-15)