You are viewing an archived code
Any person or persons owning, maintaining, operating, collecting rents for, or having any legal or equitable interest in any vacant and open building, or any uncompleted abandoned building, or any vacant boarded-up building or any otherwise enclosed vacant building must have a watchman on duty upon the premises on which any one of such aforementioned buildings is situated every day continuously, unless the building has been secured by methods approved by the Commissioner of Buildings.
Said watchman required under the provisions of this ordinance shall remain on duty daily during the required hours until such building is either occupied or razed.
Any person who violates this section shall be punished by a fine in accordance with Section 13-12-040. Any third or subsequent offense may be punishable as a misdemeanor by incarceration in the county jail for a term not to exceed six months under procedures set forth in Section 1-2-1.1 of the Illinois Municipal Code (65 ILCS 5/1-2-1.1) as amended, or by both fine and imprisonment. Any person who violates this section shall, if the building remains or subsequently becomes open and a forcible felony is then committed on those premises, be sentenced to a mandatory term of imprisonment of not less than 30 days. A separate and distinct offense shall be regarded as committed each day on which such person or persons shall violate the provisions of this section. For purposes of this section, “forcible felony” has the meaning ascribed to the term in Section 2-8 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (720 ILCS 5/2-8).
(Prior code § 39-13; Amend Coun. J. 8-30-00, p. 40306, § 2; Amend Coun. J. 2-9-11, p. 112125, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 11-21-17, p. 61858, Art. VIII, § 9; Amend Coun. J. 1-23-19, p. 94952, Art. I, § 8)