The following divisions include, but do not limit, the conditions which are deemed to be nuisances in the city:
(A) Offensive smells. Erecting, continuing or using any building or other place for the exercise of any trade, employment or manufacture, which, by occasioning noxious exhalations, unreasonably offensive smells, or other annoyances, becomes injurious and dangerous to the health, comfort or property of individuals or the public.
(B) Filth or noisome substance. Causing or suffering any offal, filth or noisome substance to be collected or to remain in any place to the prejudice of others.
(1) Sanitation. All exterior, and any interior portion of the premises of any property shall be maintained in a clean, safe and sanitary condition. The occupant shall keep that part of the exterior or interior portion of the premises which such occupant controls, in a clean, safe, and sanitary condition so as to protect the life, health and safety of any occupants or of the public.
(2) Containment systems.
(a) In any event where a sewage spill or overflow occurs from any sewer, septic system, portable toilet, holding tank, sewage or septic transfer vessel, or any other container or containment system where sewage, human, or animal waste is deposited upon or within a structure or upon a property located within the corporate limits of the city, upon verification by the Building and Neighborhood Services Official, such a spill or overflow shall be deemed a nuisance and shall be subject to the provision in this chapter in §§ 90.05, 90.06 and 90.09. All sanitation issues involving sewage spills and/or overflows shall be considered an emergency and be subject to immediate action by the city in accordance with § 90.09 of this chapter.
(b) The interior of a structure and equipment therein shall be maintained in good repair, structurally sound and in sanitary condition. All structural members shall be maintained structurally sound, and be capable of supporting the imposed loads. In any instance wherein a structure appears to be found in disrepair or structurally unsound by the Building and Neighborhood Services Official, it shall be the responsibility of the property owner to submit a report stating that the structure is sound and capable of carrying the imposed load, and such report must be signed by either an architect, structural engineer, or a registered, licensed contractor that meets the qualifications set forth by the Building and Neighborhood Services Official.
(3) Accumulation of rubbish or garbage. All exterior property and premises, and the interior of every structure, shall be free from any accumulation of rubbish or garbage. For the purpose of this chapter, RUBBISH shall be defined as any material thrown away as worthless: trash or debris that has been discarded or is broken, in state of disrepair, has the potential to cause a fire hazard, or any instance where there is not a safe, continuous and unobstructed path of travel provided from any point in a building or structure to the public way. Means of egress shall comply with the current adopted Fire Prevention Code of the city.
(C) Impeding passage of navigable or natural water ways. Obstructing or impeding without legal authority the passage of any navigable river, harbor, natural drainage way, storm water drainage way, stream, creek, any retention/detention ponds or drainage areas, or collection of water. All storm water drainage issues between developed properties must be resolved by the use of an approved drainage system that either collects, directs or re-directs stormwater to a natural, or, a man-made drainage area. Storm water conducted from roofs or other impervious areas shall be dispersed entirely upon the grounds of the owner of the contributing property or it shall be drained or conducted into ditches, storm drains or gutters where available on public property or easements legally usable for that purpose, or into public streams. The depositing of storm water, either permanently or temporarily, onto an abutting property, city right of way, or upon any city street, road or alley is prohibited unless a storm water management plan has been submitted, reviewed and approved by the office of the City Engineer.
(D) Water pollution. Corrupting or rendering unwholesome or impure the water of any river, stream or pond, or unlawfully diverting the same from its natural course or state, to the injury or prejudice of others.
(E) Blocking public and private ways. Obstructing or encumbering, by fences, buildings or otherwise, the public roads, private ways, streets, alleys, commons, landing places or burying grounds.
(F) Billboards. Billboards, signboards and advertising signs, whether erected and constructed on public or private property, which so obstruct and impair the view of any portion or part of a public street, avenue, highway, boulevard or alley or of a railroad or street railway track as to render dangerous the use thereof. Any billboard, signboard and advertising signs that are dilapidated, broken, abandoned or in a general state of disrepair, or, that advertise for a business that is no longer operating as advertised.
(G) Storing of flammable junk. Depositing or storing of flammable junk, such as old rags, rope cordage, rubber, bones and paper, by dealers in such articles within the fire limits of the city, unless in a building of fireproof construction, or within the confines of an area similarly protected by a sprinkler system, fire protection equipment or device, fire brigade or private fire department, or that is regulated and conforms to the 2006 Life Safety Code.
(H) Air pollution. Emission of dense smoke, noxious fumes or fly ash.
(I) Weeds, brush. Dense growth of all weeds, vines, brush, grass, other botanical growth and other similar vegetation in the city which constitute a health, safety or fire hazard or which are obnoxious or unsightly.
(J) Dead or diseased trees. Any tree in such a state of deterioration that any part of the tree is likely to fall and damage property or cause injury to persons. A dead tree or limb which overhangs a sidewalk, parkway, city street or alley is a nuisance per se. In the case of a portion of a tree that is dead, diseased, broken, dangling, or dangerous, only that portion that is dead, diseased, broken, dangling, or dangerous shall be required to be removed and made safe.
(K) Airport air space. Any object or structure hereafter erected within 1,000 feet of the limits of any municipal or regularly established airport or landing place, which may endanger or obstruct aerial navigation including take-off and landing, unless such object or structure constitutes a proper use or enjoyment of the land on which the same is located.
(L) Houses of ill fame. Houses of ill fame, kept for the purpose of prostitution and lewdness; gambling houses; places resorted to by persons participating in criminal gang activity prohibited by Iowa Code Chapter 723A or places resorted to by persons using controlled substances, or any activity that is in violation of Iowa Code § 124.101, or houses where drunkenness, quarreling, fighting or breaches of the peace are carried on or permitted to the disturbance of others. Any building or structure may be determined to be a house of ill fame, whether by intention, or, by the absence of, or lack of, proper management or maintenance.
(M) Junk and junk vehicles.
(1) Storing, accumulating, or allowing to remain on any private property within the corporate limits of the city any junk or junk vehicle. Storing of a vehicle on a property that is owned by an individual that is not the registered owner of said vehicle(s).
(2) JUNK is defined as all old or scrap copper, brass, lead or any other non-ferrous metal: old or discarded rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber, debris, waste or used lumber, or salvaged wood; dismantled vehicles, machinery and appliances or parts of such vehicles, machinery or appliances; iron, steel or other old or scrap ferrous materials; old or discarded glass, tin, plastic or old or discarded household goods or hardware. Neatly stacked firewood located on a side or a rear yard is not considered junk.
(3) JUNK VEHICLE means any vehicle that is parked, stored or placed upon a property and that is not able to be moved under its own power or has not been moved or used as an operating vehicle for a period of seven days and has any of the following characteristics:
(a) Broken glass. Any vehicle with a broken windshield or window.
(b) Broken or loose part. Any vehicle with a broken or loose fender, door, bumper, hood, running board, steering wheel or trunk top.
(c) Habitat for nuisance animals or insects. Any vehicle which has become the habitat for rats, mice, or snakes, or any other vermin or insects.
(d) Flammable fuel. Any vehicle which contains gasoline or any other flammable fuel, and is inoperable.
(e) Inoperable. Any motor vehicle which lacks an engine or two or more wheels or other structural parts, rendering said motor vehicle totally inoperable, or which cannot be moved under its own power or has not been used as an operating vehicle for a period of seven days or more.
(f) Defective or obsolete condition. Any other vehicle which, because of its defective or obsolete condition, in any other way constitutes a threat to the public health and safety, and/or can be described as a nuisance by any of the conditions listed in this chapter.
(g) Mobile and/or manufactured homes. Mobile and/or manufactured homes that are vacant, dilapidated beyond reasonable repair, or that are not properly affixed or tied down to a foundation, or a footing or slab according to Appendix E of the 2006 International Residential Code are deemed as a nuisance and must be abated as a nuisance according to the provisions of this chapter.
(4) Mere licensing of such a vehicle shall not constitute a defense to the finding that a vehicle is a junk vehicle.
(5) VEHICLE means every device in, upon, or by which a person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway or street, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks, and includes without limitation a motor vehicle, automobile, truck, motorcycle, tractor, trailer, buggy, wagon, farm machinery, any of which may be licensed or unlicensed, or any combination thereof.
(6) ABANDONED VEHICLE.
(a) A junk vehicle that has been left unattended on public or private property for a 24-hour period, with or without the property owners consent, or a vehicle that has been left unattended on public or private property for a 24-hour period without the property owner’s consent, and one that lacks proper registration or lacks the proper display of registration plates and/or current registration tags, or one that is illegally parked on public or private property, with or without the property owner’s consent. It shall be considered to be unlawful for a vehicle to be stored on a property that is not registered to the owner of said property, or registered to an immediate relative of the owner of the property who is living, on a permanent basis, in or on the property.
(b) 1. Generally. No inoperative or unlicensed vehicle shall be parked, kept or stored on any premises, and no vehicle shall at any time be in a state of major disrepair, disassembly, or in the process of being stripped or dismantled. Painting of vehicles or vehicle parts is prohibited unless conducted in an approved spray booth.
2. Exception. A vehicle of any type is permitted to undergo major overhaul, including body work, provided that such work is performed inside a structure or similarly enclosed area designed for and approved for such purposes and that this work is done in an approved area in conjunction with the Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 159 of this code of ordinances.
(N) Swimming pools, spas and hot tubs. Swimming pools, spas and hot tubs shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition, and in good repair, and be fitted with appropriate security fencing as required by AG105.2 in the 2006 International Residential Code as adopted by the city. Any swimming pool, spa or hot tub that is kept in an unclean or unsanitary condition shall be subject to the provisions for penalty and abatement as described in §§ 90.07, 90.08 and 90.11.
(O) Unsafe structures and equipment.
(1) Condemnation. Any structure or equipment that is found by the Building and Neighborhood Services Official to be unsafe, or when a structure is found unfit for human occupancy, or is found unlawful, the structure shall be condemned pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, Chapter 150, and/or Chapter 155 of this code of ordinances. This section shall cover any structure or equipment upon a residential, commercial or an industrial property with the corporate limits of the city, and shall include but are not limited to, fences, porches, decks, ramps, additions, loading docks, storage lots, or portions of a structure or equipment. This section shall also include occupied unregistered rentals that are not currently compliant with Chapter 155 of this code of ordinances.
(2) Unsafe structure. An unsafe structure is one that is found by the Building and Neighborhood Services Official to be dangerous to the life, health, property or safety of the public or the occupants of the structure by not providing the minimum standards found in Chapter 150 and Chapter 155 of this code of ordinances.
(3) Unsafe equipment. Unsafe equipment includes any boiler, heating equipment, elevator, moving stairway, electrical wiring or device, flammable liquid containers or other equipment on the premises or within the structure which is in such disrepair or condition that the equipment is hazardous to life, health, property or safety of the public or occupants of the premises or structure.
(4) Structure unfit for human occupancy. A structure is unfit for human occupancy whenever the Building and Neighborhood Services Official finds that the structure is unsafe, unlawful or, because of the degree to which the structure is in disrepair or lacks maintenance, is unsanitary, vermin or rat infested, contains filth and contamination, or lacks ventilation, illumination, sanitary or heating facilities or other essential equipment required by this section, or by Chapter 150 and/or Chapter 155 of this code of ordinances.
(5) Closing of vacant structures. If the structure is vacant and unfit for human occupancy, and is not in danger of structural collapse, the Building and Neighborhood Services Official is authorized to post a placard of condemnation on the premises and order the structure closed up so far as to not be an attractive nuisance. Upon failure of the owner to comply with this section, the provisions of this chapter shall be utilized to perform any and all necessary work to secure the structure from being a danger or a hazard to the public or to occupants as stated in § 90.12.
(P) Any property where criminal activity is documented by the Police Department as a locus of criminal activity, based on reports collected of arrests, investigations of criminal activity and criminal calls for service, and which meets the definitions and criteria set forth in § 90.03A.
(Ord. 2414, passed 7-13-2010; Ord. 2686, passed 9-28-2021)
Penalty, see § 90.99
Cross-reference:
Air pollution, see Chapter 92
Obstructing view at intersections such as billboards, see § 72.08
Storage of flammable junk, see Chapter 99
Trees, see Chapter 98
Weeds, brush, see Chapter 94