GENERAL PROVISIONS

§ 92.01 FINDINGS; INTENT; PURPOSE.

   The City Council finds that certain conditions as hereinafter defined cause annoyance, inconvenience or damage to the public with respect to the public’s comfort, health, safety, welfare and enjoyment of property. It is the purpose and intent of the City Council to define and describe those conditions which are injurious to the public and which constitute a public nuisance. It is further the purpose and intent of the City Council to set forth and delegate responsibility for procedures regarding notice, abatement and prosecution of those individuals who allow nuisance conditions to exist or maintain nuisance conditions, which procedures are necessary to carry out the provisions of this subchapter.

(Prior Code, § 92.01) (Ord. 01-24, passed 4-2-2001; Ord. 09-12, passed 4-20-2009; Ord. 22-02, passed 3-7-2022)

§ 92.02 DEFINITIONS.

   For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.

   CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL. As used in this subchapter shall be the city’s Chief Building and Code Official and/or his or her designated representative.

   EXCAVATION. Any activity in which earth, rock or other material in or on the ground is moved or otherwise displaced by means of tools, equipment or explosives and shall include grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, augering, tunneling, scraping and cable or pipe plowing or driving but shall not include:

      (1)   Normal maintenance of roads if the maintenance does not change the original road grade and does not involve the road ditch;

      (2)   Tilling of soil and gardening for seeding and other agricultural purposes;

      (3)   Digging of graves or in landfills in planned locations;

      (4)   Maintenance or rebuilding of railroad track or facilities located on a railroad right-of-way by the railroad company or its contractors when such maintenance or rebuilding does not change the track grade; or

      (5)   Hand digging around the base of a pole for pole inspection as part of suitable barriers, and which are not marked by warning lights during the hours of darkness.

   NUISANCE. Any condition which:

      (1)   Injures or endangers the health, safety or welfare of the public;

      (2)   Unlawfully interferes with, obstructs or tends to obstruct, or renders dangerous for passage, any public or private street, highway, sidewalk, stream, ditch or drainage way;

      (3)   By reason of lack of sufficient or adequate maintenance of the property, and/or being vacant, any of which depreciates the enjoyment and use of the property in the immediate vicinity to such an extent that it is harmful to the community in which the property is situated or such condition exists;

      (4)   By reason of being a fire hazard, as determined by the State Fire Marshal or the designated representative;

      (5)   By reason of being unsafe for occupancy, for use on, in, upon, about or around the aforesaid property, as determined by the City Building Inspector or City Engineer;

      (6)   By reason of deterioration or decay becomes rodent infested, or which becomes a place frequented by trespassers and transients seeking a temporary shelter or hideout;

      (7)   Maintaining a NUISANCE by act or by failure to perform a legal duty, intentionally causing or permitting a NUISANCE to exist;

      (8)   Permitting a NUISANCE to exist is knowingly permitting lots, parcels or pieces of real property under the control of the offender, including the streets and alleys in front of and abutting such lots and pieces of land to be used or allowed to remain in such condition as to allow a NUISANCE condition to exist; or

      (9)   No person shall permit land to be covered with or contain refuse or debris resulting from the construction activities or the demolishing of a building, which refuse or debris has remained on the land for more than:

         (a)   Thirty days after the completion of the construction activities or demolition work; or

         (b)   Six months after the permit for such activity or work was granted, whichever is soonest.

   PERSON IN CHARGE OF PROPERTY. An agent, occupant, lessee, contract purchaser or other person having possession or control of property or the supervision of any construction project.

   PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR ABATING NUISANCE.

      (1)   The owner;

      (2)   The person in charge of the property; or

      (3)   The person who caused to come into or continue in existence a nuisance, as defined in this section, or another ordinance of this city.

   PUBLIC PLACE. A building, way, place or accommodation, whether publicly- or privately-owned, open and available to the general public.

   SCRAPPING. Continuous receiving, collecting, reprocessing and/ or storing old, broken, damaged, discarded or scrap copper, brass dismantled or wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, iron, steel or other old scrap, ferrous or nonferrous material and metal scraps, including aluminum scraps, metals, used bicycles or household appliances, for the purpose of storing, selling, trading or dealing in scrap.

(Prior Code, § 92.02) (Ord. 01-24, passed 4-2-2001; Ord. 09-12, passed 4-20-2009; Ord. 22-02, passed 3-7-2022; Ord. 23-04, passed 6-19-2023)

§ 92.03 ILLUSTRATIVE ENUMERATION.

   The maintaining or permitting to be or remain on any public or private property of any of the following conditions is hereby declared to be and constitute a nuisance; provided, however, this enumeration shall not be deemed or construed to be conclusive, limiting or restrictive:

   (A)   Weeds and noxious vegetation when such growth reaches 12 inches in height;

   (B)   Placement, storage or accumulation of garbage, rubbish, trash, refuse, junk and other materials, metals, plumbing fixtures, appliances, auto parts, junked, wrecked or inoperative vehicles, lumber or other litter and furniture, stuffed furniture, clothing or other household items which creates an unsightly appearance. This section applies without limitation to all areas of land within the corporate city limits zoned for residential purposes and whether or not the building, land or property is occupied by human beings;

   (C)   Any condition which provides harborage for rats, mice and other vermin;

   (D)   All disagreeable or noxious odors and stenches, as well as the conditions, substances or other causes which give rise to the emission or generation of such odors and stenches, to include, but not be limited to, unwholesome grain, meat, hides, skins, feathers, vegetable matter or the whole or any part of any dead animal, fowl or fish;

   (E)   Privies, vaults, cesspools, dumps, pits or like places which are not securely protected from flies or rats, or which are foul or malodorous;

   (F)   The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal or body of water by sewage, dead animals, industrial wastes or other substances which are injurious to overland flow or groundwater;

   (G)   Any activity, operation or condition which, after being ordered abated, corrected or discontinued by a lawful order of any agency or officer of the city, continues to be conducted or continues to exist in violation of any title of this code, any regulation enacted pursuant to this code, any statute of the state or any violation of federal law;

   (H)   Any accumulation of stagnant water permitted or maintained on any lot or piece of ground;

   (I)   Any vacant or unoccupied structure, which is not secured or is in a condition which allows access by any person;

   (J)   Attractive nuisances, which include:

      (1)   Unguarded machinery, equipment or other devices which are attractive, dangerous and accessible to children;

      (2)   Lumber, logs or pilings placed or stored in a manner so as to be attractive, dangerous and accessible to children;

      (3)   Open pit, quarry, cistern or other excavation without safeguards or barriers to prevent such places from being used by children;

      (4)   Construction projects will have appropriate safeguards in place to prevent injury or death to playing children; and

      (5)   It shall be unlawful for any owner, agent or contractor in charge of a construction or demolition site to permit the accumulation of litter or the growth of grass or weeds in excess of 12 inches before, during or immediately following completion of any construction or demolition project. It shall be the duty of the owner, agent or contractor in charge of a construction site to furnish containers adequate to accommodate flyable or non-flyable debris or trash at areas convenient to construction areas and to maintain and empty the receptacles in such a manner and with such a frequency as to prevent spillage.

   (K)   Dangerous excavations, which are not guarded by suitable barriers and which are not marked during the hours of darkness;

   (L)   Graffiti, which shall mean any unauthorized writing, inscription, word, figure or design which is marked, etched, scratched, drawn or painted on any structural component of any building, structure or other facility, regardless of the nature of the material used in its application or upon which it is applied; and

   (M)   Stockyards, granaries, mills, pig pens, cattle pens, chicken pens or any other place, building or enclosure, in which animals or fowl of any kind are confined or on which are stored tankage or any other animal or vegetable matter or on which any animal or vegetable matter, including grain, is being processed, when the places in which animals are confined, or said premises on which the vegetable or animal matter is located, are maintained and kept in such a manner that foul and noxious odors are permitted to emanate therefrom, to the annoyance of inhabitants of the city, or are maintained and kept in such a manner as to be injurious to the public health.

   (N)   The practice of scrapping by the continuous receiving, storing, reprocessing and/ or collecting of old, broken, damaged, discarded or scrap copper, brass, dismantled or wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, iron, steel or other old scrap, ferrous or nonferrous material and metal scraps, including aluminum scraps, metals, used bicycles or household appliances in any Residential Zoning District is unsightly, unhealthy and constitutes a nuisance to the citizens and residents of the city.

(Prior Code, § 92.03) (Ord. 01-24, passed 4-2-2001; Ord. 09-12, passed 4-20-2009; Ord. 22-02, passed 3-7-2022; Ord. 23-04, passed 6-19-2023)

§ 92.04 UNENUMERATED NUISANCES.

   In addition to the acts and conditions specifically enumerated in this subchapter, any condition, thing, substance or activity which is detrimental to, injurious to or constitutes a danger to the public health, safety or welfare is declared to be a nuisance and is subject to the abatement procedures set forth in this subchapter. A condition, thing, substance or activity declared to be a nuisance by another ordinance of this city is subject to the abatement procedures of this subchapter, if no abatement procedures are provided by such ordinance.

(Prior Code, § 92.04) (Ord. 01-24, passed 4-2-2001; Ord. 09-12, passed 4-20-2009; Ord. 22-02, passed 3-7-2022)