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)