(A) No person shall act, fail to act, behave, erect, contrive, cause, continue, maintain in any manner, or permit to exist any public nuisance within the city. Repeated violation of the terms of the International Property Maintenance Code, as amended, shall constitute a public nuisance.
(B) The following acts, action, inaction, omissions, behavior, or conditions shall constitute a public nuisance:
(1) Any act, thing, occupation, condition, use of property, non-use of property, misuse of property that continues for a length of time so as to:
(a) Substantially annoy, injure, or endanger the comfort, health, repose or safety of the public;
(b) In any way render the public insecure in life, peaceful uninterrupted existence, or in the use of their property;
(c) Offend the public morals or decency; or
(d) Unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct or tend to obstruct, or render dangerous for passage any street, alley, highway, navigable body of water, or other public way, including but not limited to sidewalks.
(2) To allow any physical condition, use, or occupancy of any premises or its appurtenances be an attractive nuisance to children, including, but not limited to, abandoned wells, shafts, standing pools of water or liquid, basements, excavations, retaining walls, and unsafe fences, accessible to children or other persons, on the premises. No person shall abandon or leave unattended in any place accessible to children any refrigerator, freezer ice chest, ice box, or similar airtight box or container, which has a locking device inoperable from within, without first unhinging and removing the door or lid thereof or detaching the locking device from the door or lid. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the normal use of any refrigerator, ice box, freezer, or similar appliance for the storage of food in any home or buildings appurtenant thereto.
(3) For any premises to have unsanitary, defective, or insufficient sewerage or plumbing facilities.
(4) To keep or maintain any premises designated by a code enforcement officer as unsafe or unfit for human habitation.
(5) For any premises to present an imminent fire hazard, be in imminent danger of collapse, or to be unsafe or unsecure so as to endanger life, limb, or property.
(6) (a) For any premises to lack electrical service, plumbing, heating, and/or other equipment required by this code, the Property Maintenance Code, state statute or any other ordinance of the city.
(b) If the utility providing natural gas service to a furnace, water heater, or other equipment determines that the equipment is defective, the utility shall cite or "red tag" the defective equipment and notify the Code Enforcement Officer of such citation. Any equipment so cited by a utility company as defective will be deemed a public nuisance.
(7) For any structure or building to be in a state of dilapidation, deterioration, or decay, or be a product of faulty construction.
(8) For any structure or building to be vacant or abandoned and open or accessible to vagrants or passersby, or damaged by fire so as to not provide shelter.
(9) To allow on any premises or structure any stagnant water in which mosquitoes, flies, or other insects may breed or multiply. For stagnant water that cannot be easily eliminated, a property owner may use mosquito dunks or other environmentally safe larvacides to kill mosquitoes and other insects and evidence of the effective use of such products will constitute a defense to any citation issued under this section.
(10) To allow any rubbish to remain on any premises.
(11) To allow any premises or structure to pollute any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal, or body of water by sewage, creamery, or industrial wastes or other polluting substances.
(12) To allow any premises or structure within the city to emit or cause any foul, offensive, noisome, nauseous, noxious, or disagreeable odors, effluvia or stenches repulsive to the physical senses of ordinary persons, or that annoy, cause discomfort, or injure the health of any appreciable number of persons within the city.
(13) Harboring or keeping any animal of the dog kind which by loud and frequent or habitual barking, howling, or yelping, shall cause serious annoyance or disturbance to adjacent residents in the neighborhood.
(14) The keeping of cattle or fowl within 100 feet of a dwelling, excluding the owner's dwelling thereof, or failure to keep the animal's pen, yard, lot or other enclosure in a sanitary condition and free from preventable offensive odors. Except that on parcels of real estate containing two acres or greater, it shall not be a nuisance to keep up to eight hens in a fenced area no greater than 240 square feet containing a coop no larger than 80 square feet and being a four-sided building. In no event shall roosters be kept within city limits.
(15) Emission of noxious odors or smoke into the surrounding atmosphere of dust, smoke, or other matter which renders ordinary use or physical occupation of other property in the vicinity uncomfortable or impossible.
(16) Noise control. Emission of noise or sounds which is noxious enough to destroy the enjoyment of dwellings or other uses of property in the vicinity by interfering with the ordinary comforts of human existence.
(a) No person shall make, continue, or cause to be made or continued, any loud, unnecessary, or unusual noise or any noise that either annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others within the city between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. the following morning, in either a public or private place or house in the city. The following loud, disturbing, and unnecessary noises are considered public nuisances and violations of this code, but this list shall not be deemed all-inclusive: The operation or causing the operation of any whistle, rattle, bell, gong, clapper, drum, horn, piano, radio, calliope, phonograph or other sound-producing or sound-amplifying instrument, or the calling, shouting, or in any other way or manner creating noise or sound in such a manner as to disturb the peace and quiet of a neighborhood or to interfere with the transaction of business or other ordinary pursuits.
(b) Sounds created by construction and emanating from construction sites between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, and 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays, which are not legal holidays. Sounds emanating from construction sites on Sundays or legal holidays or outside of the exempt work hours are prohibited. The hours during which sound caused by construction or construction sites may be expanded upon a showing of good cause by an applicant and such expanded hours are authorized by the Mayor or his or her designee.
(c) Nothing herein shall be construed to affect the usual and reasonable operation of railroads, electric railways, or motor buses, prohibit the reasonable use of personal vehicles and ordinary noises attendant thereto, athletic contests or lawful public meetings, parades or celebrations.
(17) Storage of explosives or combustible material. The storage of combustible or explosive material which creates a safety hazard to other property or persons in the vicinity.
(18) Any tree, stack of wood or trees, or other object standing in such a condition that it will, if the condition is allowed to continue, endanger the life, limb, or property of, or cause hurt, damage, or injury to persons or property upon the public streets or public ways adjacent thereto, by the falling thereof or of parts thereof.
(19) The operation of any ATV within the city on any day, before 8:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m., prevailing time without the muffler system provided by the manufacturer of the ATV, as provided by the manufacturer, without any modification thereof other than like kind parts replacement, and which prevents the emission of sound from the ATV in excess of the levels identified in 40 CFR 205.166 for motorcycles; or at any speed in excess of the minimum speed required to maintain the forward motion of the ATV while it is within 150 feet of any dwelling on a lot or parcel of real estate other than that upon which the ATV is being operated.
(20) To allow any motor vehicle to be parked on an unpaved (concrete or blacktop) surface.
(21) The feeding of ducks, geese, pigeons, and similar such birds and wild animals, such as raccoons and squirrels, in a manner causing or contributing to unsanitary conditions and offensive odors within the city limits. This would include making mass quantities of food available to groups of waterfowl, pigeons, or wild animals, on repeated occasions, so as to encourage them to amass in one particular location. This does not include maintenance of birdhouses or backyard bird feeders designed to feed sparrows, cardinals, hummingbirds, or similar such birds.
(C) Dangerous buildings. It shall be a public nuisance and a violation of this code, to keep, maintain, or own a dangerous building within the city. A dangerous building is defined as any of the following:
(1) (a) A building whose interior or exterior walls or other vertical structural members list, lean, or buckle to such an extent that a plumb line passing through the center of gravity falls outside the middle third of its base;
(b) A building, exclusive of the foundation, that shows 33% or more damage or deterioration to its supporting members, or 50% or more damage or deterioration to its non-supporting members, or to the enclosing or outside walls or coverings;
(c) A building having improperly distributed loads on the floors or roofs or in which the same are overloaded, or which have insufficient strength to be reasonably safe to occupants or the public;
(d) A building damaged by fire, wind, or other causes so as to cause the building to become dangerous to life, limb, or property of the occupants or to the public;
(e) A building that has become or is so dilapidated, decayed, unsafe, unsanitary, or which so utterly fails to provide the amenities essential to decent living that it is unfit for human habitation, or is likely to cause sickness or disease or injury to health, safety, or general welfare of those living therein;
(f) A building having light, air, and sanitation facilities that are inadequate to protect the health, safety, or general welfare of human beings who live or may live therein;
(g) A building having inadequate facilities for egress in case of fire or panic or having insufficient stairways, elevators, fire escapes, or other means of travel;
(h) A building that has parts or elements that are attached or not attached in such a way that they may fall and cause injury to persons or property;
(i) A building that is missing or has non-functioning smoke detectors or similar detection devices in violation of the Fire Code; or
(j) A building with openings where a door, window or other architectural feature, or parts thereof, should be located.
(2) Every person owning or having control of a building shall not allow unsecure openings where a door, window or other architectural feature should be located.
(a) The city shall be authorized to abate the nuisance of an unsecured opening, and may effectuate securing the opening pursuant to the applicable code upon recommendation of a code enforcement official.
(b) The nuisance of opening where a door, window or other architectural feature should be located may be securely boarded by using a minimum of 3/8-inch plywood or other similar material in a manner that will secure the building from intrusion.
(c) Any board placed on a building shall be painted a color that is consistent with the color of the structure or be painted black, and shall be cut to fit the opening.
(3) Every person violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to the procedures set forth in the code.
(4) Keeping, maintaining, or owning a dangerous building is a public nuisance and shall constitute a violation of this code, subject to the remedies set forth in KRS 65.8840, as well as this code.
(Ord. 2016-10, passed 12-12-16; Am. Ord. 2020-3, passed 4-13-20)