For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
APARTMENT BUILDING. A building or portion of a building that contains five or more dwelling units.
BUILDING CODE. The Minnesota State Building Code.
CODE OFFICIAL. The official who is charged with the administration and enforcement of this chapter, or any duly authorized representative.
CONDEMN. Shall mean to adjudge unfit for occupancy.
CONGREGATE RESIDENCE. Any building or portion thereof that contains facilities for living, sleeping and sanitation, as required by this chapter, and may include facilities for eating and cooking and for occupancy by other than a family. A congregate residence may be a shelter, convent, monastery, dormitory, and fraternity or sorority house but does not include jails, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels or lodging houses.
DORMITORY. A building, as at a college, containing a number of private or semi-private rooms for residents, usually along with common bathroom facilities and recreation areas. A room containing a number of beds and serving as a communal sleeping quarters, as in an institution, fraternity house, or passenger ship.
DWELLING. A building wholly or partly used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking or eating purposes by human occupants; but not including hotels and motels.
DWELLING UNIT. A room or a group of rooms located within a dwelling forming a single habitable unit with facilities, which are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating purposes.
EGRESS. An arrangement of exit facilities to assure a safe means of exit from a building.
ELECTRICAL CODE. The Minnesota State Electrical Code.
EXTERMINATION. The control and elimination of insects, rodents, or other pests by eliminating their harborage places; by removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by poisoning, spraying, fumigating, trapping; or by any other recognized and legal pest elimination method approved by the code official; and to remove all signs of extermination thereafter.
FAMILY MEMBER. Includes parents, spouses, siblings, children, or an individual related by blood whose close association is an equivalent of a family relationship. It can contain others connected by birth, adoption, marriage, civil partnership, or cohabitation, such as grandparents, great-grandparents, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, aunts, uncles, siblings-in-law, half-siblings, cousins, adopted children and step-parents/step-children, and cohabitating partners.
FIRE CODE. The Minnesota State Fire Code.
FLOOR AREA. The net floor area within the enclosed walls of a room in which the ceiling height is not less than five feet, excluding areas used for closets and built-in equipment, such as cabinets, kitchen units, fixtures and appliances.
HABITABLE ROOM. A room or enclosed floor space, used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking or eating purposes, excluding bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, pantries, foyers or communicating corridors, closets and storage spaces.
HEALTH OFFICER. The legally designated health officer or official of the state, county and/or city.
HEARING OFFICER. The hearing shall be before any member of City Council acting as the Hearing Officer, or an individual designated by the City Council to act as Hearing Officer. The Hearing Officer is authorized to hear and decide any controversy relating to administrative offenses covered by this chapter.
HOT WATER. Water supplied to plumbing fixtures at a temperature of not less than 120°F (49°C.)
INFESTATION. The presence of insects, rodents, or other pests within or around the dwelling on the premises.
KITCHEN. A room or an area equipped for preparing and cooking food.
LET. To give the use of a dwelling, dwelling unit or rooming unit by an owner or manager to a
tenant in return for rent.
MANAGER. A person or firm who has charge, care or control of a building or part thereof, in which dwelling units or rooming units are let.
MECHANICAL CODE. The Minnesota State Mechanical Code.
NUISANCE. The following shall be defined as NUISANCES:
(1) Any public nuisance known at common law or in equity jurisprudence.
(2) Any attractive nuisance that may prove detrimental to children whether in a building, on the premises of a building or on an unoccupied lot. This includes any abandoned wells, shafts, basements or excavations; abandoned refrigerators and motor vehicles; any structurally unsound fences or structures; or any lumber, trash, fences, debris or vegetation that may prove a hazard for inquisitive minors.
(3) Whatever is dangerous to human life or is detrimental to health, as determined by the code official or health officer.
(4) Overcrowding a room with occupants.
(5) Insufficient ventilation or illumination.
(6) Inadequate or unsanitary sewage or plumbing facilities.
(7) Un-cleanliness, as determined by the health officer.
(8) Whatever renders air, food or drink unwholesome or detrimental to the health of human beings, as determined by the health officer.
OCCUPANCY. The purpose for which a building or portion thereof is utilized or occupied.
OCCUPANT. A person living alone, or two or more persons all related by blood, marriage or adoption, including foster children, occupying and maintaining a common household in a single dwelling unit, or a group of not more than five persons, any two of whom are not related by blood, marriage or adoption, including foster children, occupying and maintaining a common household in a single dwelling unit.
OWNER. A person, firm or corporation who, alone, jointly or severally with others, owns or has an ownership interest in a dwelling, dwelling unit or rooming unit within the city.
PLUMBING CODE. The State of Minnesota Plumbing Code.
PLUMBING SYSTEM. All potable water supplies and distribution pipes, all plumbing fixtures and traps and all drainage and vent pipes.
PREMISES. The dwelling and its land and all buildings thereon and areas thereof.
REFUSE. All putrescible and non-putrescible waste solids including garbage and rubbish. Refuse is liable to undergo bacterial decomposition when in contact with air and moisture at normal temperatures.
RENT. A stated return or payment for the temporary possession of a dwelling, dwelling unit or rooming unit. The return or payment may be money or service or property.
ROOMING HOUSE. A building arranged or occupied for lodging, with or without meals, for compensation and not occupied as a one- or two-family dwelling.
ROOMING UNIT. A room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping, but not for cooking purposes, along with a private or shared sanitation facilities.
SAFETY. The condition of being reasonably free from danger and hazards, which may cause injury or illness.
SUBSTANDARD BUILDING. Any building where any condition exists that endangers the life, limb, health, safety or welfare of the public or the occupants thereof.
SUBSTANDARD PROPERTY CONDITION CITATION. Shall be issued in the event of a substandard building and shall, upon posting of the citation, prohibit the occupancy of the building until such time as corrections are made and verified by inspection
TENANT. Can be a person, corporation, partnership or group, whether or not the legal owner of record, occupying a building or portion thereof as a unit.
VARIANCE. A difference between that which is required or specified and that, which is permitted.
(Ord. 2018-18, passed 2-28-2018; Ord. 2019-07, passed 6-11-2019)