(a) Purpose and intent. The purpose of this section is to regulate commercial parking and storage lots, including transportation to, from, and within these lots, in order to minimize the proliferation of dust, debris, odors, vapors, smoke, and vehicle track-out in the City.
The City finds that activities associated with these lots, including transportation, have the potential to create, or contribute to the creation of, dust, debris, odors, vapors, smoke, and vehicle track-out. The proliferation of dust, debris, odors, vapors, smoke, and vehicle track-out have the potential to create negative impacts on both residents and property. These include, but are not limited to, potential health hazards associated with inhaling fugitive dust, debris, odors, vapor, and smoke, which include pulmonary inflammation, asthma, and fibrosis. In addition, the accumulation of dust, debris, odors, vapors, smoke, and vehicle track-out negatively impacts the enjoyment of life and property, and tends to depreciate the value of the property of others near these lots.
This section prescribes reasonable regulations to minimize dust, debris, odors, vapors, smoke, and vehicle track-out from commercial parking and storage lots, and applies to any owner, operator, or other person who owns, manages, leases, rents, or occupies any commercial or storage lot, including any person that transports materials to, from, or within these lots.
(b) Nuisance prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person, including any partnership, corporation, association, or agent thereof who owns, manages, leases, rents, or occupies any paved, unpaved, or partially paved commercial parking or storage lot(s) to cause, permit, maintain, or allow any condition(s) to exist on said lots which creates or contributes to the creation of a nuisance as defined in section 13.1 above as a result of dust, debris, odors, vapors, smoke, or vehicle track-out.
(c) Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) Dust means any solid particulate matter that becomes airborne or otherwise moves beyond the lot, facility, building, or structure property line or, if being transported by a vehicle, moves beyond the confines of the vehicle, by natural or human-made activities, excluding engine combustion exhaust and particulate matter emitted from a properly permitted exhaust stack equipped with a pollution control device.
(2) Storage lot shall mean any area in the City, whether publicly or privately owned, where any object, solid waste, industrial waste, scrap materials, industrial product or byproduct, containers, demolished building materials, Utter, or material of any kind that may be a detriment to the public health and safety or constitutes a nuisance is stored, placed, or kept for any amount of time. This shall include, but is not limited to, any roadway, highway, right-of-way, driveway, yard, building, structure, or other area where the aforementioned items are stored, placed, or kept.
(3) Track-out shall mean the carrying of mud, dirt, soil, or debris on vehicle wheels, slides, or undercarriages from a private, commercial, or industrial site onto a public road, right-of-way, or property of another.
(4) Vapors includes any gaseous substances emanating from the movement of materials by a vehicle. Vapors shall not include emissions or exhaust from a vehicle as long as the emissions or exhaust are within accepted guidelines under federal and state law.
(5) Vehicle is any car, truck, or railcar.
(d) Notice of violation. If a nuisance or condition(s) causing or contributing to a nuisance are discovered by an enforcement official, the enforcement official may issue a notice of violation to the person, including any partnership, corporation, association, or agent thereof who owns, manages, leases, rents, or occupies any paved, unpaved or partially paved commercial parking or storage lot(s), that requires elimination of the nuisance and/or condition(s) causing or contributing to the nuisance within 3 days of notification.
(1) Any steps taken to eliminate a nuisance and/or condition(s) causing or contributing to the nuisance must comply with all existing local, state, and federal laws.
(e) Vehicles and transportation.
(1) Any vehicle that is discovered to have dust, debris, smoke, odor, vapor, and/or gaseous substance coming from material(s) that it is carrying, hauling, or otherwise transporting, and that either causes or contributes to the creation of a nuisance or obstructs, impedes, or otherwise interferes with the normal flow of traffic or obstructs the view of a driver in a different vehicle, must cover the material(s) to eliminate the nuisance caused by said dust, debris, smoke, odor, vapor, or gaseous substance while traversing public rights of way.
(2) When transportation to, from, or within an unpaved or partially paved commercial or storage lot is done by truck, the owner or operator of the lot shall ensure the following:
a. That the trucks will not cause any unaddressed track-out of materials onto the public way.
b. That all outgoing material transport trucks, whether loaded or empty, are cleaned so that any part of any tractor, bed, trailer, or tire exterior surface, excluding the inside of the beds or trailer, are free of all loose materials.
c. All outgoing material transport trucks, whether loaded or empty, pass over rumble strips that will vibrate the trucks and shake off loose materials and dust, and pass through a wheel wash station.
d. That any material removed by the truck cleaning operation, rumble strips, or a wheel wash station must be collected and recycled or otherwise disposed of in a manner that complies with all applicable state and local code requirements related to waste disposal, including the Michigan Building and Plumbing Code, and does not result in fugitive dust emissions or negative impacts on applicable sewars and drains.
(f) Penalties. Failure to correct a violation within 3 days of the issuance of the notice identified in subsection (d) of this section shall constitute a violation, which is punishable as a civil infraction punishable by a civil fine of $1,000, plus costs imposed by the court. Each day the violation continues shall constitute a separate and distinct violation.
(1) An increased fine schedule shall be imposed for repeat violations of this section.
(2) As used in this section, "repeat violation" means a violation committed within ninety (90) days of an admission or determination of responsibility for a violation of this section occurring upon the same property.
(3) The increased penalty for a repeat violation shall be a civil fine of $2,500, plus costs imposed by the court.
(4) If a fourth violation occurs within a 12-month period, violation shall be a 93-day misdemeanor.
(g) Distribution of fines collected. Fines collected through enforcement of this section shall be separated and kept in an environmental project maintained by the City. Fines collected from a particular community in the City will be used in the community of the City where the violation occurred to fund projects and/or initiatives designed to address public health, pollution prevention, pollution reduction, and environmental restoration and protection.
(1) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
a. Community shall mean those areas of the City as identified in the Community Boundaries map included with this section. These communities are identified as:
1. Cherry Hill
2. West Michigan Business
3. Princeton-Carlysie
4. Edison-Snow
5. Fairlane
6. Fordson West
7. Fordson East
8. Springwells
9. Salina
b. Public health projects shall include those that provide diagnostic, preventative and/or health care treatment related to the actual or potential harm to human health caused by the violation. This includes, but is not limited to, epidemiological data collection and analysis, medical examinations of potentially affected persons, collection and analysis of blood/fluid/tissue samples, medical treatment and rehabilitation therapy. Examples of qualifying projects include, but are not limited, blood level testing, asthma screening and treatment, mobile health clinics, and mosquito eradication programs.
c. Pollution prevention projects prevent pollution at its source before it is generated. They include any practice that reduces the quantity and/or toxicity of pollutants entering a waste stream prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal. After the pollutant or waste stream has been generated pollution prevention is no longer possible, and the waste must be handled by appropriate recycling, treatment, containment, or disposal methods (i.e., pollution reduction). Examples of qualifying projects include, but are not limited to, those that replace or reduce the use of traditional energy sources with alternative energy sources or that implement energy efficiency activities, potentially reducing air pollutants associated with electrical power generation and greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. The goal of any pollution prevention project should be the overall decrease in the amount and/or toxicity of pollution produced and released into the environment, not merely a transfer of pollution among various environmental mediums such as air, water, or land.
d. Pollution reduction projects seek to recycle, treat, contain, or dispose of pollutants and/or waste streams that have already been generated and/or released. A pollution reduction project is one which results in a decrease in the amount and/or toxicity of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise being released into the environment by an operating business or facility by a means which does not qualify as pollution prevention. Examples of pollution reduction projects include, but are not limited to, installation of a more effective end-of-process control or treatment technology, improved containment, or safer disposal of an existing pollutant source, and out-of-process recycling, wherein industrial waste collected after the manufacturing process and/or consumer waste materials are used as raw materials for off-site production.
e. Environmental restoration and protection projects are those that enhance the condition of the ecosystem or immediate geographic area adversely affected by the violation. These projects may be used to restore or protect natural environments and address environmental contamination and similar issues in man-made environments, and may include any project that protects the ecosystem from actual or potential damage resulting from the violation or that improves the overall condition of the ecosystem. Examples of such projects include, but are not limited to: restoration of a wetland in the same ecosystem along the same avian flyway in which the facility is located, or purchase and management of a watershed area to protect a drinking water supply where a violation could potentially lead to damage due to unreported discharges.
(h) In addition to any civil fines, the City may seek other remedies permitted by law including, but not limited to, abatement of the condition as provided in sections 13-5, 13-5.1, 13-5.2, 13-8, and 13-9, imposition of restitution, or any other relief provided by law. The cost of abatement by the City, together with an amount of $75.00 per invoice to cover administrative costs and expenses, shall be charged against the owner or occupant of the property and the property itself where the nuisance is located or that is causing and/or contributing to the nuisance, in accordance with Chapter 13 of the Dearborn Code of Ordinances. Any and all costs incurred by the City in the abatement of a nuisance under the provisions of this section shall constitute a lien against the property upon which such nuisance existed
(Ord. 20-1680, 8-25-2020; Ord. 21-1708, 5-22-2021)