For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
COUNTY. The County of Elkhart, State of Indiana.
DEPARTMENT. The Elkhart County Planning and Development Department.
DULY AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES. All employees of the Elkhart County Planning and Development Department holding positions identified within the budget classifications for the Planning Division and Code Enforcement Division of the annual budget as approved and as amended by the County Council from time to time.
PUBLIC NUISANCE. Any condition or action that is injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses or an obstruction to the free use of property so as essentially to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, as well as other conditions or actions that are otherwise known to the common law or to the statutes of the state as a nuisance, and shall include, but is not limited to, the following:
(1) Litter;
(2) Boxes, appliances, furniture, household items and items of a similar nature which have accumulated outside a storage structure; said nuisances do not include machinery, stock or inventory used in conducting agricultural activities in a properly zoned area;
(3) Demolition remains;
(4) Accumulated garbage or trash;
(5) Automobile parts, used tires or scrap metal;
(6) Structures defaced with paint or graffiti;
(7) Any waste water, filth, offal, garbage, rubbish or human excrement, which is deposited, allowed or caused to be upon any public or private property;
(8) The construction of, or the placement of any structure or materials within the drainage way of any right-of-way that will prevent the natural flow of water and cause it to collect and pool upon any private or public property;
(9) Any dead domestic or wild animal;
(10) Any real or personal property which is infected with contagious disease or on which a condition exists that is likely to cause an immediate health hazard;
(11) The placing or accumulating on or within any real or personal property, or the permitting of same, of any matter which attracts or may attract rodents, insects, domestic or wild animals in such a manner as to create a health hazard, unsanitary or dangerous condition;
(12) Trees, shrubbery, weeds or other matter obstructing public ways, or causing visual barriers which create vehicular traffic or pedestrian safety hazards; or
(13) The unauthorized placement of fences, signs, shrubbery or barriers within the county road rights-of-way.
PUBLIC NUISANCE PREMISES. The tract of real property on which a public nuisance is located.
SUBSTANTIAL PROPERTY INTEREST. Any right in real property that may be affected in a substantial way by actions authorized by this subchapter, including a fee interest, a life estate interest, a future interest, a mortgage interest or an equitable interest of a contract purchaser, or shall otherwise refer to the definition of SUBSTANTIAL PROPERTY INTEREST as set forth in IC. 36-7-9-2, as amended or replaced from time to time, which is hereby adopted and made part of this code.
ZONING ADMINISTRATOR. The Elkhart County Zoning Administrator and his or her duly authorized representatives.
(Ord. 2013-211, passed 5-6-2013)