For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
CITY ATTORNEY. The legal counselor for the city or such Assistant City Attorney as may from time to time be designated.
LEWDNESS. Any indecent or obscene act.
OPERATOR. The tenant, lessee or person having control or possession of the premises.
PROBABLE CAUSE. Reasonable ground for belief in the existence of facts warranting the proceedings complained of.
PROSTITUTION. The giving or receiving of the body for sexual activity for hire or to offer, or agree to secure another for the purpose of prostitution or for any other lewd or indecent act.
PUBLIC NUISANCE. Any of the following;
(1) Any public nuisance known at common law or in equity jurisprudence or as provided by the Florida law and/or ordinances of the City, including as set forth in this chapter.
(2) Any accumulation of rubbish, trash, refuse, junk, and other abandoned materials, metals, lumber, or other things, which based upon the facts and circumstances of the accumulation has become a public nuisance.
(3) Excessive accumulation or untended growth of weeds, grass, undergrowth, brush, or other dead or living plant life upon an improved or unimproved lot, tract or parcel of land, yard, lawn, garden, outbuilding or premises within the City to the extent that it may reasonably become infested or inhabited with rodents, vermin, wild animals or snakes; may become a breeding place for mosquitoes; may pose a fire hazard; may threaten or endanger the public health and welfare; may reasonably cause disease; or may adversely affect and impair the economic welfare of any adjacent property.
(4) Any underbrush, weeds, or untended grass which exceeds eight inches in height located on improved property.
(5) Any condition which may prove detrimental to the health and safety of children, whether on an improved or unimproved lot, tract or parcel of land including but not limited to abandoned wells, shafts, excavations, abandoned appliances, abandoned or inoperable motor vehicles, and any structurally unsound fences or structure, lumber, trash, debris, or vegetation such as poison ivy, oak, or sumac, which may prove a hazard for inquisitive minors.
(6) Any unfit, unsanitary, abandoned, or unsafe dwelling, structure, or improvement upon real property.
(7) The carcasses of animals or fowl not disposed of within a reasonable time after death.
(8) The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal or body of water by sewage, dead animals, industrial wastes, or other substances.
(9) Any building, structure or other place or location where any activity in violation of local, state, or federal law is conducted, performed, or maintained, and which under the facts and circumstances surrounding the activity constitutes a public nuisance.
(10) Any accumulation of stagnant water or sewage permitted or maintained on any improved lot, premises, or piece of ground. STAGNANT WATER means any body of water, regardless of size, lacking flow or tidal flushing or which is foul or polluted or a possible source of insect breeding or contamination and thus may be detrimental to or create a danger to public health, safety or welfare. The term stagnant water does not include the casual accumulation of rainwater after a heavy storm which normally is gone within 72 hours,
(11) Dense smoke, noxious fumes, gas, soot or cinders, in unreasonable quantities.
(12) Unsheltered storage for a period of 30 days or more within the corporate limits of the City (except in licensed junkyards) of old and unused stripped junk and other automobiles not in good and safe operating condition; and of any other vehicles, machinery, implements, or equipment or personal property of any kind which is no longer safely usable for the purposes for which it was manufactured, is declared to be a nuisance and a danger to public health, safety and welfare.
(13) Any vegetation which has grown over or encroaches into the area above a public sidewalk by more than three inches or which has grown over or encroaches into the area above a paved or hard-surfaced public right-of-way by more than six inches.
(14) Any tree, living or dead which, because of its physical condition, height, overhang, angle of lean or other factor, is determined by the Office of Code Compliance to be endangering the safety of the public or the security or usefulness of any public property, street, sewer or sidewalk or other public property. For the purpose of this subchapter, any tree encroaching into the area over a public sidewalk to a height of nine feet or any tree which encroaches into the area over a paved or hard-surfaced public right-of-way to a height of 15 feet, shall be considered to be interfering with the usefulness of the public sidewalk or public right-of-way.
(15) Any condition or use of premises or of building exteriors that is detrimental to the property of others or that causes or tends to cause substantial diminution in the value of other property in the neighborhood in which the premises are located.
SPECIAL MAGISTRATE. Any person who is a member in good standing of the Florida Bar and who is appointed by the City Commission to serve as a special magistrate pursuant to Chapter 36 of the City’s Code of Ordinances.
UNDERBRUSH. Any undergrowth or brush conducive to the collection of insects and rodents, which may be or may become a fire hazard, or may negatively impact adjoining property.
UNFIT OR UNSAFE DWELLING OR STRUCTURE. Any dwellings or structure or portions thereof and accessory buildings that are structurally unsafe, unstable, or unsanitary; inadequately provided with exit facilities: constitute a fire hazard; unsuitable or improper for the use or occupancy to which they are put; constitute a hazard to health or safety because of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation, obsolescence or abandonment; dangerous to life or property of the occupant thereof or of the surrounding areas; unfit for human habitation if so intended or used; or otherwise in violation of the housing, building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, sanitation and fire codes of the City.
WEEDS. Any plants that are useless, invasive, or injurious to crops, grasses, landscaping scrubs, trees, or flowers.
(E) For the purposes of this chapter, the term “controlled substance” includes any substance sold in lieu of a controlled substance in violation of § 817.563 or any imitation controlled substance defined in § 817.564.
(‘72 Code, § 14-81) (Ord. O-88-13, passed 3-16-88; Am. Ord. O-91-77, passed 11-6-91; Am. Ord. O-99-16, passed 6-2-99; Am. Ord. O-99-41, passed 11-17-99; Am. Ord. O-2022-24, passed 12-7-22)