For the purposes of this chapter, the subsequent definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ABATE AND/OR ABATEMENT.
An act used to remove, destroy, eliminate, seize, impound, or any action taken to mitigate a public nuisance, including but not limited to the removal of combustible growth and material from property. This would include the investigation, inspection, preparation, service and/or publication or administrative notices and other related costs, actual removal of weeds and/or rubbish whether performed by the City Administrator, or his or her designee.
BRUSH.
All natural growth of bushes and vegetation such as is growing out of place in the location where growing and is exceeding six inches in height, and shall include all cuttings from trees and bushes, overhanging tree branches or limbs which hang down to a height of six inches or lower from the ground, and high and rank growth, which may conceal filthy deposits or otherwise unsanitary conditions which cause blight.
DIRT.
Any accumulation of earth, dirt, soil, and/or other pertinent materials which constitute a hazard to the public health or safety, or may cause erosion and/or drainage problems.
FIREBREAK.
An area without weeds, growth, or combustible material that supports or communicates fire. Firebreaks are constructed by thorough discing, scraping the soil or by otherwise creating a perimeter safe of burn. This includes any real property, or portion thereof, adjacent to any residential property, or property that is residential in nature.
LOCATION OF GROWTH.
All growths of weeds, rubbish, brush, rank growths, and/or others, both natural and cultivated, on any property as defined hereinabove, and on areas which includes alleys, parkways, driveways, sidewalks and areas between sidewalks and curbs, shall be caused to be removed or abated.
MOWING OF WEEDS AND/OR GROWTHS.
This shall include the use of equipment and/or tools that cause for the trimming or cutting of clippings from weeds and/or growths, and shall include the removal of any such clippings.
NEGATIVE AESTHETICS.
Conditions that include, but not limited to, weed, rubbish, brush, rank growths, and/or any other materials which deter investment opportunities or depreciate the value of any real property, and/or which constitute a public nuisance as set forth in § 10-3.1603 of this code. This shall include maintenance standards of a property that do not conform to the neighborhood standard.
NEIGHBORHOOD STANDARDS.
Those conditions present on a simple majority of properties within a 300-foot radius of an individual property. A property that is the subject of a neighborhood standard comparison, or any other abandoned or unmaintained property within the 300-foot radius, shall not be counted toward the simple majority.
PROPERTY.
Any unimproved or improved real property or portion thereof, situated in the city not inclusive of the buildings and structures located on the property regardless of condition. This shall include but is not limited to:
(1) Any residential property, or portion thereof situated in the city, intended, designed or permitted to be used for dwelling purposes, but does not include the buildings and structures located on such real property. This includes those which are residential in nature.
(2) Any improved or unimproved parcels of land within the City of Madera.
RANK GROWTH.
Any excessive or coarse growth of weeds or other plant forms, natural or cultivated, which reach heights in excess of six inches, or which have an offensive or strong odor.
RUBBISH.
Means all combustible or noncombustible waste, including, without limitation, waste paper, wood, cardboard, ashes, bottles, cans, carcasses of dead animals, cloth, crockery, human or animal excrement, glass, abandoned or unusable household furnishings or appliances, metals, plastics, flammable material of any kind, waste building materials or items disregarded in such a manner as to produce a reasonable likelihood of becoming a harborage for insects or vermin, or disease, or otherwise pose a health or safety hazard.
WEEDS.
All grasses, or noxious weeds as defined in the Cal. Food and Agriculture Code § 5004, or plant growth which exceeds six inches in height and is not regularly cultivated or maintained for foodstuffs or ornamental purposes which, when or if dry, create a fire hazard. This shall without limitation include the following:
(1) Weeds that are, no matter their current state, unsightly, useless, troublesome or injurious herbaceous plant or such plant that is out of place at the location where growing;
(2) Weeds which attain such large or noxious growth as to become, when dry, a fire menace, are disruptive or cause a nuisance to adjacent property;
(3) Poison oak and poison ivy when the conditions of growth are such to constitute a menace to the public health; and/or may cause blight;
(4) Those which are otherwise recognized as nocuous or dangerous;
(5) Weeds which may produce pollen which is injurious to the health, safety, comfort, or welfare of the residents of the city or weeds which are otherwise subject to abatement by law.
(Ord. 913 C.S., passed 1-7-15)