For use in this chapter, the following terms are defined:
GARBAGE: Food waste; discarded or useless material.
JUNK: Secondhand, worn or discarded articles.
NUISANCE: Whatever is injurious to health, indecent, or offensive to the senses, or an obstacle to the free use of property, so as essentially to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property. The following, although not all inclusive, are declared to be nuisances:
A. The erecting, continuing, or using any building or other places for the exercise of any trade, employment, or manufacture, which, by occasioning noxious fumes, offensive smells, or other annoyances, becomes injurious and dangerous to the health, comfort, or property of individuals or the public.
B. The causing or suffering any offal, filth, or noisome substance to accumulate or to remain in any place to the prejudice of others.
C. The obstructing or impeding without legal authority the passage of any navigable river, harbor, or collection of water.
D. The corrupting or rendering unwholesome or impure the water of any river, stream, or pond, or unlawfully diverting the same from its natural course or state, to the injury or prejudice of others.
E. The obstructing or encumbering by fences, buildings, or otherwise the public roads, private ways, streets, alleys, commons, landing places or burying grounds.
F. Houses of ill fame, kept for the purpose of prostitution and lewdness, gambling houses, or houses resorted to for the use of controlled substances or houses where drunkenness, quarreling, fighting, or breaches of the peace are carried on or permitted to the disturbance of others.
G. Billboards, signboards, and advertising signs, whether erected and constructed on public or private property, which so obstruct and impair the view of any portion or part of a public street, avenue, highway, boulevard or alley or of a railroad or street railway track as to render dangerous the use thereof, especially near intersecting streets.
H. Any object or structure hereafter erected within one thousand feet (1,000') of the limits of any Municipal or regularly established airport or landing place, which may endanger or obstruct aerial navigation, including takeoff and landing, unless such object or structure constitutes a proper use or enjoyment of the land on which the same is located.
I. The accumulation of items including, but not limited to, the following: old or scrap rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber, debris, tires, waste, used lumber or salvaged wood; inoperable machinery, electronics, or appliances or parts of such machinery, electronics, or appliances; iron, steel, or other old or scrap ferrous materials; old or discarded glass, tinware, plastic or old or discarded household goods or hardware, except if stored inside a completely enclosed structure. Neatly stacked firewood located on a side yard or rear yard is not considered a nuisance.
J. The depositing or storing of "garbage" or "recyclables" (as defined in section 4-2A-1 of this title) whether it is within a totally enclosed structure or not is prohibited except for the normal accumulation of garbage and recyclables stored for weekly City garbage collection.
K. The emission of dense smoke, noxious fumes, or fly ash.
L. Dense growth of all weeds, grasses, vines, brush, dead wood, or other vegetation in the City, so as to constitute a health, safety, or fire hazard, pursuant to article A of this chapter.
N. Planting cotton bearing cottonwood trees or any other cotton bearing poplar trees is hereby prohibited in the City of Mason City.
O. Effluent from septic tank or drainfield running or ponding on the ground in the open.
P. Any article or substance placed upon a street, alley, sidewalk, public ground, or in any ditch, waterway or gutter so as to obstruct the drainage.
Q. Junk vehicles as set out in title 8, chapter 5 of this Code.
R. All diseased animals.
S. All ponds or pools of stagnant water.
T. Carcasses of animals not disposed of within twenty four (24) hours after death, as set forth in section 167.15, Iowa Code.
U. Pollution of any public well as set out in title 6, chapter 1, article B of this Code, or cistern, stream or body of water by sewage, creamery or industrial wastes, or other substances.
V. Any building or portion thereof in which any of the following listed conditions exist either individually or in combination with each other to the extent of being injurious to health, indecent, or 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, is a nuisance:
1. Infestation of insects, vermin or rodents,
2. General dilapidation or improper maintenance,
3. Lack of adequate garbage and rubbish storage and removal facilities as determined by the Code Enforcement Officer,
4. Hazardous or unsanitary premises. Those premises on which an accumulation of weeds, vegetation, junk, dead organic matter, debris, garbage, offal, filth, vermin harborages, stagnant water, combustible materials and similar materials or conditions constitute fire, health or safety hazards, and those premises lacking adequate light, air, and heating or sanitary facilities (including running water and operable plumbing), thereby rendering them unfit for human habitation, occupancy, and use,
5. Deteriorated or ineffective waterproofing of exterior walls, roof, foundations or floors, including broken windows or doors,
6. Defective or lack of weather protection for exterior wall coverings, including lack of paint, or weathering due to lack of paint or other approved protective covering,
7. Broken, rotten, split or buckled exterior wall coverings or roof coverings,
8. Likelihood of any portion or member or appurtenance thereof to fail or become detached or dislodged or to partially or completely collapse and thereby injure persons or damage property, and
9. Inoccupancy for a period in excess of six months so as to constitute such building or portion thereof an attractive nuisance, a harborage for vagrants, and/or hazard to the public.
W. The shoveling, raking, throwing, dumping or depositing of any garbage, refuse, dirt, yard wastes, solid wastes or any other materials into any stream, river or creek or upon any stream, river or creek banks.
PROPERTY OWNER: The contract purchaser if there is one of record, otherwise the record holder of legal title.
REFUSE: Worthless or useless part of something.
RUBBISH: Useless waste or rejected matter.
TRASH: Something worth little or nothing; junk, rubbish, refuse and garbage. (Ord. 08-04, 5-20-2008; amd. 2017 Code; Ord. 20-11, 11-17-2020)
Notes
| 1 | 1. See title 5, chapter 3 of this Code. |