(A) Any and all lots or pieces of ground within the city shall be drained or filled so as to prevent stagnant water or any other nuisance accumulating thereon.
(B) The owner or occupant of any lot or piece of ground within the city shall keep the lot or piece of ground and the adjoining street and alleys free of any growth of 12 inches or more in height of weeds, grasses or worthless vegetation.
(C) Throwing, depositing or accumulation of litter on any lot or piece of ground within the city is prohibited.
(D) It is hereby declared to be a nuisance to permit, allow or maintain any growth of 12 inches or more in height of weeds, grasses or worthless vegetation or noxious weeds, regardless of height or to litter or to cause litter to be deposited or remain thereon except in proper receptacles. Nothing in this section shall prevent the growing of grass or alfalfa as part of a legitimate agricultural purpose.
(E) Notice to abate such nuisance shall be given to each owner or owner’s duly authorized agent and to the occupant, if any, by personal service or certified mail. If notice of personal service by certified mail is unsuccessful, notice shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or by conspicuously posting the notice on the lot or ground upon which the nuisance is to be abated and removed. Within five days after receipt of such notice or publication or posting, whichever is applicable, if the owner or occupant of the lot or piece of ground does not request a hearing with the city or fails to comply with the order to abate and remove the nuisance, the city may have such work done. The cost and expenses of any such work shall be paid by the owner or the occupant, or both. If unpaid for two months after such work is done, the city may either:
(1) Levy and assess the cost and expenses of the work upon the lot or piece of ground so benefitted in the same manner as other special taxes for improvements are levied and assessed; or
(2) Recover in a civil action the cost and expenses of the work upon the lot or piece of ground and adjoining streets and alleys against the owner, the occupant or both.
(F) For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
LITTER. Includes but is not limited to:
(a) Trash, rubbish, refuse, garbage, paper, rags and ashes;
(b) Wood, plaster, cement, brick or stone building rubble;
(c) Grass, leaves and worthless vegetation;
(d) Offal and dead animals; and
(e) Any machine or machines, vehicle or vehicles, or parts of any machine or vehicle, which have lost their identity, character, utility or serviceability as such through deterioration, dismantling or the ravages of time, are inoperable or unable to perform their intended functions, or are cast off, discarded, or thrown away or left as waste, wreckage or junk.
WEEDS. Include but are not limited to: bindweed (convolvulus arvensis), puncture vine (tribulus terrestris), leafy spurge (euphorbia esula), Canadian thistle (cirsium arvense), perennial peppergrass (lepidium draba), Russian knapweed (centaurea picris), Johnson grass (sorghum halepense), nodding or musk thistle, quack grass (agropyron repens), perennial sow thistle (sonchus arvensis), horse nettle (solarium carolinense), bull thistle (cirsium lanceolatum), buckthorn (rahmnus sp.) (tourn), hemp plant (cannabis sativa) and ragweed (ambrosiaceae), and other worthless vegetation commonly regarded as weeds.
(Prior Code, § 6-309) (Ord. 528, passed 10-8-1991; Ord. 693, passed 11-7-2006) Penalty, see § 91.99
Statutory reference:
Similar provisions, see Neb. RS 17-563 and 18-1719