(a) Definitions:
(1) “Clandestine drug lab” means the unlawful manufacture or attempt to manufacture controlled substances.
(2) “Clandestine drug lab site” means any place or area where law enforcement has determined that conditions associated with the operation of a clandestine drug lab exist. A clandestine drug lab site may include industrial, commercial and residential buildings and dwellings, including accessory buildings, accessory structures, motor vehicles, chemical dumpsite or any land.
(b) Declaration of Property as a Public Nuisance: Any clandestine drug lab site or chemical dumpsite identified by law enforcement authorities is hereby declared a public health nuisance.
(c) Notice of Public Health Nuisance to Concerned Parties: Upon receipt of notification by any law enforcement agency of the location of a clandestine drug lab site or chemical dumpsite, the Mayor shall promptly issue a “Declaration of Public Health Nuisance” for the affected property and post a copy of the Declaration at the probable entrance to the dwelling or real property. When the Police Chief or other law enforcement agency department head and the Mayor determine that an immediate threat of human exposure or injury exists at the location, the Village may conduct emergency dismantling and disposal of drug processing apparatus and/or chemicals. The individual or entity responsible for the clandestine drug lab site and the owner or owners of the real property where the site is found shall be liable to the Village for its costs incurred in conducting the emergency cleanup, dismantling and disposal related thereto. Such cost may be recovered pursuant to subsections (e) and (f) hereof, without regard to whether a nuisance is declared or an abatement order is issued. The Mayor shall also notify the owner of the real property by certified mail, return receipt, and verbally notify the following parties:
(1) Occupants of the premises,
(2) All adjacent real property owners and occupants along with any other neighbors to the site that are considered at probable risk, and
(3) The primary and secondary mortgage holders.
(d) Order to Abate. The Mayor shall also issue an Order to Abate the public health nuisance and order the real property owner to do the following:
(1) Cause the immediate vacation of all occupants to those portions of the real property, including building and structure interiors, which may place the occupants or visitors at risk.
(2) Contract with appropriate environmental testing and cleaning entities to conduct an on-site assessment, complete cleaning and remediation testing and follow up testing; and, determine that the property risks are sufficiently reduced to allow safe human occupation of the dwelling or other structure.
(3) Provide the Mayor with written documentation of the cleaning process including a signed written statement from the environmental testing and cleaning entity that the property is safe for human occupancy and that the cleaning was completed. The real property owner shall complete the remediation and post the remediation assessment statement at the probable entrance to the dwelling, structure or real property within ninety (90) days from the date of the Declaration of Public Nuisance.
(e) Real Property Owners Responsibility for Costs. The real property owner shall be responsible for all costs of cleaning a clandestine drug lab site including any contractor or other fees.
(f) Village Responsibility and Recovery of Cost.
(1) If, after Notice of the Declaration of a Public Health Nuisance, the real property owner fails to arrange appropriate assessment and cleaning as required in this section, the Mayor is authorized to proceed to initiate the on-site assessment and cleaning of the site.
(2) If with due diligence the Village is unable to locate the real property owner or serve said owner with the Notice of the Declaration of a Public Health Nuisance, the Mayor is authorized to proceed to initiate the on-site assessment and cleaning of the site.
(3) The Village is authorized to abate the nuisance by removing the hazardous dwelling or structure.
(4) The Village shall be entitled to recover all costs of abatement of the public nuisance. The Village may recover the cost by civil action or by the Clerk-Treasurer certifying such cost along with a clerical services fee of fifty dollars ($50.00) to the Ashtabula County Auditor with a request that said cost be assessed as a special assessment against the subject real property and entered upon the real property’s tax duplicate for collection by the County Auditor. The amount so entered shall be a lien upon the subject real property and any premises located thereon from the date the cost is entered upon the real property tax duplicate; shall be collected as other real property taxes; and, shall, upon collection by Ashtabula County, be returned to the Village for deposit into the Village General Fund.
(g) Penalties. Any person or other entity found violating any provision of this ordinance shall be guilty of a first degree misdemeanor.
(Ord. 12-010. Passed 5-7-12.)