(a) No owner, occupant or person having the charge or management of any lot or parcel of land in the City, whether the same is improved or unimproved, vacant or occupied, shall permit noxious weeds, grass, vines, or any deleterious growth exceeding a height of eight inches to exist upon any such lot or parcel of land within 100 feet of any roadway, as that term is defined in Section 402.33, or within 150 feet of any residential dwelling.
(b) In the case of a violation of subsection (a) hereof, the Service Director and the Building and Zoning Inspector are authorized and directed to promptly cause the abatement of the prohibited conditions, as follows:
(1) When the nuisance is located on or originates from real estate not owned by the City, the Director or the Inspector, upon finding that the nuisance exists, may cause a written notice or order to be served on the owner of the real estate. The notice or order shall set forth the nature of the nuisance, the estimate of the cost of abating the same if done by the City, a reasonable time determined by the Director or the Inspector within which the owner shall abate the nuisance or pay the estimated cost to the City, and a statement that unless the nuisance is so abated or payment made within the stated time, it may be abated by the City and the cost of abatement assessed on the real estate involved. Such order shall not preclude the City from prosecuting the owner for failure to comply with the notice or order within the stated time.
(2) The notice may be served by delivering it personally to the owner, by leaving it at the owner’s usual place of business or residence, by sending it by certified mail to the owner’s usual place of business or residence, by posting it in a conspicuous place on the real estate involved or by publishing it once in a newspaper of general circulation in the City if notice cannot be served in any other manner provided in this paragraph.
(3) If the nuisance is not abated within the time provided, the Director or the Inspector may cause its abatement and report the cost thereof to Council, which may assess the same on the real estate on which the nuisance existed in accordance with Section 1472.02. Only one notice to the property owner, as provided in this subsection, shall be necessary in any one growing season. The Director or the Inspector may cause such nuisance to be abated or removed more than once in any growing season as conditions may require. No property owner who is ordered to abate such nuisance or to pay the City the estimated cost of abatement shall fail to comply with such order.
(4) When the cause or source of a nuisance exists on property owned by the City, the Director or the Inspector shall cause the nuisance to be abated forthwith at the expense of the City. No notice shall be required preliminary to the abatement.
(c) Whoever violates or fails to comply with this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor. A violation or noncompliance shall be deemed to exist only after the final date given for compliance. Thereafter, a separate offense shall be deemed committed each day during or on which a violation or noncompliance continues. Punishment shall be as provided in Section 698.02. (Ord. 23-2011. Passed 4-12-11.)