A. Free Use And Access Of Public Ways: It is unlawful for any firm, corporation or person to cause, create, maintain or permit the obstruction of any street, alley, sidewalk, bike path, right of way, drainageway or public way (collectively, “public way”) in a manner that interferes with the free use and access of such area, except as authorized herein.
B. Intentional Obstruction: Any person who is, at any time, found standing, walking, or sitting in a public way in such a manner as to prevent the use or access to such public way to other members of the public and who refuses to disperse or clear the public way and leave the area and clear said public way when requested to do so by any member of the police department or by any person annoyed thereby, shall be presumed to be intentionally obstructing said public way.
C. Buildings And Signs: It is unlawful to erect or maintain any building or structure which encroaches upon any public street or property or to erect, install or maintain any sign in or upon any public street or other public way, except as authorized by village ordinance.
D. Permitted Encroachments And Obstructions: The following shall be deemed permitted encroachments and obstructions:
1. Licensed motor vehicles, when lawfully parked on a public roadway or private property.
2. Privately owned mailboxes, when installed in accordance with applicable federal, state and local regulations.
3. Other encroachments that are expressly permitted by the village of Pingree Grove or its public works director, in writing (whether permanent or temporary).
4. Property owned by the village of Pingree Grove, such as fire hydrants, water service disconnects, informational or traffic signage, streetlights, and similar items.
E. Prohibited Encroachments:
1. It shall be unlawful to install any semipermanent obstruction (other than a permitted encroachment) in the village right of way, including, but not limited to, structures, pillars, columns, boulders, permanent signs (without properly issued permits) and similar obstructions.
2. It shall also be prohibited to make any delivery or deposit any substance in a publicly owned street or a street upon which the village enforces applicable vehicle codes, expressly including, but not limited to, the delivery of building materials, stone or other similar items. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it shall not be prohibited by this section to make a delivery utilizing the roadway, where such delivery is not deposited directly on the roadway (e.g., removing an appliance off of a truck liftgate and transporting it to a residence or business).
3. It shall be expressly prohibited to make such a delivery where any substance is deposited directly on the roadway (e.g., gravel), or delivered in such a fashion as to damage or mark the roadway.
4. It shall be unlawful to make any delivery that violates any provision of this section with respect to other village owned property (e.g., depositing building materials on a village owned sidewalk), and this section expressly applies to all village owned properties as if fully stated herein.
F. Fines And Penalties: A violation of this section is punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00), nor more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), per day, for each day that a violation is demonstrated to occur. In the case of multiple encroachments (e.g., a dumpster and a pile of building materials), each such encroachment shall constitute a separate offense. In addition, the contractor performing work and the owner of the property at which work is being performed shall be jointly and severally liable for any remediation costs or restitution due to the village to repair any damage caused by any prohibited encroachment.
G. Emergency Abatement: In the event any encroachment is placed or permitted to be located in a public right of way in a fashion as to create an imminent or unjustifiable hazard to public safety, the village shall be authorized to remove and relocate such impediment or encroachment. In such event, the party responsible for creating such impediment and the owner of the property served by the impediment shall be jointly and severally responsible for all costs of removal, relocation, storage or abatement, including all personnel hours and related costs, and machinery costs incurred by the village in such relocation, plus a ten percent (10%) administrative charge. (Ord. 2015-O-28, 10-5-2015; amd. Ord. 2022-O-21, 7-18-2022)