(A) The Code Enforcement Division by and through the Code Enforcement Inspectors shall inspect lands within the city to determine if violations of this chapter exist. If the Code Inspector determines that a public nuisance subject to nuisance abatement exists on any lot, tract, parcel, premises, or other real property within the city, whether improved or unimproved, he shall forthwith notify the owner of the property as such ownership appears upon the last complete records of the County Tax Assessor. The notice shall be given in writing by certified mail, and regular mail, postage prepaid, which shall be effective and complete when properly addressed as set forth above and deposited in the United States mail with postage prepaid, and together with the physical posting of the notice on the property shall be considered sufficient notice. In case of multiple or joint ownership, service as herein provided on any one owner shall be sufficient. The time for compliance as set forth in the notice shall be deemed to commence with the date such notice is so affixed on the property.
(B) Content of the notice shall be as follows:
(1) Determination that a public nuisance exists on the land, and what constitutes the nuisance.
(2) The owner or owners of the land shall have seven days from the date the notice is received to remove the condition causing the nuisance on the land, or seven days from the physical posting of the notice on the property, whichever occurs earlier.
(3) If the conditions are not corrected and/or removed, the city shall have them corrected and/or removed at the expense of the owner or owners, including all costs of inspection and administration.
(4) The owner or owners shall have five days from the date the notice of violation is received or from the date of physical posting of the property to file a written petition to the City Manager for a hearing before a three-person board which shall be composed of the City Manager, the Director of Public Works, and the Building Official or their designees, which hearing shall be held within ten days of the date the petition is received by the Manager.
(5) The issues to be determined at said hearing are whether the conditions do in fact exist and why the conditions should not be abated by the city at the expense of the owner, and the time limits for such abatement which may be extended by the Board upon a showing of good cause. The source of the condition shall not be a defense against the requirement that the condition shall be abated by the owner.
(6) If, after the hearing, the Board determines that the conditions which exist on the property constitute a public nuisance, the owner or owners of the property shall have an additional seven days to correct and/or remove the conditions, after which the city shall have the right to have the conditions abated at the expense of the property owner.
(a) If the owner has not requested a hearing within five days or abated the condition within seven days from the date of notice as set forth herein, the city shall have the right to have the objectionable condition corrected and/or removed at the expense of the owner.
(b) If the city has the condition abated and payment is not received within 30 days from the date of the physical posting or receipt of the mailed notice of assessment for the cost of such work, together with all costs of inspection and administration, the city shall have a lien placed against the property for the cost of the work, including inspection and administration costs, plus interest as set forth in F.S. § 55.03 as now enacted or as may hereafter be amended, plus reasonable attorney's fees and other costs of collecting said sums, without further hearing by the Board or City Commission.
(Ord. 88-24, passed 1-12-88; Am. Ord. 2000-08, passed 10-12-99; Am. Ord. 2002-29, passed 1-22-02)