A. Offensive Conditions: It is hereby declared to be a nuisance and a danger to the health, safety, welfare, peace and comfort of the city and its residents for any person to:
1. Conduct any business or to use any premises so as to create an offensive or foul odor which taints the air and renders it nauseous to persons in the vicinity.
2. Keep or maintain any animal in an unclean or filthy manner or surroundings, or to keep or maintain any animal from which emits any particularly foul or offensive odors.
3. Cause or permit to be collected or to remain upon any premises or place any animal carcass or any offal, filth, excretion or other noisome or noxious animal matter of any kind which is, or is likely to become, putrid, foul or offensive.
4. Cause or permit to be collected or to remain upon any premises or place any slop or other vegetable matter of any kind which is, or is likely to become, putrid, foul or offensive.
5. Cause or permit any cellar, vault, cistern, drain, privy, yard or other premises whatsoever to become, from any cause, foul or offensive or injurious to the public health.
6. Permit to be collected or to stand upon any premises any foul or stagnant water of any kind.
7. Locate or maintain, or permit to exist or remain, anywhere within the city, any stable or pigsty.
8. Use, deposit or keep any property, substance or thing emitting or causing any foul, offensive, noisome, nauseous or noxious odor, effluvia or stench particularly repulsive to the physical senses and which annoys, discomforts or endangers the welfare, health or safety of any person.
(1989 Code § 9-137)
B. Rubbish, Garbage, and Debris:
1. The following definitions shall apply to this section:
a. GARBAGE: Putrescible animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
b. LITTER: Garbage, refuse, or rubbish and all other waste material that is thrown or deposited as prohibited by this section.
c. REFUSE: All putrescible and nonputrescible solid wastes, except body waste, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, and solid market and industrial waste.
d. RUBBISH: Nonputrescible solid wastes such as paper, wrappings, cigarettes, cardboard, tin cans, yard clippings, wood, glass, construction debris, bedding, crockery, and similar materials.
2. It is hereby declared a menace to the public safety and health and a nuisance for any person to cause or permit the deposit or accumulation of any garbage, litter, refuse, oily rags, rubbish or other materials or substances of any kind so as to constitute a fire hazard.
3. It is hereby declared a nuisance for any owner or person in control of any property within the city to store or permit or allow the storage of litter on or about such premises. This shall not prohibit the storage of litter in receptacles for collection. No person shall sweep or deposit any litter into the street, gutter or other public place from any public or private sidewalk or driveway. Any owner or person in control of property shall keep the sidewalk in front of their property free of litter.
4. It is hereby declared a nuisance for any person to throw or deposit litter or any offensive substance on any street, sidewalk or public place, or on any private property, except in receptacles for the collection of such litter, or as may otherwise be permitted by ordinance.
5. It is hereby declared a nuisance for any person to store, keep or maintain outside of a closed building any litter; junk; machinery or equipment, or parts thereof, not in an operable condition; furniture designed for indoor use; scrap metal; provided, however, that this provision shall not apply to a properly licensed junk yard or other permitted outdoor storage use which is in full compliance with all of the ordinances of the city.
6. It is hereby declared a nuisance for any owner or person in control of any property within the city to store or place any litter, junk or other similar materials on such property in a manner that may harbor pests, vermin, rodents, or other undesirable non-domesticated animals.
(1989 Code § 9-138)
C. Nuisance Greenery: It is hereby declared a nuisance for any owner or person in control of any parcel of land to permit thereon the presence of nuisance greenery; provided, however, that this section shall not be construed to prohibit the presence of cultivated trees, cultivated shrubs, cultivated vegetable plants or cultivated flower plants.
1. For purposes of this chapter, “nuisance greenery” means any of the following:
a. Annual plants or grasses of more than eight (8) inches in height.
b. Any weeds such as jimson, burdock, ragweed, thistle, cocklebur, poison ivy, poison oak, stinging nettles or other weeds of a like kind.
c. Nuisance bushes or trees including, without limitation, volunteer bushes or trees and bushes or trees the growth of which could affect the structural integrity of foundations, driveways, sidewalks or other structures.
d. Limbs or branches of plants, bushes or trees which could adversely affect traffic safety, interfere with or obstruct the use of public sidewalks or pathways, interfere with the operation, use or maintenance of utility lines, or otherwise affect the public health, safety and welfare.
e. Diseased or infested bushes and trees, including without limitation those affected by Dutch elm disease or emerald ash borer.
f. Dead trees, bushes, grasses or other dead vegetation, including landscape or garden waste; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to properly maintained compost piles that are kept in an opaque container not larger than six (6) feet wide and four (4) feet high.
g. Dry grass, weeds, trees, bushes, or other vegetation that constitute a fire hazard.
h. Overgrowth of vegetation likely to harbor rats, vermin, mosquitos or other pests.
i. The deposit, accumulation, existence or growth upon any property of any dry or dead weeds, grass, vegetation or other like substances of any kind so as to constitute a fire hazard.
(1989 Code § 9-138)
2. Every owner of real estate within the city shall cut weeds or grass, trim trees or bushes and otherwise remove nuisance vegetation at all such times as may be necessary. It shall be the responsibility of each owner or person in control of any parcel to prevent the growth of or to remove nuisance greenery from such parcel. It shall not be a defense to a violation of this section that the owner did not have actual knowledge of the existence of nuisance greenery.
D. Abandoned Containers: It is hereby declared a menace to the public safety and a nuisance for any person to cause or permit the existence or storage in any place accessible to children of any abandoned or discarded refrigerator, icebox, ice chest, deep freeze or other airtight appliance or container of any kind of a capacity of one and one-half (1-1/2) cubic feet or more, which may be opened or fastened shut by means of an attached latch.
(1989 Code § 9-140)
E. Dusty Conditions:
1. It is hereby declared a menace to the public health and a nuisance for any person to cause or permit any operations that cause or permit any dirt, sand, gravel, cinders, ashes, earth or other similar materials to be hauled, moved, rolled, compacted, scraped, dragged or otherwise disturbed so as to cause or permit dust to be raised, blown or stirred through the operation of machinery or otherwise to the detriment of any person or property.
2. Every person engaged in the hauling of any sand, dirt, cinders, ashes, earth or other similar materials or substances, or engaged in the moving, rolling, compacting, scraping, dragging or other disturbance of soil and the like, shall make adequate provision as often as is required to arrest and prevent such dust through the use of salts, oil, chemicals and other materials used and recommended for retarding or eliminating such dust, subject to the supervision and approval of the superintendent of streets.
(1989 Code § 9-141)
F. Scaffolding, Ladders And Articles Thereon: It is hereby declared a menace to the public safety and a nuisance for any person:
1. To erect or use, or to cause or permit to be erected or used, any insecure or unsafe scaffold or ladder whereby the safety of persons working thereon or passing thereunder may in any way be endangered.
2. To place or leave, or to cause or permit to be placed or left, any tools or articles on any scaffold or ladder in such manner that the same may fall into any street, sidewalk or other public way whereby the safety of persons passing thereunder may in any way be endangered.
(1989 Code § 9-142)
G. Certain Furniture And Mattresses In The Open: It shall be declared a nuisance to use, keep or store any upholstered furniture, including mattresses, manufactured primarily for indoor use in any yard and/or unenclosed porch.
(Ord. O-16-007, 6-6-2016)
H. Other Nuisances: Any nuisance declared by statute, this chapter or other provisions of this code or ordinances of the city shall be enforceable under the provisions of this chapter as if enumerated specifically herein.
(1989 Code § 9-134)
Cross-reference:
See also subsection 8-5-9A of this code