(A) (1) Trees and shrubs growing upon or near the lot line, or upon public ground, and interfering with the use or construction of any public improvements shall be deemed an obstruction under this chapter. Such trees and shrubs and their roots may be removed by the municipality at the expense of the owner of the property upon which the tree is located should the owner fail, or neglect, after notice, to do so.
(2) It shall be unlawful for any person, persons, firm, or corporation to obstruct, or encumber, by fences, gates, buildings, structures, or otherwise, any of the streets, alleys, or sidewalks.
(3) The public ways and property shall be considered to be obstructed when the owner or occupant of the adjacent property shall permit or suffer to remain on any premise owned or controlled by him or her any hedge, shrubbery, bush, or similar growth within two feet adjacent to the lot line whether there is a sidewalk abutting or adjoining such premise or not. It shall be the duty of owners and occupants to at all times keep trimmed and pruned all such similar growth.
(4) Whenever any such growth is allowed to grow within two feet of the lot line contrary to the provisions of this chapter, the City Council may pass a resolution ordering the owner or occupant to remove such obstructions within five days after having been served with a copy of the resolution by the municipality stating that the municipality will do so and will charge the costs thereof to the owner or occupant as a special assessment for improvements as herein provided, or shall collect the same by civil suit brought in the name of the municipality against the owner or occupant. It shall be the duty of an owner or occupant engaged in construction of any building or improvement upon or near the public ways and property to have all excavations or exposures of any kind protected and guarded by suitable guards or barricades by day and by warning lights at night.
(5) In the event of failure, neglect, or refusal to comply with the provisions of this subchapter, it shall be the duty of the municipality to stop all work upon the buildings and improvements until suitable guards are erected and kept in the manner aforesaid. Trees and shrubs growing upon the lot line partially on public ground and partially upon the abutting property, or wholly upon the abutting property, but so close to the lot line as to interfere with the making of any public improvement or so that the roots thereof interfere with any utility wires or pipe shall be deemed an obstruction, and such trees, shrubs, and roots may be removed by the municipality pursuant to the procedure prescribed above.
(6) In the event the property owner is a non-resident of the county in which the property lies, the municipality shall, before levying any special assessment against that property, send a copy of any notice required by law to be published by means of certified mail, return receipt requested to the last known address of the non-resident property owner. The last known address shall be that address listed on the current tax rolls at the time such required notice was first published.
(`77 Code, § 8-103)
(B) Persons engaged in the erection, construction, reconstruction, wrecking, or repairing of any building, or the construction, or repair, of a sidewalk along any street, may occupy the public street space with such building material and equipment as long as is necessary if such persons shall make application to and receive a permit in writing from the municipal official in charge of municipal streets to do so, provided that no permit for the occupancy of the sidewalk space and more than one-third of the roadway of the public space adjacent to the real estate on which said building is to be constructed, erected, reconstructed, wrecked, or repaired shall be granted, and provided further that a suitable passageway for pedestrians shall be maintained within the public space included in the permit which shall be protected and lighted in the manner required by the official issuing the permit.
(`77 Code, § 8-105) Penalty, see § 10.99
Statutory reference:
Authority to remove obstructions, see Neb. RS 17-555
Authority to regulate and abate obstructions, see Neb. RS 17-557 and 17-557.01