(A) Junk and rubbish.
(1) For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
JUNK. Any worn-out, cast-off or discarded article or material which is ready for destruction or has been collected or stored for salvage or conversion to some other use. Any article or material which, unaltered or unchanged and without further reconditioning, can be used for its original purpose as readily as when new is not considered JUNK.
RUBBISH. Includes wire, chips, shavings, bottles, broken glass, crockery, tin, cast or wooden ware, hoses, rags, dead weeds, stumps, tree trunks, brush, paper circulars, handbills, boots, shoes, ashes, metal, discarded parts and equipment or any waste material other than garbage or offal.
(2) The deposit, storage, maintenance or collection of junk or rubbish outside a building is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and offensive to the public health, welfare and safety.
(3) (a) No person in charge or control of any premises in the city, whether as owner, tenant, lessee, occupant or otherwise, shall allow any junk or rubbish to remain upon such premises longer than ten days after receipt of written notice to remove the junk or rubbish from the premises. The written notice shall be issued by the Chief of Police or his or her designee.
(b) Such written notice shall be served upon the person in charge personally, by leaving the notice at his or her usual place of residence or by certified mail addressed to his or her last known place of residence. If the person in charge is a firm or corporation, such written notice may be served personally upon the persons in charge at the premises, by leaving the notice at the place of business or by certified mail addressed to the place of business.
(c) This section does not apply, however, to the deposit, storage, maintenance or collection of junk or rubbish in an enclosed building, as permitted by ordinances of the city, or in any area of the city in which the same is permitted by ordinances of the city.
(B) Junk vehicles.
(1) For purposes of this section, JUNK MOTOR VEHICLE means any motor vehicle which is three years old or older; extensively damaged, such damage including but not limited to any of the following: missing wheels, tires, motor, or transmission; apparently inoperable; and having a fair market value of $3,000 or less, that is left uncovered in the open on private property for more than 72 hours with the permission of the person having the right to possession of the property, except if the person is operating a junk yard or scrap metal processing facility licensed under the authority of Ohio R.C. 4737.05 through 4737.12, or otherwise regulated under authority of a political subdivision; or if the property on which the motor vehicle is left is not
subject to licensure or regulation by any governmental authority, unless the person having the right to the possession of the property can establish that the motor vehicle is part of a bona fide commercial operation in which the owner or occupant has the immediate intention to complete repairs necessary to make the vehicle operable; or if the motor vehicle is a collector’s vehicle.
(2) The municipality shall not prevent a person from storing or keeping, or restrict him or her in the method of storing or keeping, any collector’s vehicle on private property with the permission of the person having the right to the possession of the property, except that the municipality may require a person having such permission to conceal, by means of buildings, fences, vegetation, terrain, or other suitable obstruction, any unlicensed collector’s vehicle stored in the open.
(3) The Police Chief, the Council, or the zoning authority may send notice, by certified mail with return receipt requested, to the person having the right to the possession of the property on which a junk motor vehicle is left, that within ten days of receipt of the notice, the junk motor vehicle either shall be covered by being housed in a garage or other suitable structure, or shall be removed from the property.
(4) No person shall willfully leave a junk motor vehicle uncovered in the open for more than ten days after receipt of a notice as provided in this section. The fact that a junk motor vehicle is so left is prima facie evidence of willful failure to comply with the notice, and each subsequent period of 30 days that a junk motor vehicle continues to be so left constitutes a separate offense.
(C) Unlicensed or wrecked vehicles.
(1) No owner or occupant of any property within the city shall permit an unlicensed or improperly licensed automobile or, if licensed, a wrecked automobile, when it is reasonably anticipated that the owner or occupant of the property has no immediate intention to make such automobile operable, or papers, cans, metal parts, vehicle parts, garbage, offal or other trash, to be upon any part of any property within the city. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the lawful storage of garbage and rubbish that is subject to regular collection by the city.
(2) The Safety-Service Director, the Chief of Police or the Chief's designee shall, by written notice, advise violators of the provisions of division (C)(1) of this section. Written notice shall provide ten days to correct the violation and such notice may be hand delivered with personal service made or be mailed by registered mail. If the owner or other person having charge of the subject property is a nonresident, delivery of a registered letter to the last known address shall be sufficient. If the address of the owner or other person having charge of the subject property is unknown, it shall be sufficient to publish such notice once in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.
(D) Penalty.
(1) Whoever violates any of the provisions of division (A) or (B) of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor for a first offense, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree for a second offense and a misdemeanor of the third degree for any subsequent offense.
(2) Whoever violates division (C) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree for a first offense and a misdemeanor of the third degree for any subsequent offense.
(‘82 Code, § 660.07) (Ord. 82-56, passed 8-17-82; Am. Ord. 83-2, passed 1-18-83; Am. Ord. 2007-04, passed 1-2-07) Penalty, see § 698.02