(a) Law Enforcement Notice to Other Authorities. Law enforcement authorities that identify conditions associated with a clandestine drug lab site or chemical dump site that places neighbors, visiting public, or present and future occupants of the dwelling at risk for exposure to harmful contaminants and other associated conditions must promptly notify the appropriate municipal, child protection and public health authorities of the property location, property owner if known, and condition found.
(b) Declaration of Property as a Public Health Nuisance. If law enforcement determines the existence of a clandestine drug lab site or chemical dump site, the property shall be declared a public health nuisance.
(c) Notice of Public Health Nuisance to Concerned Parties. Upon notification by law enforcement authorities, the City Building Code Official shall promptly issue a Declaration of Public Health Notice for the affected property and post a copy of the declaration at a prominent location at the dwelling or property. The Building Code Official shall also notify the owner of the property by certified mail and notify the occupants of the property, any neighbors at potential risk, the South Charleston Police Department and any other appropriate state and local authorities, such as the West Virginia DEP and the Kanawha County Health Department.
(d) Property Owner’s Responsibility to Act. The Building Code Official shall also issue an order to abate the public health nuisance, including the following:
(1) Immediately vacate those portions of the property, including buildings or structure interiors, which may place the occupants or visitors at risk.
(2) Within ten calendar days, contact appropriate environmental testing and cleaning firms to conduct an on-site assessment, complete clean-up and remediation testing and follow-up testing, and determine that the property risks are sufficiently reduced to allow safe human occupancy of the dwelling. The property owner shall immediately notify the City of South Charleston of actions taken and reach an agreement with the City on the clean-up schedule. The City shall consider practical limitations and the availability of contractors in approving the schedule for clean-up.
(3) Provide written documentation of the clean-up process, including a signed, written statement that the property is safe for human occupancy and that the clean-up was conducted in accordance with applicable local, state and federal laws and/or guidelines.
(e) Property Owner’s Responsibility for Costs. The property owner shall be responsible for all costs of vacating and/or clean-up of the site, including contractor’s fees and all public costs for services that were performed in association with a clandestine drug lab site or chemical dump site clean-up.
(f) Recovery of Public Costs. When proper notice of a Declaration of Public Health Notice has been served upon a property owner and the owner subsequently fails to arrange and/or complete appropriate clean-up measures, or when the City is unable to locate the property owner within ten calendar days of posting the Declaration of Public Health Nuisance, the Building Code Official is authorized to initiate the on-site assessment and clean-up, in addition, the City, may abate the nuisance by removing the hazardous structure or building according to the provisions of South Charleston City Code and/or West Virginia State Code. The City shall be entitled to recover all costs associated with vacating, clean-up or abatement of a clandestine drug lab site or a chemical dump site.
(g) Authority to Modify or Remove Declaration of Public Health Nuisance. The Building Code Official is authorized to modify or remove the conditions of the Declaration of Public Health Nuisance only after documentation from a qualified environmental or cleaning firm stating that the health and safety risks, including those to neighbors and potential dwelling occupants, are sufficiently abated or corrected to allow safe occupancy of the dwelling or area.
(h) Violations and Penalties. Any person determined to have violated any subsection of this section shall be subject to a fine of no less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and no more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation. Each day that a violation occurs shall constitute a separate offense.
(i) Definitions.
(1) Clandestine Drug Lab. The unlawful manufacture or attempt to manufacture controlled substances or any place or area where law enforcement has determined that the conditions associated with the operation of an unlawful clandestine drug lab exist.
(2) Chemical Dumpsites. Any place or area where chemicals or other waste materials used in a clandestine drug lab have been located.
(3) Controlled Substance. Any drug, substance, or immediate precursor as may be defined in Chapter 60A of the West Virginia State Code.
(4) Household Hazardous Wastes. Any waste generated from a clandestine drug lab.
(5) Manufacture. In places other than a pharmacy, shall mean and include the production, cultivation, quality control, and standardization, by mechanical, physical, chemical or pharmaceutical means, packing, repacking, tableting, encapsulating, labeling, relabeling, filling or by other process, of drugs.
(6) Owner. Any person, firm, or corporation who owns, in whole or in part, the land, building or structures associated with a clandestine drug lab site or a chemical dump site.
(Ord. 2080. Passed 2-16-06.)