The following acts, actions, inaction, omissions, behavior, or conditions constitute a public nuisance.
(A) Criminal activity.
(1) No owner of residential, commercial, or vacant property located in the city shall allow his or her property to be used as the site for any criminal activity. For purposes of this section,
CRIMINAL ACTIVITY shall be defined as a criminal citation, arrest, or court-issued search warrant for crime involving:
(a) Prostitution;
(b) Controlled substances or drug related activity;
(c) Alcohol intoxication;
(d) Menacing;
(e) Assault;
(f) Terroristic threatening;
(g) Resisting arrest;
(h) Disorderly conduct;
(i) Outdoor gambling; or
(j) Violation of KRS Chapter 527 (offenses relating to firearms and weapons).
(2) Any other provision of this section notwithstanding, it shall not be a public nuisance if the person cited is the victim of the criminal activity that occurred or is an incident of domestic violence perpetrated against a resident, licensee, or invitee of the premises.
(B) Graffiti. No person shall spray, cut, mark, engrave, hew, draw, etch, carve, or otherwise create graffiti on any building or structure in the city and any person doing the same shall be subject to a civil fine for the cost of removal.
(C) Environmental nuisance. No person shall use, cause, permit, or omit in the use of property in a manner which causes an annoyance, hazard, or injury which may be detrimental to the property or well-being of others. These actions shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Injures or endangers the welfare, health, or safety of others;
(2) Offends decency;
(3) Creates offensive odors or noxious fumes;
(4) Interferes with, obstructs or tends to obstruct, or renders dangerous for passage any public or private street, highway, sidewalk, stream, ditch, or drainage, including, but not limited to, any tree, stack, or other object standing in such a condition that it will, if the condition is allowed to continue, endanger the life, limb, or property of, or cause hurt, damage, or injury to persons or property upon the public streets or public ways adjacent thereto, by the falling thereof or of parts thereof;
(5) Interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property or tends to depreciate the value of the property of others;
(6) Permits the presence, existence, or accumulation of waste, rubbish, trash, or other non- operable appliance or vehicles or vehicles in a state of major disassembly, disrepair, or in the process of being stripped or dismantled;
(7) Permitting any yard grass, other plant, or weed growth exceeding 12 inches in height other than crops, trees, bushes, flowers, or other ornamental plants;
(8) Disposing or accumulating of any foul, decaying or putrescent substance, stagnant water, animal waste, carcasses of any type of animal, or other offensive material in or on any lot, tract of land, street, highway, or any sidewalk or alley abutting any of these which shall be the reasons for such offensive odors;
(9) The storage of explosive material, which creates a safety hazard to other property or persons in the vicinity;
(10) The maintenance of any open, uncovered, or insecurely covered cistern, cellar, well, pit, excavation, or vault situated upon private premises in any open or unfenced lot or place. As well as the pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal, or body of water by sewage, carcasses, crematoriums, industrial wastes, or other substances; and
(11) The failure to keep an animal’s pen, yard, lot, or other enclosure in a sanitary condition and free from preventable offensive odors.
(D) Litter, garbage, and trash. No person shall drop, deposit, permit, or acquiesce to such activity in any manner on any public or private property any trash, litter, garbage, rubbish, debris, refuse, or waste of any kind, or other obnoxious materials whether solid or liquid.
(E) Dilapidated housing. No person shall cause, allow, or permit any structure to be unfit for human habitation, occupancy, or use. Conditions that warrant a finding of unfit for human habitation include conditions that exist which are dangerous or injurious to the health, safety, or morals of the occupants of such structure, neighboring structures, or other residents of the city. Examples of such conditions include, but are not limited to, defects increasing the hazard of fire, accidents, or other calamities, lack of adequate ventilation, light, or sanitary facilities, violations of any other laws of the state, State Building Code, or other ordinance of the city.
(F) Emergency calls and responses. No person shall cause, allow, or permit excessive calls from property to the 911 system or responses as a result of thereof. EXCESSIVE CALLS AND RESPONSES shall mean over seven unique calls or responses in a month period.
(G) Drug overdose responses. No person shall cause, allow, or permit any property to be the site of excessive drug overdoses. Excessive drug overdoses shall mean more than one overdose in a three- month period.
(H) Common law and statutory nuisances. In addition to what is declared in this chapter to be a public nuisance, those offenses which are known to the common law and statutes of the state as public nuisances may be treated as such and be proceeded against as is provided in this chapter, or in accordance with any other provision of law.
(I) Nuisance created by others. For the purposes of this chapter, it shall not be essential that the nuisance be created or contributed to by the owner, occupant, or person having control or management of the premises, but merely that the nuisance be created or contributed to by licensees, invitees, guests, or other persons for whose conduct the owner or operator is responsible, or by person for whose conduct the owner or operator is not responsible, but by the exercise of reasonable care ought to have become aware of.
(Ord. 1010.4, passed 3-5-2020) Penalty, see § 92.99