(a) As used in this Property Maintenance Code certain terms are defined as follows:
(1) “Approved” as applied to a material device, or method of construction means approved by the code official under the provisions of this code, or approved by other authority designated by law to give approval in the matter in question.
(2) “Assembly, places of” means all structures which are designed or occupied for the gathering together of persons for purposes such as civic, social or religious functions, recreation, food or drink consumption or awaiting transportation. This use group shall include all theaters and all other buildings and structures intended for the production and viewing of performing arts or motion pictures; including theaters, motion picture theaters and television and radio studios admitting an audience. All buildings and places of public assembly designed for occupancy as dance halls, nightclubs and for similar purposes, including all rooms, lobbies and other spaces connected thereto with a common means of egress and entrance. All buildings with or without an auditorium in which persons assemble for amusement, entertainment or recreation purposes as well as incidental motion picture, dramatic or theatrical presentations, lectures or other similar purposes, this includes art galleries, exhibition halls, museums, lecture halls, libraries, restaurants and recreation centers and buildings designed for similar assembly purposes. All buildings and structures which are occupied exclusively for the purposes of worship or other religious services.
(3) “Basement” means that portion of a building which is partly below and partly above grade, and having at least one-half its height above grade. (see "Cellar")
(4) “Building Code” means the Building Code officially adopted by the legislative body of this jurisdiction, or such other code as may be officially designated by the legislative body of the jurisdiction for the regulation of construction, alteration, addition, repair, removal, demolition, use, location, occupancy and maintenance of buildings and structures.
(5) “Building official” means the official designated by the jurisdiction to enforce building, zoning or similar laws, or his duly authorized representative.
(6) “Businesses” means all buildings and structures which are occupied for the transaction of business, for the rendering of professions services, or for other services that involve stock of goods, wares or merchandise.
(7) “Cellar” means that portion of a building which is partly or completely below grade, and having at least one-half its height below grade. (see "Basement")
(8) “Central heating” means the heating system permanently installed and adjusted so as to provide the distribution of heat to all habitable rooms, bathrooms and water closet compartments from a source outside of these rooms.
(9) “Code official” means the official who is charged with the administration and enforcement of this code, or any duly authorized representative.
(10) “Condemn” means to adjudge unfit for use or occupancy.
(11) “Condemnation” means the act of judicially condemning.
(12) “Dwellings”:
A. “One-family dwelling” means a building containing one dwelling unit with not more than five lodgers or boarders.
B. “Two-family dwelling” means a building containing two dwelling units with not more than five lodgers or boarders per family, but not more than twenty individuals.
C. “Multi-family-apartment house” means a building or portion thereof containing more than two dwelling units and not classified as a one- or two-family dwelling.
D. “Boarding house, tourist house” means a building arranged or used for the lodging with or without meals, for compensation, by more than five and not more than twenty individuals.
E. “Lodging house” means any building or portion thereof containing not more than five guest rooms which are used by not more than five guests where rent is paid in money, goods, labor or otherwise. A “lodging house” shall comply with all the requirements for dwellings.
F. “Dormitory” means a space in a building where group sleeping accommodations are provided for persons not members of the same family group, in one room, or in a series of closely associated rooms.
G. “Hotel” means any building containing six or more guest rooms intended or designed to be used, or which are used, rented or hired out to be occupied or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests.
(13) “Dwelling unit” means a single unit providing complete, independent living facilities for one or more persons including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.
(14) “Education facilities” means all structures for educational purposes including among others, schools, colleges, universities, a child day care center or a child care facility. Structures occupied for business training or vocational training.
(15) “Enforcement officer” means the official designated herein or otherwise charged with the responsibilities of administering this code, or his authorized representative.
(16) “Exterior property areas” means the open space on the premises and on adjoining property under the control of owners or operators of such premises.
(17) “Extermination” means the control and elimination of insects, rodents or other pests by eliminating their harborage places; by removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by poison spraying, fumigating, trapping, or by any other approved pest elimination methods.
(18) “Factory and industrial facilities” means all structures in which occupants are engaged in work or labor in the fabricating, assembling or processing of products or materials. This includes, among others, factories, assembling plants, industrial laboratories and all other industrial and manufacturing occupancies.
(19) “Family” means an individual or married couple and the children thereof with not more than two other persons related directly to the individual or married couple by blood or marriage; or a group of not more than five unrelated (excluding servants) persons, living together as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling unit.
(20) “Garbage” means the animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
(21) “Habitable space” means space in a structure for living, sleeping, eating, or cooking. Bathrooms, toilet compartments, closets, halls, storage or utility space, and similar areas are not considered habitable space.
(22) “High hazard facilities” means all structures which are occupied for the manufacturing, processing, generation, storage or other use of hazardous materials.
(23) “Hotel”. See "dwellings."
(24) “Infestation” means the presence, within or contiguous to, a structure or premises of insects, rodents, vermin or other pests.
(25) “Institutional structures” means all structures in which people suffering from physical limitations because of health or age are harbored for medical or other care or treatment, or in which people are detained for penal or correction purposes, or in which the liberty of the inmates is restricted. This shall include buildings and structures, or parts thereof, which house individuals who, because of mental or physical disability or other reasons, must live in a supervised environment. Rest homes.
(26) “Junk vehicles” means any vehicle which is without a currently valid license plate or plates and is in either a rusted, wrecked, discharged, dismantled, partly dismantled, inoperative, or abandoned condition. A “junked vehicle” shall be classified as to its condition in one of the two following categories:
A. Restorable. A junked vehicle that is in a condition whereby repairs to same could be made to place it in operating condition without exceeding the estimated value when repaired.
B. Wreck. A junked vehicle in such condition that it is economically unsound to restore same to operating condition considering the repairs to be made, age of the vehicle, market value of the vehicle if it were restored or in such condition that the public officer, in his opinion determines that it warrants such clarification.
The code official shall make the final determination as to the classification to be assigned to any one particular vehicle.
(27) “Let for occupancy” or “let” means to permit possession or occupancy f a dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming unit, building or structure by a person who shall be legal owner or not be the legal owner of record thereof, pursuant to a written or unwritten lease, agreement or license, or pursuant to a recorded or unrecorded agreement of contract for the sale of land.
(28) “Maintenance” means conformance of a building and its facilities to the code under which the building was constructed.
(29) “Mercantile structure” means all buildings and structures which are occupied for display and sales purposes involving stocks of goods, wares or merchandise incidental to such purposes and open to the public. This includes, among others, retail stores, automotive service stations, shops, sales-rooms and markets.
(30) “Motel” means a hotel as defined in this code.
(31) “Multi-family (multiples) dwellings”. See "dwellings."
(32) “Occupant” means any person over one year of age (including owner or operator) living and sleeping in a dwelling unit or having actual possession of said dwelling or rooming unit.
(33) “Openable area” means that part of a window or door which is available for unobstructed ventilation and which opens directly to the outdoors.
(34) “Operator” means any person who has charge, care or control of a structure or premises which are let or offered for occupancy.
(35) “Owner” means any person, agent, firm, or corporation having a legal or equitable interest in the property.
(36) “Person” includes a corporation or co-partnership as well as an individual.
(37) “Plumbing” means the practice, materials, and fixtures used in the installation, maintenance, extension, and alteration of all piping, fixtures, appliances, and appurtenances within the scope of the plumbing code.
(38) “Plumbing fixture” means a receptacle or device which is either permanently or temporarily connected to the water distribution system of the premises, and demands a supply of water therefrom; or discharges used water, liquid-borne waste materials, or sewage either directly or indirectly to the drainage system of the premises; or which requires both a water supply connection and a discharge to the drainage system of the premises.
(39) “Premises” means a lot, plot or parcel of land including the building or structures thereon.
(40) “Public nuisance” includes the following:
A. The physical condition, or use of any premises regarded as a public nuisance at common law; or
B. Any physical condition, use or occupancy of any premises or its appurtenances considered an attractive nuisance to children, including, but not limited to, abandoned wells, shafts, basements, excavations and unsafe fences or structures; or
C. Any premises which have unsanitary sewerage or plumbing facilities; or
D. Any premises designated as unsafe for human habitation or use; or
E. Any premises which are manifestly capable of being a fire hazard, or are manifestly unsafe or unsecure as to endanger life, limb or property; or
F. Any premises from which the plumbing, heating, and/or facilities required by this code have been removed, or from which utilities have been disconnected, destroyed, removed or rendered ineffective, or the required precautions against trespassers have not been provided; or
G. Any premises which are unsanitary, or which are littered with rubbish or garbage, or which have an uncontrolled growth of weeds; or
H. Any structure or building that is in a state of dilapidation, deterioration or decay; faulty construction; overcrowded; open, vacant or abandoned; damaged by fire to the extent as not to provide shelter, in danger of collapse or failure and is dangerous to anyone on or near the premises.
(41) “Renovation” means a building and its facilities made to conform to present day minimum standards of sanitation, fire and life safety.
(42) “Residence building” means a building in which sleeping accommodations or sleeping accommodations and cooking facilities as a unit are provided, except when classified as an institution under the building code.
(43) “Rooming house” means any residence building, or any part thereof, containing one or more rooming units, in which space is let by the owner or operator to more than five persons who are not members of the family. (See "dwellings, boarding house")
(44) “Rooming unit” means any room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping, but not for cooking or eating purposes.
(45) “Rubbish” means combustible and noncombustible waste materials, except garbage. The terms include the residue from the burning of wood, coal, coke, and other combustible materials, paper, rags, cartons, boxes, wood, excelsior, rubber, leather, tree branches, yard trimmings, tin cans, metals, mineral matter, glass, crockery and dust and other similar materials.
(46) “Storage facilities” means all structures which are primarily used for the storage of goods, wares or merchandise. This includes, among others, warehouses, storehouses and freight depots.
(47) “Structure” means that which is built or constructed, including without limitation because of enumeration, buildings for any occupancy or use whatsoever, fences, signs, billboards, fire escapes, stairway, chute escapes, railings, water tanks, towers, open grade steps, sidewalks or stairways, tents or anything erected and framed of component parts which is fastened, anchored or rests on a permanent foundation or on the ground.
(48) “Supplied” means installed, furnished or provided by the owner or operator.
(49) “Utility and miscellaneous structures” means buildings and structures of an accessory character and miscellaneous structures not classified in any specific use group such as private garages and sheds.
(50) “Ventilation” means the process of supplying and removing air by natural or mechanical means to or from any space.
A. “Mechanical” means ventilation by power-driven devices.
B. “Natural” means ventilation by opening to outer air through windows, skylights, doors, louvers, or stacks without wind drive devices.
(51) “Workmanlike”. Whenever the words “workmanlike state of maintenance and repair" are used in this code, they shall mean that such maintenance and repair shall be made in a reasonably skillful manner.
(52) “Yard” means an open unoccupied space on the same lot with a building extending along the entire length of a street, or rear or interior lot line.
(b) Whenever the words "multi-family dwelling", "residence building," "dwelling unit," "rooming house," "rooming unit," or "premises" are used in this code, they shall be construed as though they were followed by the words, "or any part thereof."
(Ord. 38-1998. Passed 11-5-98.)
REGISTRATION/INSPECTIONS