(A) Enforcement by Public Works Director or his or her designee. The Public Works Director or his or her designee is charged with the duty of full enforcement of this section and any Public Works Director thereof or his or her designee is clothed with full power and authority imposed by this chapter and is hereby authorized and directed to proceed to carry out the provisions of the same.
(B) Nuisances enumerated. The following enumerated and described conditions are hereby found, deemed and declared to constitute a detriment, danger and hazard to health, safety, morals and general welfare of the inhabitants of the town and found, deemed and declared to be public nuisances wherever the same may exist. The creation, maintenance or failure to abate the nuisances is hereby declared unlawful:
(1) Any accumulation of animal or vegetable matter that is offensive by virtue of odors or vapors or by the inhabitancy therein of rats, mice, snakes or vermin of any kind and which may be dangerous or prejudicial to public health;
(2) Any developed place of uncontrolled growth of weeds, grass or other noxious vegetation in excess of 18 inches above the surrounding ground; provided that, the following shall not be considered as part of this condition: trees and ornamental shrubs; cultured plant; natural vegetation on undeveloped property; and growing and producing vegetable plants;
(3) Any shrubs or similar vegetation, vines, including, but not limited to, honeysuckle or similar vegetation, growth of poison sumac, ivy, oak or other noxious vegetation that encroaches on any sidewalk, curb or edge of pavement of any abutting street, encroaches on any adjoining property with a dwelling or commercial property or obstructs the site distance along any public street or right-of-way;
(4) Any accumulation of fallen, dead trees, any accumulation of tree limbs or branches that have fallen or been cut and/or any accumulation of firewood or logs that are rotten or decayed, except in heavily wooded or undeveloped lots;
(5) Any open place of collection of stagnant water that has no natural drainage, including swimming pools that cause or threaten to cause a breeding ground or inhabitancy therein of mosquitoes, flies, snakes or other such vermin;
(6) Any open place of concentration of combustible items including, but not limited to, building materials, mattresses, boxes, paper, tires and tubes, garbage, trash, refuse, brush, leaves, old clothes, rags or any other combustible materials or objects of like matter;
(7) Any open place of collection of garbage, food waste, animal waste or any other rotten or putrescible matter of any kind;
(8) Any open storage of discarded or junked ice box, refrigerator, stove, washer, dryer, water heater, other “white goods”, glass, metal products, furniture or similar items which may, but not necessarily, contain jagged or rough edges or areas of confinement;
(9) Any unsecured building, including, but not limited to, houses, apartments, non-residential and accessory structures which are currently or likely to contribute to conditions such as vagrancy, alcohol and illegal drugs, trespassing or any type of criminal activity or creates any condition which constitutes a hazard to the health, safety and welfare of the residents; and
(10) Any building or other structure which has been damaged or destroyed as a result of fire, wind, flood or other disaster and which is hazardous to the safety of any person, is a continuing fire hazard or which is structurally unsound to the extent that the Town Manager or his or her designee can reasonably determine that a likelihood exists for personal or private property injury to any person or property entering the premises.
(C) Initiation of proceedings. In addition to the specific conditions enumerated in division (B) above, a nuisance shall be any other condition specifically declared to be a danger to the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of inhabitants of the town and a public nuisance by the Town Council. The proceeding may be initiated by the Public Works Director or his or her designee before the Town Council after giving written notice in conformity with division (D) below. The notice shall state the condition existing, the location and that the Town Council will be requested on a day certain, after a public hearing at which the person notified may appear and be heard, to declare that the conditions existing constitute a danger to the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of the inhabitants of the town and a public nuisance. After the declaration by the Town Council in the form of an ordinance, the condition will be abated as provided for in division (E) below. No appeal shall die from a proceeding initiated by the Public Works Director or his or her designee before the Town Council, as provided in this section.
(D) Notice to property owner.
(1) When any public nuisance, as set out in divisions (B) and (C) above, is found to exist on any property within the town, the Public Works Director or his or her designee shall notify, in writing, the owner of the premises where the nuisance is located. The notice shall state that conditions exist which constitute a public nuisance, shall state those conditions and shall state that unless the condition is abated within ten days from the mailing of the notice the conditions constituting a nuisance will be abated and the cost of the abatement shall constitute a lien against the premises. The notice shall be sent by registered mail, return receipt requested.
(2) According to G.S. § 160A-200.1, the town may notify a chronic violator of divisions (B) and (C) above that, if the violator’s property is found to be in violation of the section, the town shall, without further notice in the calendar year in which the notice was given, take action to abate or remedy the violation, and the expense of the action shall become a lien upon the property and collected as an unpaid tax. The notification shall be sent by certified mail return receipt requested. A chronic violator shall be described as a person who owns property whereupon, in the previous calendar year, the town gave notice of violation at least three times under any provision of this section.
(E) Right of entry for abatement; appeal to Council stays abatement proceedings. The Public Works Director or his or her designee is hereby given full power and authority to enter upon the premises involved for the purpose of abating the nuisance found to exist as set out in this section. Within the ten-day period mentioned in division (D) above, the owner of the property where the nuisance exists may appeal the findings of the Public Works Director or his or her designee made pursuant to divisions (B) and (C) above to the Town Council by giving written notice of appeal to the Public Works Director or his or her designee. The appeal shall stay the abatement of the nuisance by the Public Works Director or his or her designee until a final determination by the Town Council. If no appeal is taken, the Public Works Director or his or her designee may proceed to abate the nuisance.
(F) Determination of Council; adoption of ordinance for abatement by town. If an appeal is taken as provided in division (E) above, the Town Council may, after hearing all interested persons and reviewing the findings of the Public Works Director or his or her designee, reverse the finding made pursuant to divisions (B) and (C) above. If the Town Council determines that the findings of the Public Works Director or his or her designee made pursuant to divisions (B) and (C) above are correct and proper, it shall adopt an ordinance specifically declaring the condition existing on the property to be a danger and hazard to the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the inhabitants of the town and a nuisance and directing the Public Works Director or his or her designee to cause the conditions to be abated.
(G) Costs of abatement; lien.
(1) After the abatement of a nuisance as provided in divisions (D), (E) and (F) above, the cost of the abatement shall become a lien against the premises upon confirmation of the cost thereof by the Town Council. The confirmation shall take place only after ten days’ written notice to the owner of the premises where the nuisance existed of the proposed confirmation.
(2) Upon confirmation, the cost of abatement shall be a lien against the premises from which the nuisance was abated, the same to be recorded as required by the state statutes and to be collected as unpaid taxes.
(H) Transporting meat products. It shall be unlawful for any person to drive over any street or to park on any street or at any filling station, parking lot or other place within the town any vehicle containing wet meat, or meat products or seafood or seafood products unless the vehicle is so constructed or equipped as to prevent leakage or seepage of the water or waste therefrom or unless the same is free from noxious odors.
(Ord. passed 2-7-2012) Penalty, see § 50.99