(a) General. For the purpose of this Code, certain abbreviations, terms, phrases, words, and their derivatives shall be construed as specified in this Section. Words used in the singular include the plural and the plural in the singular. Words used in the masculine gender include the feminine, and the feminine the masculine. The word "shall" is always mandatory, and not merely directory. Where terms are not defined, they shall have their ordinarily accepted meanings or such as the context may imply.
(1) “Apartment” means a dwelling unit as defined in this Code.
(2) “Apartment house” means any building or portion thereof, which is designed, built, rented, leased, let, or hired out to be occupied, or which is occupied as the home or residence of three or more families living independently of each other in dwelling units as defined in this Code.
(3) “Approved” means constructed, installed and maintained in accordance with the provisions of this Code and other pertinent ordinances of the City of Struthers and with the rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereof.
(4) “Authorized inspector” includes, but is not limited to, the Building Inspector, Electrical Inspector, Fire Marshal, Health Officer and the Plumbing Inspector, and/or their duly appointed representative of the City of Struthers.
(5) “Basement” means that portion of a building located partly underground but having less than half its clear floor-to-ceiling height below the average natural level of the adjoining ground.
(6) “Boarding or rooming house” means any dwelling occupied in any such manner that certain rooms in excess of those used by members of the family, as hereinafter provided, and occupied as a home or family unit, are leased or rented to persons outside of the family, without any attempt to provide there or therewith cooking or kitchen accommodations.
(7) “Building Inspector” means the Building Inspector of this City of Struthers.
(8) “Ceiling height” means the clear vertical distance from the finished floor to the finished ceiling.
(9) “Cellar” means that portion of a building located partly or wholly underground and having half or more than half of its clear floor-to-ceiling height below the average natural level of the adjoining ground.
(10) “Dwelling” means any building or structure, except temporary housing, as herein defined, which is wholly or partly used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants.
(11) “Dwelling unit” means a room or a group of rooms located within a dwelling and forming a single habitable unit with facilities which are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.
(12) “Exit” means a continuous and unobstructed means of egress to a public way, and shall include intervening doorways, corridors, ramps, stairways, smoke-proof enclosures, horizontal exits, exterior courts, and yards.
(13) “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 poisoning, spraying, fumigating, trapping or by any other recognized and legal pest eliminate methods approved by the Authorized Inspector.
(14) “Family” means, for the purpose of this Code, a husband and/or wife or a father or a mother and either of their children by natural birth or adoption or the parents of either or both spouses.
(15) “Fire Chief” means the Fire Chief of the City of Struthers.
(16) “Floor area” means the net floor area within the enclosing walls of the room excluding built-in equipment such as wardrobes, cabinets, kitchen units, or fixtures.
(17) “Garbage” means the animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
(18) “Guest room” means any room or rooms used, or intended to be used by a guest for sleeping purposes.
(19) “Habitable room” means a room or enclosed floor space used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking or eating purposes, excluding bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, pantries, foyers, communicating corridors, stairways, closets, unfinished attics, cellars, basement recreation rooms, private workshops or hobby rooms, utility rooms, and storage spaces.
(20) “Health Officer” means the Health Officer or his duly appointed representative of the County of Mahoning.
(21) “Infestation” means the presence, within or around a dwelling, of any insects, rodents, or other pests.
(22) “Motor vehicle, abandoned” means an inoperable and/or unlicensed motor vehicle.
(23) “Multiple dwelling” means any dwelling containing two or more dwelling units.
(24) “Municipality” means the City of Struthers, Mahoning County, Ohio.
(25) “Nuisance”. The following shall be defined as nuisances:
A. Any public nuisance known at common law or in equity jurisprudence.
B. Any attractive nuisance which may prove detrimental to children whether in a building, or upon an unoccupied lot. This includes any abandoned wells, shafts, basements, or excavations; abandoned refrigerators and motor vehicles; or any structurally unsound fences or structures; or any lumber, trash, fences, debris, or vegetation which may prove a hazard for inquisitive minors.
C. Whatever is dangerous to human life or is detrimental to health.
D. Overcrowding a room with occupants.
E. Insufficient ventilation or illumination.
F. Inadequate or unsanitary sewerage or plumbing facilities.
G. Uncleanliness.
H. Whatever renders air, food, or drink unwholesome or detrimental to the health of human beings.
(26) “Occupants” means any person including an owner or operator living, sleeping, cooking or eating in, or having actual possession of, a dwelling unit or rooming unit.
(27) “Operable area” means that part of a window or door which is available for unobstructed ventilation and which opens directly to the outdoors.
(28) “Operator” mean any person who has charge, care or control of a building, or part thereof, in which dwelling units or rooming units are let.
(29) “Owner” means any person who, alone or jointly or severally with others:
A. Shall have legal title to any dwelling or dwelling unit, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof; or
B. Shall have charge, care, or control of any dwelling or dwelling unit, as owner or agent of the owner, or as executor, executrix, administrator, administratrix, trustee, or guardian of the estate of the owner. Any such person thus representing the actual owner shall be bound to comply with the provisions of this Code, and of rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto, to the same extent as if he were the owner.
(30) “Person” includes any individual, firm, corporation, association, or partnership.
(31) “Plumbing includes all of the following supplied facilities and equipment: gas pipes, gas-burning equipment, water pipes, garbage disposal units, waste pipes, water closets, sinks, installed dishwashers, lavatories, bath tubs, showers baths, installed cloth-washing machines, catch basins, drains, vents, storm drains, and any other similar supplied fixtures, together with all connections to water, sewer, or gas lines.
(32) “Premises” means a lot, plot, or parcel of land including the buildings and structures thereon.
(33) “Rooming house or boarding house”. See subsection (a)(6).
(34) “Rooming unit” means any rooms 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.
(35) “Rubbish” means all waste materials except garbage; and the term shall include the residue from the burning of wood, coal, coke, and other combustible material, paper, rags, cartons, boxes, excelsior, rubber, leather, tree branches, yard trimmings, tin cans, metals, mineral meteor, glass, crockery, and dust.
(36) “Single-family dwelling” means any dwelling containing one dwelling unit.
(37) “Substandard building”. See Section 1375.11.
(38) “Unfit dwelling”. Any dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming house or rooming unit, in whole or in part, which shall be found to have any of the following defects shall be deemed to be unfit for human habitation:
A. One which is so damaged, decayed, dilapidated, unsanitary, unsafe, or vermin-infested that it creates a serious hazard to the health or safety of the occupants or to the public.
B. One which lacks light, ventilation, heating, or sanitation facilities adequate to protect the health or safety of the occupants or of the public as prescribed by the provisions of this Code.
C. One which because of its general condition or location is unsanitary or otherwise dangerous to the health or safety of the occupants or of the public.
(Ord. 99-9773. Passed 3-12-99.)