For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AUTHORIZED EMPLOYEE. An individual designated to make the necessary inspections or any individual(s) of any governmental department of the town, which department has been designated by the Town Council to enforce this subchapter.
ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC NUISANCE. Any of the following constitute an environmental public nuisance:
(1) Any growth of weeds, grass or other rank vegetation on private or governmental property which is neglected, disregarded or not cut, mowed or otherwise removed and/or which has attained a height of nine inches or more;
(2) Any accumulation of dead weeds, grass, brush, trees or woody growth on private or governmental property, compost piles excepted;
(3) Any poison ivy, ragweed or other poisonous plant or plants detrimental to health, growing on any private or governmental property; or
(4) Any vegetation, trees or woody growth on private property which due to its proximity to any governmental property, right-of-way or easement, interferes with the public safety or lawful use of the governmental property, right-of-way or easement or which has been allowed to become a health or safety hazard.
EXCLUDED PROPERTY. Any of the following may constitute EXCLUDED PROPERTY from being considered an environmental public nuisance:
(1) Land cultivated in a commercial, agricultural or horticultural zone;
(2) An existing natural or developed forest which does not create a health or safety hazard;
(3) Vacant open lands, fields or wooded areas more than 150 feet from occupied property;
(4) A nature habitat area more than 150 feet from an occupied structure or adjacent property and determined not to be a health or safety hazard; and
(5) A wetland designated by United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Division on a National Wetlands Inventory Map.
GOVERNMENTAL PROPERTY. Real estate within the town which is owned, leased, controlled or occupied by the United States or the state, or any political subdivision thereof.
OFFICER. An employee of the government department of the town so designated by the Town Council having law enforcement powers to issue a town ordinance violation summons in order to enforce the provisions of this subchapter.
OWNER. Shall be presumed to be any one or more of the following:
(1) The owner or owners in fee simple of a parcel of real estate including the life tenant if any;
(2) The record owner or owners as reflected by the most current records in the Township Assessor’s office of the township in which the real estate is located; or
(3) The purchaser(s) of such real estate under any contract for conditional sale thereof.
PRIVATE PROPERTY. All real estate within the town except governmental property.
PUBLIC NUISANCE.
(1) Whatever is injurious to health, or indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as essentially to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.
(2) The following is a list of PUBLIC NUISANCES, but does not limit the conditions constituting a nuisance under this section:
(a) Accumulation of rubbish, trash, refuse, junk and other abandoned materials, metals, lumber, ashes, filth, excrement, boards, slops, cinders, old tires, pallets, sawdust, wood or metal shavings, rubber, boxes, barrels, crates, cans, bottles, cartons, paper, debris, manure, grass cuttings, tree limbs, discarded food, clothing or any other offensive or disagreeable substance (meaning not orderly, stacked, packed, racked, stored or in containers, compost piles excepted);
(b) Any condition which provides harborage of rats, mice, snakes and other vermin;
(c) Disagreeable or obnoxious odors and stenches, as well as the conditions, substances or other causes which give rise to the emission or generation of those odors and stenches; other than that which originate from customary agricultural or industrial practice;
(d) Carcasses of animals or fowls, not disposed of within a reasonable time after death;
(e) Buildings, structures or other places and locations where any violation of federal, state or town law is conducted, maintained or performed.
(f) Accumulation of stagnant water;
(g) Any abandoned, unattended or discarded freezer, refrigerator or other container which has an airtight door or lid, without first removing the door or lid from the freezer, refrigerator or container;
(h) Any building or other structure which is in such a dilapidated condition that it is unfit for human habitation or kept in such an unsanitary condition that it is a menace to the health of the people residing in the vicinity thereof, or presents a more than ordinarily dangerous fire hazard in the vicinity where it is located;
(i) The unauthorized obstruction of any public street, road, alley or sidewalk;
(j) The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal or body of water by sewage, dead animals, creamery, industrial waste or other substances;
(k) No trash, refuse or garbage shall be removed, hauled or conveyed within the town limits, unless the vehicles used for removal, hauling or conveying is tightly covered by screen and driven in a manner that, none of the contents may be spilled, dropped or blown from it;
(l) It shall be a nuisance to permit furniture designed for interior use or household furnishing to be sit or be places outside any structure, unless placed for refuse collections;
(m) It shall be a nuisance to maintain a swimming pool 42 inches or more deep without being secured by fences or gates; and
(n) It shall be a nuisance to fill land with materials other than that allowed by state code.
TOWN. The Town of Sweetser, Indiana.
TRAFFIC HAZARD. Any environmental public nuisance that is potentially dangerous to the existing traffic at the intersection in question as it may block or prohibit the view of any oncoming traffic.
(Ord. 2014-2, passed - -2014) Penalty, see § 92.99