A. "Public nuisance" means:
1. A condition which endangers safety or health, is offensive to the senses, or obstructs the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by an entire community or neighborhood or by any considerable number of persons, including, but not limited to, the following:
The enumeration, below, shall not be deemed exclusive, but merely illustrative, it being the intent and purpose of this subsection to include as nuisances, all actions or things of the character described in this subsection A1.
a. Accumulating, maintaining or storing in public view on any lot or other parcel of land, any abandoned, discarded, or unused furniture, appliances, stoves, sinks, toilets, cabinets, household fixtures or equipment, or junk.
b. Accumulating, maintaining or storing in public view on any lot or other parcel of land, any junk vehicle, component part of a motor vehicle, or any abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles, trailers, campers, boats or other watercraft. Any person possessing one or more junk vehicles, regardless of ownership, shall shield the vehicles from public view or remove the vehicles to a licensed motor vehicle wrecking facility or to a licensed motor vehicle graveyard, as defined by Montana Code Annotated section 75-10-501.
c. Dumping, piling, or stacking of bricks, concrete blocks, waste wood and similar material on any lot or other parcel of land, unless said material is stacked in neat piles and all waste materials from the cleaning of such items, such as mortar, wood splinters, broken and unusable bricks, are removed.
d. Accumulating, maintaining or storing of a significant amount of cardboard boxes, broken packing boxes, paper, or other similar items on any lot or other parcel of land.
e. Piling, dumping or depositing of any dirt, demolition wastes including wood, bricks, concrete, used road blacktop and other similar materials on any lot or other parcel of land, unless such material is to be utilized for fill material to fill a land depression; and provided that, if such material is used as fill material, all such material is completely covered with clean fill material once every ten (10) days and the fill area is adequately fenced to restrict access to the area; and further provided, that the failure to comply with the periodic cover and access control requirements shall constitute a violation of this chapter. The storage by a governmental entity of used road blacktop, cold mix, gravel and other similar materials for road maintenance and repair is expressly permitted.
f. Maintaining or accumulating on any lot or other parcel of land, garbage, refuse, decaying vegetation, animal bedding, waste or feces, cesspool, water holes, unsealed water tanks, stagnant water, or any other condition which is or may reasonably become infested or inhabited by rodents, reptiles, vermin or wild animals or may furnish a breeding place for mosquitoes or flies.
g. Maintaining, or causing or permitting the same, on any lot or other parcel of land, any building or premises which is determined to be dangerous or dilapidated. Any building or structure which has any or all of the conditions or defects hereinafter described shall be deemed to be a dangerous or dilapidated building, if such conditions or defects exist to the extent that the life, health, property, value of property or safety of the occupants or the public are jeopardized:
(1) Broken or missing window or windows which have remained in such condition for a period exceeding thirty (30) days;
(2) Broken or missing exterior door or doors which have remained in such condition for a period exceeding thirty (30) days;
(3) Holes in the roof or exterior walls, other than normal construction, which have remained in such condition for a period exceeding thirty (30) days;
(4) Fire or other casualty damage in public view which remains unrepaired for a period exceeding six (6) months.
A building which is undergoing construction or remodeling for which a valid building permit has been issued by the town shall not be deemed in violation of this subsection so long as work thereon is prosecuted with reasonable diligence and so long as the building permit has not expired.
2. Any premises where persons gather for the purpose of engaging in unlawful conduct.
3. A condition which renders dangerous for passage any public highway or right of way or waters used by the public.
B. A person commits the offense of maintaining a public nuisance if such person knowingly creates, conducts or maintains a public nuisance. The owner of a parcel of property and the occupant, lessee or holder of the parcel of property are jointly and severally liable for any violation of this section. There is a rebuttable presumption that the person named as owner of the property on the current assessment list of the state department of revenue is the owner of the property for purposes of this chapter.
C. Any act which affects an entire community or neighborhood or any considerable number of persons (as specified in subsection A1 of this section) is no less a nuisance because the extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted upon individuals is unequal. (Ord. 2015-08, 8-12-2015)