(A) Purpose and objectives. The placement or maintenance of graffiti anywhere within public view in the village poses a serious threat to the orderly and proper maintenance of the village and to the safety, health, and welfare of the general public. Accordingly, the village has determined that it is necessary to deal strictly with any person who commits or intends to commit the offense of placing graffiti within public view in the village. The village recognizes that the perpetrator is the principal offender under this section, and thus intends that every such perpetrator be punished accordingly. The village also recognizes, however, that graffiti must be eradicated and, therefore, that the owner or person in control of any property or place on which graffiti has been placed in public view, while also a victim, must be required to remove that graffiti for his or her own good and for the protection of the safety, health, and welfare of all residents of the village. The purpose of this section is to prevent the propagation of graffiti and to cause any graffiti that does appear to be removed as quickly as possible, with the objective of protecting the public safety, health, and welfare.
(B) Definition of graffiti. For purposes of this section, the word "GRAFFITI" shall mean any symbol, announcement, insignia, name identification, inscription, picture, or similar marking, including without limitation any letter, word, numeral, emblem, or combination thereof, that is painted, written, drawn, scratched, etched, or in any other way placed on any wall, fence, sign, building, or other structure, or sidewalk, pavement, post, stone, tree, or any other real or personal property or place, private or public, except as specifically permitted by state law or regulation or Village Code, ordinance, or regulation.
(C) Graffiti prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person to place graffiti upon the real or personal, public or private, property of another without the express, written permission of the owner of said real or personal property.
(D) Placement with owner's permission. It shall be unlawful for any owner/occupant or person having control of any real or personal property which is in the public view within the village to place, permit, or otherwise tolerate graffiti to be placed or to remain on that property or place if such graffiti, as described in division (B), incites violence by reference to gang or criminal activity, depicts or expresses obscenity by referring to sexual activity, contains defamatory materials about a public or private person, or is such that the Code Enforcement Commissioner, or his or her agent, in their sole discretion, deems said graffiti to be inappropriate for the purposes rendered.
(E) Possession of graffiti materials prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person to possess any spray paint, paint, ink, marking pen containing any nonwater soluble fluid, brush, applicator, or other tool or material for painting, drawing, marking, scratching, or etching with the intent to use such tool or material in violation of division (C) above.
(F) Duty to remove graffiti. Every owner of any real or personal property or place within the village, and every person having control of any real or personal property or place within the village, shall remove, cover, or otherwise eradicate, at his or her own expense, any graffiti that is placed in public view on that property or place within three business days after receipt of a notice from the village to do so. Such notice from the village shall describe the graffiti generally, shall order its immediate removal by said third business day and shall set forth the possible results of non-removal discussed in division (G) below.
(G) Nuisance declared. Every violation of any provision of this section is hereby declared to be a public nuisance. Where the owner or other person upon whom notice was served pursuant to division (F) above, fails to remove the graffiti described in the notice within seven days of service of the notice, the village may take all such steps to remove, cover, or otherwise eradicate or abate the graffiti in conformance with this section and the nuisance abatement procedures set forth in §§ 98.35 through 98.37. All costs incurred by the village in removing or otherwise abating the graffiti shall be borne by the property owner and may be a lien on the property as set forth in § 98.37 upon filing of a notice of lien.
(Ord. 2006-O-021, passed 4-25-06) Penalty, see § 131.99