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ARTICLE VI.
ABATEMENT
ABATEMENT
(a) Upon finding a person guilty or responsible for a violation of any provision of this chapter, the court shall order such person to perform whatever action is reasonably necessary to correct and abate the violations, including clean-up, board-up, extermination, repair, rehabilitation, vacation of the building or structure, permanently securing or filling the excavation, compliance with section 16-29, and/or demolition. An abatement order shall be effective for one (1) year unless stayed on appeal. If stayed on appeal, the order shall be effective for one (1) year from the end of the appeal if the judgement and sentence are upheld. If more than one (1) person is guilty or responsible for a violation, such persons shall be jointly and severally responsible for completing the abatement.
(b) For violations of section 16-15 of this chapter, upon a finding of responsibility, the court shall order the abatement of the offending vehicle within thirty (30) days of judgment, unless additional time is requested by the defendant and granted by the court. Upon expiration of the time for abatement, and upon request by the city, the court shall order the city to abate a violation of section 16-15 by towing and impounding the vehicle; and the city shall dispose of the vehicle pursuant to the procedures for such disposal as set forth in sections 20-13 and 20-14 of the Code.
(c) When the court orders abatement pursuant to this section, the court shall advise a violator that additional fines will be imposed for failure to abate a violation, and that the city may bring criminal charges for failure to obey an order to abate a violation.
(Ord. No. 9816, § 15, 2-24-03; Ord. No. 10126, § 13, 3-1-05; Ord. No. 10512, § 3, 3-25-08)
(a) In addition to ordering abatement of a violation as provided in section 16-60, upon finding a person guilty or responsible for a violation of any provision of this chapter, the court may issue an order authorizing the city to perform whatever action is reasonably necessary to correct and abate the violation, including clean-up, board-up, extermination, repair, rehabilitation, vacation of the building or structure, disconnection of utilities, permanently securing or filling the excavation, and/or demolition.
(b) The reasonable costs of any such abatement shall be the responsibility of the person found guilty or responsible of the violation. If more than one (1) person is guilty or responsible for a violation, such persons shall be jointly and severally responsible for the costs of the abatement. The city shall pay the cost and expense of such abatement from any appropriation made available for that purpose and shall certify a statement of account to the finance director who shall collect the amount due, together with interest at the rate established by law.
(c) Any and all charges and costs arising from the city taking action to abate a violation pursuant to a court order shall be a lien filed against the real property that is the subject of the violation.
(d) The city may make the costs of an abatement an assessment on the property that is the subject of the violation where all of the following are true:
(1) The case was initiated by the service of a notice of violation pursuant to section 16-45 of this chapter;
(2) The owner or responsible party failed to comply with such notice within thirty (30) days; and
(3) The notice included the estimated cost of such abatement to the city if the owner or responsible party did not comply.
Upon commencement of action on the property or after mailing the statement of account to the owner or responsible party, the city shall assess the property for the cost of work performed, including actual costs of any additional inspection and other incidental connected costs, and for associated legal costs for abatement or injunction, and may pursue any or all means for recovery of cost if the assessment is not paid. If the assessment is paid, the city shall remove the assessment. In the event it is necessary to enforce the assessment by sale, the sale shall be made from a judgment of foreclosure and order of sale. The city shall have the right to enforce the assessment in the Superior Court of Pima County, at any time after recording, but failure to enforce the assessment shall not affect its validity. The recorded assessment shall be prima facie evidence of the truth of all matters recited therein, and of the regularity of all proceedings prior to the recording. Prior assessment or assessments for the purposes provided for in this chapter shall not be a bar to a subsequent assessment or assessments and any number of liens or assessments on the same parcel may be enforced in the same action.
(e) An assessment made pursuant to this section is prior and superior to all other liens, obligations, mortgages or other encumbrances, except liens for general taxes.
(f) Any liens or assessments filed with the county recorder pursuant to previous provisions of this chapter or any similar chapter shall remain in effect under the same terms and conditions that existed at the time of recording.
(g) If the code official observes a violation of sections 16-13(a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or 16-33 and serves a written notice of violation pursuant to section 16-45 and the violation has not been completely abated within thirty (30) days, then the violation is presumed to constitute a health or fire hazard. The code official may then go upon the property and abate the violation at the expense of the owner or responsible party. Any and all costs arising from the city's action to abate the violation shall be a lien filed against the real property that is the subject of the violation. A verified statement of the costs or expenses shall be prepared and charged pursuant to rules, procedures and regulations promulgated by the appropriate code official to the last known address of the responsible person. In determining costs, the city may charge twice the rate established by mayor and council resolution for the collection of trash and refuse. If the charged person has a utility services account with the city, the costs may be charged to that account. If more than one (1) person is responsible for the violation, such persons shall be jointly and severally responsible for the payment of costs or expenses of the abatement. The payment may be in addition to any civil or criminal penalty imposed pursuant to this Code.
(h) The purpose of charging costs to a utility services account per subsection (g) is to provide a means of billing and collecting costs, rather than to create a means of discontinuing utility services.
(Ord. No. 9816, § 15, 2-24-03; Ord. No. 10126, § 14, 3-1-05; Ord. No. 10348, § 6, 11-28-06; Ord. No. 10833, § 7, 8-4-10)
If it is determined that a nuisance as provided in section 16-14 is a hazard to the public safety and health, the code official may declare such structure a hazard. After notice is communicated to any owner of record to secure the structure and the owner does not secure the structure to city specifications, the hazard may be summarily abated by the city through boarding. The city may also post both the structure and the exterior premises with signs to provide reasonable notice prohibiting entry (i.e., "No Trespassing" signs). Any and all charges and costs arising from the city taking action to secure the structure shall be a lien filed against the real property containing such a structure.
(Ord. No. 9816, § 15, 2-24-03; Ord. No. 10126, § 15, 3-1-05)
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter if, in the opinion of the code official, the conditions at a property constitute an imminent hazard, the code official may order immediate abatement of the hazard without notice. Such abatement of an imminent hazard shall be limited to the minimum work necessary to remove the hazard, and may include disconnection of utilities.
(b) The city shall pay the cost and expense of such abatement from any appropriation made available for that purpose.
(c) A lien shall be recorded with the Pima County Recorder's Office and shall address the same costs and procedures identified in section 16-61, entitled abatement by the city.
(d) Whenever the code official finds that any structure contains an imminent hazard or health hazard, the code official may declare such structure unfit for human occupancy and order it to be vacated or to remain vacant. A structure declared unfit for occupancy and ordered vacated or to remain vacant under the provisions of this section shall not be leased, rented or occupied, and the utilities cannot be reconnected, until it has been inspected and deemed fit for occupancy by the city. The city shall reinspect, for the purpose of reoccupancy, within three (3) business days of the receipt of a written request by the owner.
(e) Fire department suppression forces are responsible for emergency operations related to fire conditions. In any case involving fire conditions at a building or structure, fire suppression forces shall be responsible for fire suppression and structure control until such time as the fire is fully extinguished. After fire conditions are fully extinguished, and after any necessary fire cause investigation, fire suppression forces shall transfer control and responsibility for the building or structure to the building official or other appropriate code official. After this transfer, all subsequent enforcement actions, such as securing the structure, restoring utilities, or ordering demolition, as well as all follow up actions such as cost recovery, shall be the responsibility of the building official or code official. After the transfer of responsibility, fire cause investigators shall retain authority over and responsibility for investigation of fire causation.
(Ord. No. 9816, § 15, 2-24-03)
(a) Whenever the code official has determined that a structure is unfit for occupancy and orders the structure to be vacated, the code official shall post a written notice at or upon each exit of the structure. The notice shall be in substantially the following form:
DO NOT ENTER
UNSAFE TO OCCUPY
It is unlawful to occupy this structure, or to remove or deface this notice.
(b) No person shall remain in or enter any structure that has been so posted, except to make repairs, demolish or remove such structure under permit. No person shall remove or deface such notice after it is posted until the required repairs, demolition or removal of the structure is completed and the property is reinspected and found to be in compliance.
(c) Whenever a notice is posted pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the code official shall provide notice of such posting to the property owner using the procedures and provisions set forth in section 16-45 of this chapter. This notice shall recite the emergency and describe the hazardous condition(s) that necessitate the posting.
(Ord. No. 9816, § 15, 2-24-03)
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