Section
99.01 General provisions
99.02 Accumulation and stockpiling prohibited; declaration of public nuisance
99.03 Investigation
99.04 Entry on private property
99.05 Form of request for hearing
99.06 Hearing before City Council or hearing examiner
99.07 Abatement by the city
99.08 Lien of assessment
99.09 Judicial review and enforcement
99.10 Joint and several responsibility
99.99 Penalty
(A) Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
CITY OFFICIAL. Any designee of the City Council and city officer, agent, or employee, acting in the course of official duties for purposes of the enforcement of this chapter.
PERSON. Any natural person, firm, partnership, association, legal entity, or corporation.
PERSON IN CHARGE OF PROPERTY or PERSON IN CHARGE OF THE SUBJECT PROPERTY. Any one or more than one occupant, lessee, contract purchaser, owner, or person having possession of, control of, occupancy at, or title to, the subject property.
WASTE. Matter or material that is:
(a) Hazardous to health and safety of the public;
(b) Organic materials that can decompose, giving rise to foul smelling products, or creating a health hazard, or which are capable of attracting or providing food for potential disease carriers such as birds, rodents, flies and other vectors; and
(c) Materials and matter accumulated on property so as to constitute a public nuisance recognized by common law.
(B) Exceptions.
(1) This chapter does not apply to materials or items that might otherwise constitute waste if such is kept and maintained in a business licensed as a junk yard or automobile wrecking yard which is operating in accordance with all applicable rules and regulations, including zoning laws, or to items or materials accumulated for recycle in a recycling business operating as such and in accordance with all applicable rules and regulations, including zoning laws. To be exempted by this paragraph, such items and materials must be enclosed by a secure fence that is no less than six feet tall and is so sight obscuring as to prevent a person from seeing into the enclosed area from other property or from a right of way or sidewalk, and such items and materials must be stored in a fashion that does not otherwise constitute a nuisance at common law.
(2) This chapter does not apply to the accumulation of firewood, nor does it apply to the accumulation of construction materials at the location of properly permitted construction work when the stored materials are exclusively for use at the site.
(Ord. 555, passed 11-9-2014)
(A) No person shall deposit, accumulate, store, maintain, allow to exist, or display waste on any property within the city, except as specifically permitted by this chapter or as otherwise authorized by law.
(B) No person or occupant of any land in the city shall authorize, permit or suffer violation of any provision of this chapter.
(C) Exceptions. The prohibitions of this chapter do not apply to the following:
(1) The temporary accumulation of limited quantities of waste in standard garbage or recycling collection receptacles provided for that purpose pending disposal or recycling in a legal manner, providing that the waste does not create offensive odors, unsightly conditions, or hazards to health; and
(2) The accumulation and distribution of compost, silage, or livestock manure in conjunction with normal crop or animal husbandry activities, so long as such activity is in compliance with all applicable zoning regulations, does not physically encroach upon the land of another, violates no statutes, rules, regulations, ordinances of the Department of Environmental Quality or the city, and is conducted in a reasonable manner so as to minimize any offensive odor, unsightly condition, or hazard to health.
(D) The accumulation and storage of waste is hereby found to create a condition tending to reduce the value of private property, to promote blight, deterioration and unsightliness, to invite plundering, to create fire hazards, to create a harborage for rodents and insects, and to be injurious to the health, safety and general welfare of the inhabitants of the city. Therefore, the presence of waste on private property in violation of this chapter is hereby declared to constitute a public nuisance which may be abated in accordance with provisions of this chapter.
(E) Nothing stated within this chapter shall be construed to allow the accumulation or stockpiling of any waste prohibited by any other ordinance or regulation of the city or by any land use regulations or any other applicable laws, or to declare any noncommercial accumulation or stockpiling of waste as commercial, or to override provisions of any ordinance of the city regarding home occupations, or commercial endeavors relating to the storage and accumulation of commercial products. Nothing stated in this chapter shall be construed as authorizing any activity which at common law would constitute a public or private nuisance nor as legislatively amending or changing common law nuisance principles.
(Ord. 555, passed 11-9-2014)
When a city official has determined that a violation of this chapter exists on property which should be abated, the official shall:
(A) Attempt to discover the name and address of the owner and occupant of the property, the person responsible for the accumulation or deposit of the waste, and all persons who may be in charge of the real property on which the violation exists as such persons are defined in § 99.01(A);
(B) Give written notice to the persons described in division (A) of this section by regular first class mail and registered or certified mail requiring a return receipt that there is a violation of this chapter. If the owner or occupant of the property is not found, the city official shall place a notice posted on the property where it can easily be seen;
(C) Contents of notice. The notice referred to in the preceding division shall contain:
(1) A description of the real property by street address or otherwise, on which the violation exists;
(2) A direction to abate the violation within no less than 15 days from the date of the notice;
(3) A description of the violation;
(4) A statement that unless the violation is abated, the city may enter, abate the violation, and charge the costs of abatement to the person responsible and/or impose a lien against the real property on which the violation was abated;
(5) A statement that failure to abate the violation within the time provided may warrant imposition of a fine;
(6) A statement that the alternative to compliance with the notice is to make a written request within 15 calendar days of the date of the notice for a hearing before the City Council to show why abatement should not be required or why more time for abatement may be needed. This statement shall list the required contents of the request for hearing that are set forth in § 99.05.
(7) A statement that if there is no request for a hearing before the City Council within 15 calendar days of the date of the notice, the determination as set forth in the notice shall be final with no right to further protest or otherwise appeal.
(D) Upon completion of posting and mailing, the persons posting and mailing shall execute and file certificates with the City Council stating the date and place of the mailing and posting.
(Ord. 555, passed 11-9-2014)
Upon compliance with all applicable procedures, city officials are authorized to enter onto private property at all reasonable times to examine items and materials reasonably suspected to constitute wastes in violation of this chapter and following the procedures set forth to take steps necessary to abate violations hereof.
(Ord. 555, passed 11-9-2014)
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