(A) Weeding and tidying of premises, cutting of right-of-way required. Any person owning real property within the town is hereby required to:
(1)
Maintain the property, including the adjoining right-of-way, such that grass, weeds, and other lawn vegetation does not exceed a height of eight inches.
(2) Keep the property and right-of-way free from trash and refuse matter at all times; and
(3) Keep the property and right-of-way free from the conditions enumerated in division (C) below.
(B) Enforcement.
(1) The Planning Department of the town shall be responsible for the administration and enforcement of this chapter.
(2) The Code Compliance Officer, or his or her designee, is authorized to exercise the powers as may be necessary to carry out the intent and provisions of this chapter.
(C) Nuisances prohibited; enumeration. The following enumerated and described conditions are hereby found, deemed and declared to constitute a detriment, danger and hazard to the health and safety of the inhabitants of the city; and are found, deemed and declared to be public nuisances wherever the same may exist, and the creation, maintenance, or failure to abate any nuisances is hereby declared unlawful:
(1) Any condition that has become, or will become if not corrected, a breeding ground or harbor for mosquitoes, rats or other pests;
(2) A place of heavy growth of weeds, grasses, vines, or other vegetation over eight inches in height;
(3) A place of growth of vines, shrubs, or other vegetation, when the condition is causing a breeding ground for rodents, or is a focal point for any other nuisance enumerated in this section;
(4) A place of growth of poison sumac, poison ivy, poison oak, or other noxious vegetation;
(5) An open place of collection of stagnant water where insects tend to breed;
(6) Any concentration of combustible items such as mattresses, boxes, paper, automobile tires and tubes, garbage, trash, refuse, brush, old clothes, rags, or any other combustible materials or objects of a like nature;
(7) A collection place for lumber, brick, concrete, nails, masonry, and/or building materials, unless the conditions are temporary in nature and caused by current construction in progress pursuant to a lawfully issued building permit;
(8) An open place of collection of garbage, food waste, animal waste, or any other rotten or putrescible matter of any kind; however, nothing in this division shall be construed to prevent the generally accepted use of a properly maintained compost pile, or storage of animal manure being used as fertilizer for lawns and gardens, and for other agricultural or horticultural purposes;
(9) Any household or office furniture, appliances, or other metal products of any kind kept in open places, or any indoor upholstered furniture kept outside in a location exposed to the weather;
(10) Any products that have jagged edges of metal or glass, or areas of confinement kept in open places;
(11) Any open places of concentration of trash, refuse, discarded bottles, cans or medical supplies;
(12) Any condition whereby any fence, sign, billboard, shrubbery, bush, tree, mailbox, or other object or combination of objects that obstruct the view of motorists using any street, private driveway, or approach to any street intersection adjacent to and abutting such, and so as to constitute a traffic hazard as a condition dangerous to public safety upon the street, private driveway, or at any street intersection;
(13) Any building, structure, fence, or retaining wall declared to be unsafe by the Code Compliance Officer or his or her designee, and which is in danger of collapse so that it may fall and injure members of the public or damage public or private property;
(14) Any improper or inadequate drainage, as determined by the Code Compliance Officer or his or her designee, on private property, which causes flooding, interferes with the use or endangers in any way the streets, sidewalks, parks or other municipally-owned property of any kind;
(15) Any condition, as determined by the Code Compliance Officer or his or her designee, which blocks, hinders, or obstructs in any way the natural flow of branches, streams, creeks, surface waters, ditches, or drains;
(16) Any storm water retention or impoundment device that is operating improperly, as determined by the Code Compliance Officer or his or her designee; and
(17) Any other condition declared to be dangerous or prejudicial to the public health or public safety and a public nuisance by the Board of Alderpersons.
(D) Nuisances abatement procedures. When any public nuisance, as set out in division (C) above, is found to exist on any property, including rights-of-way and easements, within the town, the following procedures shall be followed:
(1) The Code Compliance Officer shall notify the owner of the premises where the nuisance is located that conditions exist which constitute a public nuisance, and unless the condition is abated within ten days from the mailing of the notice, which shall be sent by registered or certified mail, the conditions constituting a nuisance will be abated, and the cost of abatement, including an administrative fee, shall constitute a lien against the premises.
(2) The Code Compliance Officer, or his or her designee, is hereby given full power and authority to enter upon the premises involved, for the purpose of abating the nuisance found to exist as herein set out. If any property owner served with notice shall fail or refuse to correct or eliminate the condition causing the nuisance within ten days after the notice has been given, the Code Compliance Officer, or his or her designee, may proceed to abate the nuisance by utilization of town forces or an outside contractor. The Code Compliance Officer may allow the owner additional time to correct or eliminate the condition causing the nuisance, if he or she determines that the failure to correct or abate the condition was caused by weather conditions or other factors not within the control of the owner.
(3) After the abatement of the nuisance, the Code Compliance Officer shall make a written report of the actual cost incurred by the town, and shall deliver the report to the Finance Officer. The owner of the premises shall be liable to the town for the actual cost incurred by the town in the nuisance abatement, including an administrative fee. The cost shall be charged against the property owner, and shall be collected in the same manner and at the same time as the ad valorem taxes of the owner are collected. The cost shall be a lien on the real property, subject only to the lien of the town and county ad valorem taxes thereon.
(1992 Code, § 95.15) (Ord. O-94-06129900, passed 6-12-2000; Ord. 04-O-131, passed 10-11-2004; Ord. 05-O-171, passed 6-13-2005; Am. Ord. 10-O-244, passed 12-13-2010; Am. Ord. 12-O-283, passed 4-9-2012)
Penalty, see § 95.999