CHAPTER 7-7: DISRUPTIVE PROPERTIES
SECTIONS:
7-7-2: DECLARATION OF PUBLIC NUISANCE:
7-7-3: DISRUPTIVE PROPERTY PROHIBITED:
7-7-4: DOCUMENTATION AND SUBSTANTIATION OF COMPLAINTS:
7-7-5: NOTICE OF DISRUPTIVE ACTIVITIES OR DISRUPTIVE PROPERTY:
7-7-6: SPECIAL SERVICE FEES; LIABILITY; REMEDIATION:
7-7-7: DURATION OF DISRUPTIVE PROPERTY CLASSIFICATION:
7-7-8: VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES:
7-7-10: APPEAL OF DESIGNATION:
7-7-1 DEFINITIONS:
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
(A) "Disruptive activities" means situations created, originating, or conducted within a building or within the boundaries of the property on which a building is located by the owner, owner’s employees, owner’s representatives, occupants, tenants, or customers thereof, or the visitors to any such owner, occupant, tenant, or customer, which would unreasonably disturb the community, the neighborhood, or an ordinary individual of normal sensitivities at or beyond the property line, including but not limited to:
1. Loud music;
2. Boisterous gatherings;
3. Excessive, loud or unnecessary noises audible beyond the property line;
4. Altercations occurring on the property, such as fighting, disruptive conduct, brawling or similar activities;
5. Illegal drug use occurring on the property; or
6. Other similar activities occurring within or outside any building located on the property.
(B) "Disruptive activity notice" means a document summarizing the findings and observations of an officer investigating disruptive activities. The notice shall contain the time, the property identification, the identification of the officer, basis of the complaint or observations, citation of this chapter and identification of the provisions violated and other relevant items.
(C) "Disruptive property" means any residential property for which the Police Department has notified the owner that the Police Department has documented and substantiated either two (2) or more disruptive activities within sixty (60) days; or three (3) or more disruptive activities within one hundred twenty (120) days; or four (4) or more disruptive activities within one hundred eighty (180) days; or five (5) or more disruptive activities within three hundred sixty (360) days.
(D) Owner or Responsible Party. The terms “owner” and “responsible party” shall be interchangeable for purposes of this chapter and shall mean any person, including any legal entity, having the right of legal title or the beneficial interest in a residential property or any portion thereof, as that interest is recorded by any governmental entity.
(E) "Residential property" means:
1. Any:
(a) Lot(s), plot(s), or parcel(s) of land on which a residential building(s) or a building(s) of mixed occupancy is located; or
(b) Residential building(s), including one (1) family dwelling(s), multiple dwellings, and rooming houses or boardinghouses; or
(c) Residential occupancies in building(s) of mixed occupancy.
2. For the purpose hereof, a "mixed occupancy building" means a building used for any purpose that also contains residential occupancy therein.
(F) "Police special service" means police services provided during any call in response to complaints or other information regarding disruptive activities or a disruptive property.
(G) "Police special service fee" means the fee as shown by a schedule adopted by the City Council with the recommendations of the Police Chief to offset the cost of services provided by the Police Department in response to disruptive activities or a disruptive property. (Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)
7-7-2 DECLARATION OF PUBLIC NUISANCE:
(A) A disruptive property is hereby declared to be a public nuisance.
(B) The owner of a residential property shall provide sufficient control, oversight, monitoring, and management of the property to prevent the same from becoming a disruptive property.
(C) The owner of a disruptive property shall be responsible for taking all necessary measures to abate or eliminate the public nuisance. (Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)
7-7-3 DISRUPTIVE PROPERTY PROHIBITED:
No owner of residential property shall maintain, or allow to be maintained or to exist on the owner’s property, a disruptive property as defined in this chapter. Each and every day that a disruptive activity occurs on the property after it becomes classified as a disruptive property shall constitute a separate offense. (Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)
7-7-4 DOCUMENTATION AND SUBSTANTIATION OF COMPLAINTS:
The Police Department shall document all responses to complaints and observations of disturbances or disruptive activities occurring at residential properties. In the absence of a complaint, an officer may investigate a disruptive activity based upon the officer’s own independent observation. The officer(s) responding to a disturbance complaint or the officer’s own observation shall, at the officer’s sole discretion, classify each incident as either a substantiated disruptive activity or as an unsubstantiated complaint or observation. The officer(s) shall identify all properties that are the object of the complaint or observation. The officer shall issue a verbal and/or written warning to any person observed by the officer to be present at the property that is the object of the complaint or observation advising them to cease any further disruptive activity on the property. The responding officer(s) need not identify a single individual associated with the complaint or observation at the property. (Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)
7-7-5 NOTICE OF DISRUPTIVE ACTIVITIES OR DISRUPTIVE PROPERTY:
(A) Whenever a disruptive activity occurs, the Police Department shall notify the owner of the property as to the number and frequency of prior disruptive events, if any, as provided below.
1. First Disruptive Activity. At the earliest time possible, but not more than seven (7) days after the first disruptive activity at a property, the Police Department may serve the owner with a copy of this chapter and a disruptive activity notice advising the owner that the Police Department has documented the occurrence of a disruptive activity at the owner’s property. Copies of the disruptive activity notice shall be provided to City Council members, the City Manager, Code Enforcement Officer and the Fire Chief. The notice shall also advise the owner that subsequent incidents will result in the property being classified as a disruptive property, and warn the owner that failure to prevent the property from becoming a disruptive property will constitute a violation of this chapter.
2. Second Disruptive Activity. At the earliest possible time, but not more than seven (7) days after the second disruptive activity at a property, the Police Department may serve the owner with a copy of this chapter and a disruptive activity notice advising the owner that the Police Department has documented a second disruptive activity at the owner’s property. In the event that the property has accumulated at this time two (2) disruptive activities within a sixty (60) day period, the Police Department shall further notify the owner that the property has been classified as a disruptive property and that the owner is in violation of this chapter. The owner will be assessed a police special service fee as set forth in Section 7-7-6. Copies of the disruptive event notice shall be provided to City Council members, the City Manager, Code Enforcement Officer and the Fire Chief.
3. Third or Subsequent Disruptive Activity. At the earliest time possible, but not more than seven days (7) after the third or subsequent disruptive activity at a property, the Police Department may serve the owner with a copy of this chapter and a disruptive activity notice advising the owner that the Police Department has documented a third or greater disruptive activity at the owner’s property. In the event that the property has accumulated at this time three (3) or more disruptive activities within a one hundred twenty (120) day period, or four (4) or more disruptive activities within a one hundred eighty (180) day period, the Police Department shall further notify the owner that the property has been classified as a disruptive property and that the owner is in violation of this chapter. The owner will be assessed a police special service fee as set forth in Section 7-7-6. Copies of the disruptive event notice shall be provided to City Council members, the City Manager, Code Enforcement Officer and the Fire Chief.
(B) Method of Service. For the purposes of this section, notices to the owner shall be served in the following ways:
1. Hand delivery to the owner or the owner’s duly authorized agent; or
2. By certified mail, with return receipt requested; or
3. By commercial delivery service (e.g. UPS, FedEx) with delivery receipt requested; or
4. In a manner requested in writing by the property owner.
(C) Following the first notice of disruptive activity, the Police Department may enforce the provisions of this chapter in the manner it deems most appropriate. Such enforcement may be civil, criminal, approval of a remediation plan, or all three (3). (Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)
7-7-6 SPECIAL SERVICE FEES; LIABILITY; REMEDIATION:
(A) The police special service fee arising out of a disruptive property classification shall be progressive depending on the number of disruptive activities.
(B) The amount of such police special service fee charged shall be deemed a joint and several debt to the City by any and all responsible parties. Any person owing money due for police special services shall be liable in an action brought in the name of the City for recovery of such amount, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs.
(C) The City may waive part or all of the special services fee charged against the owner of a disruptive property if the owner provides a remediation plan acceptable to the City to prevent future disruptive activities at the disruptive property.
(D) A remediation plan may include one (1) or more of the following:
1. An offer by the owner to allow a comprehensive code and fire-safety inspection by the Fire Department, Building Department and City Code Enforcement of the owner’s entire property within thirty (30) days of the notice of the disruptive property classification where a special service fee is included. The owner shall notify in writing all tenants and occupants of the property of the scheduled inspections and provide copies of such notices to the Police Department. The owner shall also cooperate fully with the City officials to gain entry to all areas of the property.
2. Listing of the names of all tenants and other authorized occupants of the property at the time of the disruptive property classification.
3. A copy of the terms and conditions contained in any occupancy agreement(s) or other lease document(s) agreed to by tenants of the disruptive property.
4. Documentation of any other written or verbal arrangements authorizing occupancy of the disruptive property that may exist in addition to a lease agreement.
5. The owner’s specific plan of action and timeline therefor to prevent future disruptive activities at the property.
6. An offer by the owner, or the owner’s duly authorized agent, to take appropriate steps through the judicial system to terminate the tenancy of the tenant or tenants who engaged in disruptive activities.
7. A timetable in which the owner or owner’s duly authorized agent shall begin and complete the proposed remediation measures.
8. Any other solutions or information the owner deems necessary or appropriate to provide to the Police Department.
(E) Approval of Remediation Plan. If the owner’s remediation plan is satisfactory to the Police Department, such approval of such plan shall be memorialized in a written agreement. Remedial measures identified in the agreement shall be implemented within a specified timetable as set forth. The Police Department and the owner, or the owner’s duly authorized agent, shall sign the agreement and copies shall be provided to the members of the City Council and the City Manager. In the event that the owner, or the owner’s duly authorized agent, fails to meet the obligations of the agreement within the specified timetable in the remediation plan to the satisfaction of the City, the City may pursue an enforcement action under Section 7-7-9.
(F) If the owner enters into a remediation agreement acceptable to the City, the City shall delay commencement of an enforcement action, if, in the opinion of the City, the owner is making a good faith effort to implement the remediation agreement and no new disruptive event occurs on the property.
(G) Police special service fees for disruptive activities and disruptive properties:
1. First disruptive activity No Fee
2. Second disruptive activity $500
3. Third disruptive activity $1,000
4. Fourth and each subsequent activity $1,500
(Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)
7-7-7 DURATION OF DISRUPTIVE PROPERTY CLASSIFICATION:
The disruptive property classification shall be removed from the property by the Police Department upon determination of all of the following:
(A) The passage of one hundred eighty (180) days from the date of the last disruptive event without the occurrence of any substantiated disruptive events; and
(B) Payment of all civil penalties and costs arising from the enforcement action; and
(C) Verification by City officials that all deficiencies, if any, discovered during any inspection under Section 7-7-6 have been corrected; and
(D) Satisfactory implementation of the remediation agreement required under Section 7-7-6. (Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)
7-7-8 VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES:
(A) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as affecting the ability to initiate or continue concurrent or subsequent criminal prosecution or civil code enforcement actions for any violation of City Code or state law arising out of the circumstances necessitating the application of this chapter.
(B) The remedies herein are cumulative and the City may proceed under one (1) or more such remedies. Each violation pursuant to this chapter shall constitute a separate offense and each day a violation remains unabated may constitute a separate offense.
(C) Any owner, occupant, lessee, property manager, designated agent, or other person having lawful control over a structure or parcel of land who causes, permits, facilitates, or aids or abets any violation of any provision of this chapter or who fails to perform any act or duty required by this chapter is subject to minimum civil sanction of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00), and a maximum civil sanction as set forth in Section 1-3-2. Each day any violation of any provision of this chapter exists shall constitute a separate violation.
(D) Any owner, responsible party, or other person having control over a structure or parcel of land who causes, permits, facilitates, or aids or abets any violation of any provision of this chapter or who fails to perform any act or duty required by this chapter is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor. (Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)
7-7-9 ENFORCEMENT:
It is a violation of this chapter for any owner to:
(A) Fail to fully implement the remediation agreement in compliance with the timetable specified in the agreement; or
(B) Fail to abate or eliminate the disruptive property public nuisance. (Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)
7-7-10 APPEAL OF DESIGNATION:
The Police Department’s designation of a property as a disruptive property may be challenged by the property owner through a civil suit in the Prescott Municipal Court. The property owner will have the burden of proving that his property does not meet the definition of a disruptive property found in this chapter. An appeal under this section does not relieve the property owner from the obligations found in this chapter during the pendency of the appeal. (Ord. 4967-1505, 3-1-2016)