Chapter 8.10
NUISANCES

Sections:

Article I. Generally

8.10.010    Nuisances defined.

8.10.020    Author of nuisance defined.

8.10.030    Declaration of nuisance.

8.10.040    The enumeration of nuisances.

8.10.050    Toilet or sewer facilities.

8.10.060    Restrictions on blocking water.

Article II. Abatement of Weeds and Deleterious Objects

8.10.070    Real property to be kept clean.

8.10.080    Weeds defined.

8.10.090    Standards of weed control.

Article III. Nuisances on Property

8.10.100    Definition of nuisance.

8.10.110    Duty of maintenance of private property.

8.10.120    Storage of personal property.

8.10.130    Abatement of nuisance by owners.

Article IV. Administrative Notices – Hearings – Disposal of Nuisance – Lien – Penalty for Violation

8.10.140    Repealed.

8.10.150    Deleted during 2011 recodification.

8.10.160    –

8.10.220    Repealed.

Article I. Generally

8.10.010 Nuisances defined.

Whatever is dangerous or deleterious to human life or health and whatever renders soil, air, water, or food impure or unwholesome is declared to be a nuisance and unlawful. It shall be unlawful for any person either as an owner, agent, or occupant to create, or aid in creating, or contributing to, or maintaining a nuisance. [Code 1997 § 10-3-11.]

8.10.020 Author of nuisance defined.

Where a nuisance exists upon property and is the outgrowth of the usual, natural, or necessary use of the property, the landlord or his agent, the tenant or his agent, and all other persons having control of the property on which such nuisance exists shall be deemed to be the authors thereof and shall be equally liable and responsible. Where any such nuisance shall arise from the unusual or unnecessary use of such property or from the business thereon conducted, then the occupants and all other persons contributing to the continuance of such nuisance shall be deemed the authors. [Code 1997 § 10-3-12.]

8.10.030 Declaration of nuisance.

(1) Every act or condition made, permitted, allowed or continued in violation of RCC 8.10.010 is hereby declared to be a nuisance and may be abated and punished as hereinafter provided.

(2) Nuisances include:

(a) Befouling water in any spring, stream, well, or water source supplying water for culinary purposes.

(b) Allowing any privy, vault or cesspool or other individual wastewater disposal system to become a menace to health or a source of odors to air or water.

(c) Permitting any garbage container to remain on premises when it has become unclean and offensive.

(d) Allowing vegetable waste, garbage, litter, filth or refuse of any nature to accumulate within or upon any private alley, yard or area except when it is temporarily deposited for immediate removal.

(e) Permitting the accumulation of manure in any stable, stall, feed yard, yard, or in any other building or area in which any animals are kept.

(f) Permitting any slaughter house, market, meat shop, stable, feed yard, or other place or building wherein any animals are slaughtered, kept, fed, or sold to remain unclean or in any state or condition detrimental to health or creating a nuisance because of odors, or in which flies or rodents breed.

(g) Discharging or placing any offensive water, liquid waste, or refuse of any kind into any street, alley, sidewalk, gutter, stream, wash, natural watercourse, ditch, canal, or any vacant lot or which as the result of continued discharge will render the place of discharge offensive or likely to become so.

(h) Keeping or collecting any stale or putrid grease or other offensive matter.

(i) Having or permitting upon any premises any fly or mosquito producing condition.

(j) Keeping any drinking vessel for public use without providing a method of decontamination between uses.

(k) Permitting or performing any ablutions in or near any public drinking fountain.

(l) Failing to furnish any dwelling house, boardinghouse, or factory or other place of employment with such privy vaults, water closets, sinks or other facilities as may be required to maintain the same in sanitary condition.

(m) Neglecting or refusing to discontinue use of, clean out, disinfect, and fill up all privy vaults and cesspools or other individual wastewater disposal systems within 20 days after notice from any enforcement officer or official of the city.

(n) Permitting any lot or excavation to become the repository of stagnant water or any decaying or offensive substances.

(o) Obstructing or tending to obstruct or interfere with or render dangerous for passage any street or sidewalk, lake, stream, drainage canal or basin, or any public park without first obtaining the written permission of the city council. [Code 1997 § 10-3-13.]

8.10.040 The enumeration of nuisances.

The types of nuisances stated in RCC 8.10.030 shall be deemed in addition to and in no way a limitation of the nuisances subject to this chapter. [Code 1997 § 10-3-14.]

8.10.050 Toilet or sewer facilities.

All toilet or sewer facilities shall be constructed and maintained in accordance with the ordinances of the city. All such facilities that do not comply with such provisions are hereby declared to be a nuisance and are subject to abatement as herein prescribed. [Code 1997 § 10-3-15.]

8.10.060 Restrictions on blocking water.

(1) It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to permit any drainage system, canal, ditch, conduit or other watercourse of any kind or nature, natural or artificial, to become so obstructed as to cause the water to back up and overflow therefrom, or to become unsanitary.

(2) Maintenance of any such watercourse in such condition shall constitute a nuisance and the same shall be subject to abatement.

(3) It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to use irrigation water in a manner that harms the property of adjacent landowners. Such use of water shall be declared to be a nuisance. [Code 1997 § 10-3-16.]

Article II. Abatement of Weeds and Deleterious Objects

8.10.070 Real property to be kept clean.

It shall be unlawful for any person owning or occupying real property to allow weeds to grow or exist on such property in violation of this chapter, or not to remove from any such property any cuttings of such weeds or any refuse, unsightly or deleterious objects after having been given notice from the ordinance enforcement officer as hereinafter provided.

(1) Individuals, whether as owner, lessee, tenant, occupant or otherwise, shall be responsible for the continued proper maintenance of all landscaping materials, except as indicated below. Landscaping shall be kept free from weeds and other volunteer plants so as not to detract from the appearance of the immediate neighborhood. Irrigation systems shall be maintained so as to eliminate water loss due to damaged, missing or improperly operating sprinkler system components. All unhealthy or dead plant material and other defective landscape features shall be removed, replaced or repaired within 10 days.

(2) Where due to the size, location, proximity to buildings, accessibility or other circumstances regarding certain real property an inspector determines that weeds on such property, which would otherwise constitute a violation of RCC 8.10.090, do not create a serious nuisance or fire hazard, or that requiring the removal of such weeds is deemed impractical, an inspector may:

(a) Issue an order permitting the owner to create fire breaks a minimum of 15 feet in width at locations on the property to be determined by the inspector; or

(b) Exempt the property from the requirements of this title. [Ord. 16-20 § 1 (Exh. A); Ord. 15-12 § 1 (Exh. A); Ord. 12-22 § 1 (Exh. A). Code 1997 § 10-3-21.]

8.10.080 Weeds defined.

Weeds shall include any vegetation growing in an uncultivated state, not used for food, fiber or ornamentation, or any vegetation commonly referred to as a weed, or which shall have been designated a noxious weed by the Utah Commissioner of Agriculture. [Ord. 12-22 § 1 (Exh. A). Code 1997 § 10-3-22.]

8.10.090 Standards of weed control.

It is hereby declared that the weeds stated in RCC 8.10.080 constitute a nuisance when they:

(1) Create a fire hazard, a source of contamination or pollution of the water, air or property, a danger to health, a breeding place or habitation for insects or rodents or other forms of life deleterious to humans or are unsightly or deleterious to their surroundings.

(2) Have grown to a height greater than six inches above ground. [Ord. 12-22 § 1 (Exh. A); amended during 2011 recodification. Code 1997 § 10-3-23.]

Article III. Nuisances on Property

8.10.100 Definition of nuisance.

For the purposes of this article, the term “nuisance” is defined to mean any condition or use of premises or of building exteriors or other structures located upon any real property which is deleterious or injurious, noxious or unsightly, which includes, but is not limited to, keeping, depositing on, scattering over, or allowing to remain on the premises any of the following:

(1) Lumber, junk, trash, or debris.

(2) Abandoned, discarded or unused objects or equipment such as furniture, stoves, refrigerators, freezers, cans or containers.

(3) Graffiti which is visible from a public street. [Ord. 12-23 § 1 (Exh. A). Code 1997 § 10-3-31.]

8.10.110 Duty of maintenance of private property.

No person owning, leasing, occupying or having charge of any premises shall maintain or keep any nuisance thereon, nor shall any such person keep or maintain such premises in a manner causing substantial diminution in the value of the other property in the neighborhood in which such premises are located. [Ord. 12-23 § 1 (Exh. A). Code 1997 § 10-3-32.]

8.10.120 Storage of personal property.

Unsheltered storage of inoperable vehicles, old, unused, stripped and junked machinery, implements, equipment or personal property of any kind which is no longer safely usable for the purpose for which it was manufactured, for a period of 30 days or more (except in licensed junkyards) within this municipality, is hereby declared to be a nuisance and dangerous to the public safety.

(1) “Inoperable vehicle” means a vehicle not currently registered or licensed in this state or another state, or a vehicle that is or has any of the following conditions: dismantled, broken windows, flat tires, no tires, missing windows, doors, fenders, hood or trunk, does not run, or is in a condition that would result in the vehicle’s failure to pass state safety inspection pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Act, Section 41-1a-101 et seq., Utah Code Annotated 1953; except that boats, RVs, camping or other trailers, and off-road vehicles are exempt from the current registration requirement of this section.

(2) Vehicles that are the subject of an in-progress restoration project, which are kept covered by a commercially made vehicle cover designed for such purposes, are exempt from this section. [Ord. 12-23 § 1 (Exh. A). Code 1997 § 10-3-33.]

8.10.130 Abatement of nuisance by owners.

The owner, owners, tenants, lessees or occupants of any lot within this city on which such storage as defined in RCC 8.10.120 is made, and also the owner, owners or lessees of the above-described personal property involved in such storage, shall jointly and severally abate such nuisance by its prompt removal into completely enclosed and secured buildings to be used for such purposes, or otherwise to remove such property from the city. [Code 1997 § 10-3-34.]

Article IV. Administrative Notices – Hearings – Disposal of Nuisance – Lien – Penalty for Violation

8.10.140 Appointment and duties of inspector.

Repealed by Ord. 22-16. [Ord. 12-21 § 1 (Exh. A); amended during 2011 recodification. Code 1997 § 10-3-51.]

8.10.150 Hearing.

Deleted during 2011 recodification. [Code 1997 § 10-3-52.]

8.10.160 Failure to comply.

Repealed by Ord. 22-16. [Code 1997 § 10-3-53.]

8.10.170 Itemized statement.

Repealed by Ord. 22-16. [Code 1997 § 10-3-54.]

8.10.180 Failure to make payment.

Repealed by Ord. 22-16. [Code 1997 § 10-3-55.]

8.10.190 Collection by lawsuit.

Repealed by Ord. 22-16. [Code 1997 § 10-3-56.]

8.10.200 Collection through taxes.

Repealed by Ord. 22-16. [Code 1997 § 10-3-57.]

8.10.210 Criminal proceeding.

Repealed by Ord. 22-16. [Code 1997 § 10-3-58.]

8.10.220 Penalty for failure to comply.

Repealed by Ord. 22-16. [Amended during 2011 recodification. Code 1997 § 10-3-59.]