Chapter 8.16
PUBLIC NUISANCES
Sections:
8.16.030 Specific types designated.
8.16.040 Secure closure of unoccupied buildings required.
8.16.050 Entering unoccupied building – Committing nuisance.
8.16.060 Abatement – Successive owner’s liability.
8.16.070 Maintaining, causing prohibited.
8.16.080 Abatement – Procedure – Expenses.
8.16.090 Moneys – Disposition.
8.16.100 Provisions cumulative.
8.16.120 Enforcement personnel.
8.16.010 Person defined.
For the purpose of this chapter, “person” whenever used herein, means and includes natural persons of either sex, firms, copartnerships and corporations, and all associations of natural persons, whether acting by themselves or by a servant or employee. (Ord. 383 §1, 1938).
8.16.020 Defined.
A “nuisance” consists in doing an unlawful act, or omitting to perform a duty, or suffering or permitting any condition or thing to exist, which act, omission, condition or thing either:
A. Annoys, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others;
B. Offends decency;
C. Is offensive to the senses;
D. Unlawfully interferes with, obstructs or tends to obstruct or renders dangerous for passage any stream, public park, parkway, square, street or highway in the city;
E. In any way renders other persons insecure in life or the use of property; or
F. Obstructs the free use of property so as to essentially interfere with the comfortable enjoyments of life and property. (Ord. 383 §2, 1938).
8.16.030 Specific types designated.
The following specific acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are declared to be nuisances.
The erecting, maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remain in or upon any private lot, building, structure or premises, or in or upon any street, avenue, alley, park, parkway, or other public or private place, in the city, of any one or more of the following disordered, disturbing, unsanitary, fly-producing, rat-harboring, disease-causing places, conditions or things:
A. Any putrid, unsound, or unwholesome bones, meat, hides, skins, or the whole or any part of any dead animal, fish or fowl;
B. Privies, vaults, cesspools, sumps, pits or like places which are not securely protected from flies or rats, or which are foul or malodorous;
C. Filthy, littered or trash-covered cellars, house yards, barn yards, stable yards, factory yards, vacant areas in rear of stores, vacant lots, houses, buildings or premises;
D. Animal manure in any quantity which is not securely protected from flies and the elements, or which is kept or handled in violation of any city ordinance;
E. Poison oak or poison ivy (whether growing or otherwise), liquid household waste, human excreta, garbage, butchers’ trimmings and offal, parts of fish or any waste vegetable or animal matter in any quantity; provided nothing herein contained shall prevent the temporary retention of waste in receptacles in the manner approved by the county health officer, nor the dumping of nonputrefying waste in a place and manner approved by the health officer;
F. Tin cans, bottles, glass, cans, ashes, small pieces of scrap iron, wire metal articles, bric-a-brac, broken stone or cement, broken crockery, broken glass, broken plaster, and all such trash or abandoned material, unless the same be kept in covered bins or galvanized iron receptacles approved by the health officer;
G. Trash, litter, rags, accumulations of empty barrels, boxes, crates, packing cased, mattresses, bedding, excelsior, packing hay, straw, or other packing material, lumber not neatly piled, scrap iron, tin and other metal not neatly piled or anything whatsoever in which flies or rats may breed or multiply or which may be a fire danger;
H. Any unsightly building, billboard, or other structure, or any old, abandoned or partially destroyed building, structure or fence in a dilapidated state of disrepair, or any building or structure commenced and left unfinished;
I. All places used or maintained as junkyards, or dumping grounds, or for the wrecking or dissembling of automobiles, trucks, tractors, or machinery of any kind, or for the storing or leaving of worn out, wrecked or abandoned automobiles, trucks, tractors, or machinery of any kind, or of any of the parts thereof, or for the storing or leaving of any machinery or equipment used by contractors or builders or by other persons, which places are kept or maintained so as to essentially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by others;
J. Permitting any dog or dogs to run at large in the city;
K. When visible from a public street, sidewalk, park or other public area: any unused objects or equipment including but not limited to tires, household furniture (i.e., overstuffed chairs, sofas); stoves, refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, clothes dryers, dishwashers, and televisions;
L. When visible from a public street, sidewalk, park or other public area: construction, remodeling or demolition materials or debris, and/or used or unused building materials if stored for sixty days or longer except when stored in conjunction with a construction or demolishment project for which a current permit has been issued and is being pursued and/or when such storage is upon the premises of a bona fide lumberyard or building materials dealer;
M. All grasses, weeds and/or uncultivated vegetation not maintained to an average height of less than twelve inches, if within view from any public roadway or sidewalk except that portion of a property that has not been developed. (See also Chapter 8.04 PMC, Weed Control). (Ord. 852 §1, 2011; Ord. 383 §3, 1938).
8.16.040 Secure closure of unoccupied buildings required.
Every agent or owner of any unoccupied building in the city shall keep the building securely closed at all times against persons who may enter and commit a nuisance therein. (Ord. 383 §4, 1938).
8.16.050 Entering unoccupied building – Committing nuisance.
It is unlawful for any person to enter any unoccupied building and commit a nuisance therein. (Ord. 383 §5, 1938).
8.16.060 Abatement – Successive owner’s liability.
Every successive owner of property who neglects to abate a continuing nuisance upon or in the use of such property caused by a former owner, is liable therefor in the same manner as the owner who created it. (Ord. 383 §6, 1938).
8.16.070 Maintaining, causing prohibited.
It is unlawful for any person to erect, contrive, cause, continue, or maintain a nuisance as herein defined or prohibited. (Ord. 383 §7, 1938).
8.16.080 Abatement – Procedure – Expenses.
Whenever a nuisance exists as defined in this chapter, the city may proceed by a suit in equity in the superior court of Garfield County to enjoin and abate the nuisance in the manner provided by law.
Whenever it is established that a nuisance exists as defined in this chapter, the court shall, together with the fine or penalty imposed, if any, enter an order of abatement as a part of the judgment in the case, which order shall direct either:
A. That such nuisance may be abated or removed by the defendant within the time limited by the court, and not exceeding thirty days; or
B. That the nuisance may be abated by the city at the cost of the defendant, and shall assess and enter the same as a part of the penalty imposed, and the same shall be a part of the judgment in the case, and shall be collected and enforced in the same manner that fines and costs are by law collected and enforced. (Ord. 852 §1, 2011; Ord. 383 §9, 1938).
8.16.090 Moneys – Disposition.
All moneys collected for abatement purposes, as provided in this chapter, shall be separately stated and itemized by the clerk/treasurer of the police court in his report to the city clerk/treasurer and shall be credited by the city clerk/treasurer to the department or division of the city government which shall be actually employed in the abatement of such nuisance. (Ord. 383 §10, 1938).
8.16.100 Provisions cumulative.
The provisions of this chapter shall be cumulative and in addition to the provisions of now existing city ordinances, and shall not have the effect of repealing any city ordinance now in effect. (Ord. 383 §11, 1938).
8.16.105 Correction notice.
A. Whenever the city designated code officer determines a nuisance is occurring, the code officer shall pursue a reasonable attempt to secure voluntary correction by contacting the person responsible for the violation where possible, explaining the violation, and requesting correction. The correction notice shall be in writing, and shall include the following information:
1. The first date of the violation; and
2. The name and address of the person responsible for the violation. If the person cannot be found or ascertained after consulting the county assessor’s records, the correction notice may be conspicuously affixed or posted on the building, structure, premises, personal property or land upon or within which the violation has occurred or is occurring; and
3. The street address or other description sufficient for identification of the building, structure, premises, personal property or land upon or within which the violation has occurred or is occurring; and
4. A description of the violation and a reference to the violated code section or sections; and
5. The necessary corrective action to be taken and the date by which the action must be completed. (The aforementioned date may be up to two weeks after the date of the notice.); and
6. A summary of the enforcement actions, including criminal prosecution, the city may use if the violation is not remedied in the time provided for in the correction notice; and
7. Any other appropriate information the city designated code officer may include.
B. If a person fails to complete corrections as specified in a correction notice and the designated code officer determines there is valid reason for the person not being able to complete the corrections by the date when the action was to have been completed, then the designated code officer may (upon application by the person responsible for the violation) extend time (up to two weeks) to a new date by which the action must be completed. A written record must be kept of such action. (Ord. 856 §1, 2011; Ord. 852 §1, 2011).
8.16.110 Violation – Penalty.
A. Every person who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter for a first offense within a calendar year and fails to complete corrections as specified in the latest correction notice or correction notice extension shall be charged with a civil infraction and subject to a fine of $100.00. A second offense within a calendar year shall be given a correction notice and failure to complete specified corrections shall constitute a civil infraction and be subject to a fine of $250.00. A third or subsequent offense shall constitute a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500.00 or by imprisonment in jail for a period not exceeding thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Any fines assessed shall be separate and in addition to such sum as may be fixed for the abatement of said nuisance.
B. Each day’s or part of day’s continuance of anything prohibited by this chapter shall be a separate offense hereunder. However, a person shall not be subject to the additional penalties of a second or subsequent offense until after the expiration of fifteen days from prior notice of infraction or criminal citation. (Ord. 856 §1, 2011; Ord. 852 §1, 2011; 383 §§8, 12, 1938).
8.16.120 Enforcement personnel.
The county sheriff or any deputy sheriff, the city administrator or the city’s designated code officer are authorized to enforce this chapter and issue civil or criminal notices or citations as provided herein to take appropriate abatement procedures. Such enforcement action or actions may be taken by either of the sheriff’s deputies or code officials listed herein upon observation of the acts or things declared to be a nuisance. (Ord. 852 §1, 2011).
8.16.130 Venue.
All civil infractions and criminal citations issued pursuant to this chapter shall be filed with the Garfield County district court. (Ord. 852 §1, 2011).