§ 11-1-13 Public nuisances.
(A) Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ABANDONED VEHICLE. Any vehicle which is without the required current license plates or tabs, inoperable, stripped, unclaimed, scrapped, junked or discarded.
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS. Asphalt, concrete, plaster, tile, rocks, bricks, sand, dirt, lumber, blocks or any other material commonly used in construction or landscaping material.
UNSHELTERED. Anything located outside a garage in such a manner as to be visible to a person standing upon any public street, alley, sidewalk or right of way or to any person standing at ground level upon any adjoining piece of property.
VEHICLE. A self propelled device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway or street, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
(B) Public nuisance. Anything which is injurious to health or is indecent or offensive to the senses or an obstruction to the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by an entire community or neighborhood or by any person, or which unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use in the customary manner of any public park, square, alley, sidewalk, street or highway is a public nuisance and is no less a nuisance because the extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted is unequal.
(C) Specific acts, omissions, conditions and places. No person shall erect, maintain, use, place, deposit, cause, allow, leave or permit to be or remain in or upon any private lot, building, structure or premises or in or upon any public right of way, street, avenue, alley, park, parkway or other public or private place any condition, thing or act to the prejudice, danger or annoyance of others, including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) Throwing, depositing, dumping or discharging into or about any ditch within the City anything injurious to the public health or offensive to the senses;
(2) No owner, lessee, tenant or other person who keeps or controls any animal shall cause, allow or permit any bodily waste or liquid discharge of such animal to accumulate on private property or to be unloaded, left or dumped in or upon any ditch, street, alley, sidewalk, place, vacant lot or public property within the City. If in the act of walking, exercising or transporting said animal, the animal deposits waste excrement, it shall be picked up, placed in a plastic bag and deposited in the owner’s garbage container;
(3) Storage of construction materials for a period in excess of 14 days in whole, broken or discarded condition in unsheltered areas of the yard and in which insects may breed or multiply or which provides harborage for rodents or which constitutes a hazard to the public health and safety. This subsection shall not apply to any construction material when a valid building permit exists for the property on which the construction material is located and the construction material is intended to be incorporated in the project for which the permit is issued.
(4) No person shall park, or permit to be parked, any motor vehicle for the purpose of sale upon any lot or area within the City. Violation of this subsection shall constitute a class 1 misdemeanor. This subsection shall not apply to:
(a) The display of one motor vehicle for sale when the motor vehicle is owned by the resident of the property and is not being sold in connection with an automobile sales business; or
(b) Property appropriately zoned by the zoning code which allows such activity.
(5) Storage of bottles, glass, cans, pieces of scrap metal, metal articles, paper or other abandoned material or items in unsheltered areas of private property, unless the same is kept in covered bins or metal receptacles approved by the county health officer or this code or any other ordinance of the City.
(6) No person shall leave, place or park any abandoned vehicle upon any city right of way, street, alley, parking lot or other city property.
(7) No person shall place, deposit or leave in or upon any city right of way, street, alley, park or other city building or property any bottles, glass, cans, graffiti, hand bills, posters, pieces of scrap metal, metal articles, paper or other abandoned material or items, except in proper containers for collection.
(D) Violations.
(1) A violation of any of the provisions of this section shall be considered to be a public nuisance and be punishable as a class 1 misdemeanor.
(2) Any police officer, code enforcement officer or designated sanitation official who observes a violation of any of the provisions of this section is empowered to issue a citation to the alleged violator.
(E) Violators liable for costs.
(1) If the owner or occupant of any property within the City does not remove or abate such public nuisance from such property within a reasonable period after the citation has been served by the City, a reasonable period being a maximum of 14 days or less if the interests of public safety and health so necessitate, the City may, at the expense of the owner or occupant, remove or cause the removal thereof.
(2) Any person who places, deposits, leaves or causes a public nuisance in or upon any city right of way, street, alley, park or other city building or property shall be liable for all costs incurred by the City to remove or cleanup such nuisance.
(F) Assessment of costs. When the City has effected removal pursuant to this section, the actual cost of such removal shall become an assessment upon the building or property from which such public nuisance is removed, and the record owner of such property shall be liable for the payment of same. If the actual cost of such removal has not been paid within 14 days of billing by the City by ordinary mail, such assessment shall be recorded in the office of the County Recorder, and from the date of its recording, it shall be a lien on such building or property until paid. Such liens shall be subject and inferior to the lien for general taxes and to all prior recorded mortgages and encumbrances of record.
(G) Subsequent assessments. A prior assessment against the building or property shall not be a bar to a subsequent assessment for such purposes, and any number of liens on the same property may be enforced in the same action.
(H) Right of record owner to appeal. The owner of record of such building or property shall have the right to appeal such citation to the Council within the time allowed in such citation to remedy the alleged violation. The decision of the Council on such appeal shall be final. (Prior Code, § 11-1-13) (Am. Ord. 90-315, passed 9-25-1990)