City of Rochester, NY Chapter 89 Property, Care of

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Rochester City Council 11-25-1941. Amendments noted where applicable.]

§ 89-1 Injury to property.

A person must not willfully injure or interfere with any public or private property, real or personal.

§ 89-2 Malicious mischief.

A person must not willfully injure or interfere with a street sign, street lamp post, danger lamp or other signal or barrier placed for public safety or any monument locating the line of a street, sidewalk or improvement.

§ 89-3 Altitude of aircraft flying over the City.

[Added 11-22-1949; amended 12-22-1970 by Ord. No. 70-683; 5-28-1974 by Ord. No. 74-180; 2-14-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-22]

Except when engaging in landing or takeoff, aircraft shall maintain a minimum altitude of 2,000 feet above the ground when flying over the City of Rochester, New York, except as hereinafter provided for helicopters, as follows: The use, operation and flight over the City of Rochester by helicopters is hereby authorized at altitudes less than 2,000 feet, provided that a permit for such flight or for the specific purpose requiring the flight of a helicopter at an altitude of less than 2,000 feet is obtained from the Chief of Police, subject to the rules and regulations as he or she may require, and provided that said operator complies with all requirements of the Federal Aviation Authority.

§ 89-4 Taking off and landing aircraft within the City.

[Added 11-10-1959; amended 12-22-1970 by Ord. No. 70-683; 5-28-1974 by Ord. No. 74-180]

Except at duly designated airports, no aircraft shall take off or land within the City of Rochester, except that helicopters shall be authorized to land and take off at locations other than designated airports upon receiving approval for such landing and taking off from the Federal Aviation Authority and upon receiving a permit for such landing or taking off, or both, from the Chief of Police.

§ 89-5 Fire and police apparatus.

A person must not:

A. Injure or interfere with any wire, pole, apparatus or other thing connected with or auxiliary to the fire-alarm system, or with any apparatus of the police or fire force, without the consent of the Chief of Police or Fire Chief.

[Amended 1-27-1970 by Ord. No. 70-36; 5-28-1974 by Ord. No. 74-180; 11-10-1992 by Ord. No. 92-403]

B. Make or cause to be made or have in his or her possession any key or impression or duplicate of a key of any signal box of the firealarm system, without such consent.

[Amended 11-10-1992 by Ord. No. 92-403; 2-14-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-22]

C. Give or cause to be given any false alarm of fire in any manner whatsoever.

§ 89-6 Obstructing or fouling of rivers and sewers.

[Amended 12-14-1954; 9-8-1964; 11-10-1992 by Ord. No. 92-403]

A person must not throw any substance into a portion of any body of water within the territorial limits of the City of Rochester, or which is operated or controlled by said City, which may tend to interfere with the free passage of water therein; nor shall any person throw, deposit or discharge any substance or waste material upon the banks or into the waters of any body of water within the territorial limits of the City of Rochester, or which is operated or controlled by said City, which in any way may tend to foul the body of water or its banks or create an unsightly or offensive condition. Any clean fill to be deposited or discharged into the waters of the Genesee River within the territorial limits of the City of Rochester may be done only after obtaining written permission from the Commissioner of Environmental Services.

§ 89-7 Deposit of waste materials in sewers.

[Added 3-13-1945]

A. No person, firm or corporation shall place, deposit or discharge or cause, suffer or permit to be placed, deposited or discharged any oil, petroleum, naphtha, cleaning fluids, liquid asphaltum, solid waste material which may form deposits, any liquids carrying waste material in suspension or any substance or water mixed with any substance into any public sewer in the City of Rochester or laterals connected therewith, which said material or substance may have an injurious effect upon the sewers of the City either by causing them to disintegrate or by causing the flow to be diminished therein.

B. The Commissioner of Environmental Services may require the owner of any premises from which said materials or substances above prohibited have been discharged in the sewers of the City to repair and/or clean the same. In the event that the owner of the premises from which such substances have been discharged into the sewer does not repair and/or clean the same within 30 days after notice so to do, given personally or by mail, the Commissioner of Environmental Services shall cause the same to be repaired and/or cleaned, and the expense incurred thereby shall be assessed against said real property as prescribed in the Charter of the City of Rochester.[1]

[Amended 11-10-1992 by Ord. No. 92-403]

[1] Editor's Note: See Charter, § 6-92.

§ 89-8 Sewer laterals.

[Amended 2-25-1975 by Ord. No. 75-67]

A. The operator of the sewer system will accept the responsibility for cleaning and maintaining that portion of a sewer lateral within a public right-of-way if a property owner provides, at his or her own expense, an acceptable cleanout at the property line of his or her property.

[Amended 2-14-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-22]

B. In addition, the operator of the sewer system will accept the responsibility for any new sewer constructed or reconstructed and shall provide laterals to the property line with appropriate cleanouts, if practical, at that point. In said cases of new sewer construction or reconstruction, said laterals would be the responsibility of said operator from the sewer to the cleanout.

C. For any new lateral desired by a property owner to an existing sewer, the entire cost of installation of said lateral will be the responsibility of said owner subject to the operator's requirements, including the installation, if practical, of a cleanout at the property line. Said operator will accept the responsibility for the lateral from the cleanout to the main sewer.

§ 89-9 Trees.

[Amended 4-13-1948; 9-23-1958; 12-26-1963]

A. A person must not cut down any tree in a public street or place or cut any branch or limb therefrom or trim any branch or limb thereon or prune or spray or attach any guy wire thereto without the written consent of the City Forester.

B. A person must not injure, mutilate or deface any tree in a public street or place and must not affix, attach or post thereon or hang therefrom any sign, banner, advertisement or anything else whatsoever. When a permit is given by the City Forester to a telephone, telegraph, electric light, electric power or other public service corporation to trim trees, the amount of such trimming shall be limited by the actual necessities of the service of the company, and such trimming shall be done in a neat and workmanlike manner with a saw and not with an ax or hatchet, and all the conditions placed in said permit by the City Forester shall be observed and obeyed; and an employee or agent of the public service corporation operating under such permit must, upon request of any householder, forthwith give his or her full name and address and the name of the corporation by whom he or she is employed and for whose benefit such work is being done.

[Amended 2-14-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-22]

C. For any new lateral desired by a property owner to an existing sewer, the entire cost of installation of said lateral will be the responsibility of said owner, subject to the placed or maintained unless an open space of at least 12 square feet is left outside and around the trunk of the tree, except with the written permission of the Forestry Division.

D. A person must not plant any tree or shrub in a public street or place without the written consent of the City Forester, and the conditions contained in such consent must not be violated, and trees or shrubs other than those specified in such consent must not be planted.

E. A poplar tree, the circumference of the trunk of which is more than 20 inches measured at a distance of four feet from the ground level, shall not be planted or grown or allowed to be within 40 feet of any main sewer.

F. In the course of the erection or repair of any building and in the grading, paving or curbing of any street or in the doing of any work on the surface or below the surface of the street, suitable guards shall be placed around all nearby trees in or on any highway, park or other public property so as to prevent injury to such trees, and such further precautions as may be required shall be taken to prevent damage to said trees by breaking, debarking, scratching or burning or in any other manner.

G. In the event of accidental damage to or destruction of a tree or shrub in or on any highway, park or other public property, report thereof shall be made by the person(s) causing said damage within 48 hours to the Forestry Division. Repair or replanting necessitated by such damage or destruction shall be done by the Forestry Division. The Forestry Division shall collect the expense of such repairs or replanting from the person or persons responsible for the damage caused by intentional or negligent conduct. Such charges shall be derived from an acceptable shade tree evaluation chart.

H. Wherever any tree is found by the City Forester to be dangerous or detrimental to life, health or safety, or detrimental to the health or survival of trees, the City Forester may issue an order that said trees shall be removed and cause the order to be served upon the owner of the premises upon which the tree is located. If any such order of the City Forester issued under the authority of the provisions of this section is not complied with within 10 days after the service thereof, or within such shorter time as he or she may designate therein as necessary under the circumstances, then such order may be executed by said City Forester, through his or her officers, agents, employees or contractors, and the expenses incurred incident to said order shall be assessed against said real property as provided in the Charter of the City of Rochester.[1]

[Amended 11-10-1992 by Ord. No. 92-403; 2-14-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-22]

(1) Before proceeding to execute such order, the City Forester shall post a notice on said tree, or on the premises on which said tree is located, stating that since such order was not complied with within the time mentioned in said notice, the City Forester will proceed to execute the same at the expiration of an additional five days and assess the cost thereof against said real property as provided in the City Charter. A copy of such notice shall be sent to the owner of the property, or his or her agent, if names and addresses, or reasonable search, can be ascertained, and such notice shall be posted on said premises at least five days before the City Forester proceeds to incur expenses, unless, as hereinafter stated, the condition is of such a character requiring immediate action, in which case the time of the notice shall be such as, in the judgment of the City Forester, is reasonable and proper.

(2) If, in the opinion of the City Forester, such tree is in a condition that it constitutes an actual and immediate danger or menace to health and/or safety, he or she shall proceed forthwith to cause said tree to be removed, and the expenses incurred shall be assessed as above set forth.

[1] Editor's Note: See Charter, § 6-92.

§ 89-10 Commercial tree servicing, landscaping and gardening activities.

[Added 9-3-1958; amended 12-26-1963]

Persons, firms or corporations engaged in the business of tree servicing, landscaping and/or gardening who are hired to remove any tree or trees or to cut any branches or limbs therefrom, or to engage in landscaping or gardening work or similar services, shall, at their own cost and expense, dispense of all materials resulting from said work, including but not limited to all trees or parts thereof that are cut down or trimmed, shrub or hedge cuttings, mowed grass, yard rakings and similar matters, and must not place such materials on or in any street or public place or between the curb and the sidewalk in front of any premises for disposal by a City department or agency.

§ 89-11 Weeds prohibited in vacant lots.

[Amended 4-13-1948; 12-26-1963]

The owner of a vacant lot must at all times keep the same free from burdocks, thistles, sticktights, briers, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac and other noxious weeds.

§ 89-12 Penalties.

[Amended 12-26-1963; 7-22-1969 by Ord. No. 69-329]

A violation of this chapter is punishable by a fine not exceeding $150 or by imprisonment not exceeding 15 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, or by a penalty not less than $5 nor more than $500 to be recovered by the City of Rochester in a civil action.