The Town Board of the Town of Hyde Park finds
that there exist in the Town of Hyde Park serious conditions arising
from property owners who neglect the maintenance of the exterior of
their properties by allowing vegetation to become overgrown and/or
by allowing their properties to become repositories for garbage, rubbish
and debris. The Town Board further finds that the pervasive and uncontrolled
placing or keeping of junked motor vehicles on properties constitutes
an unsanitary, unsafe and dangerous condition. The Town Board has
determined that in order to protect and promote the public health,
safety, and welfare and prevent blight and the spread thereof, it
is necessary to provide for the removal of such overgrown vegetation,
garbage, debris, rubbish, and junked vehicles so that all properties
shall be maintained in conformity with the standards enunciated in
this chapter.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
DEBRIS
All materials resulting from the construction, excavation,
renovation, equipping, remodeling, repair or demolition of structures,
property or roads, or resulting from the preparation therefor (including
unenclosed storage on a residential property of construction materials
for which no building permit has been issued), as well as materials
consisting of vegetation resulting from land clearing and grubbing,
utility line maintenance and seasonal and storm related cleanup, except
when such materials are organized in piles or structures for purposes
of composting. Such materials include, but are not limited to, bricks,
concrete, and other masonry material, soil, rock, wood, wall coverings,
plaster, drywall, plumbing fixtures, nonasbestos insulation, roofing
shingles, asphaltic pavement, glass, window frames, electrical wiring
and components, plastics, carpeting, foam padding, linoleum, metals,
or any combination thereof which are incidental to construction, excavation,
renovation, equipping, remodeling, repair, or demolition.
GARBAGE
All putrescible animal and vegetable wastes resulting from
growing, processing, marketing, and preparation of food items, including
the containers in which they are packaged, except when such wastes
are organized in piles or structures for purposes of composting.
JUNKED VEHICLE
Any motor vehicle which is either unregistered, uninspected,
dismantled (in whole or in part), in a wrecked condition, or in such
condition or state of disrepair that such vehicle cannot be registered
immediately without extensive repair or for which the cost or repair
exceeds the book value of the motor vehicle. Lack of a license plate
or the incorrect license plate affixed to a motor vehicle shall be
presumptive evidence that the vehicle is unregistered.
PROPERTY OWNER
Any person, individual, business, partnership, firm, corporation
whose name is listed as grantee on the last deed of record for the
property recorded with the Dutchess County Clerk.
RUBBISH
All discarded or worthless nonputrescible solid wastes consisting
of both combustible and noncombustible wastes, including but not limited
to paper and paper products, rags, wrappings, cardboard, tin cans,
wood, glass, metals, plastics, tires, bedding, cloth, crockery, furniture,
appliances, and similar items.
TENANT
An individual who leases, uses or occupies a rental property.
No property owner, tenant, or agent thereof,
shall cause, permit, or allow any of the following standards to be
violated:
A. All landscaping shall be maintained so that lawns,
hedges, bushes and trees are not overgrown, constituting an unsafe
condition or blight.
B. All properties shall be maintained free and clear of all garbage, rubbish, and debris. Such refuse shall be kept inside the building or buildings on the property, inside a structure screening the refuse from neighbors and the public, or in a container complying with Chapter
108, Zoning, of this Code, and shall be regularly collected and removed from the property.
C. A junked vehicle shall not be parked or stored in the open, but shall only be parked or stored inside a building or inside a structure screening the vehicle from neighbors and the public, unless the vehicle is permitted to be in an unenclosed area pursuant to §
108-30.6B(5).
Section
84-3C of this chapter shall not apply to a property licensed as a scrap yard pursuant to Article 25 of Chapter
108, Zoning.
A violation of this chapter is hereby declared
to be a violation punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by
imprisonment for not to exceed 15 days, or both. Each week's continued
violation shall constitute a separate additional violation.