Pursuant to Town Law § 130, the town desires to regulate unsafe buildings and collapsed structures for the health, welfare and safety of its citizens and hereby enacts a new Chapter
99 to be known as the "Unsafe Buildings and Collapsed Structure Law for the Town of Schodack."
The town may order the removal or repair of buildings or structures
that, from any cause, may now be or shall hereafter become dangerous or unsafe
to the public.
A. Upon an inspection and report by an official or other
person duly appointed by the Town Board, including but not limited to the
building inspector that a building or structure shall be repaired or removed,
the Town Board shall order a hearing be held relating thereto.
B. A notice shall be served on the owner or some one of
the owner's executors, legal representatives, agents, lessees or any
other person having a vested or contingent interest in the same, either personally
or by registered mail, addressed to the last known address, if any, of the
owner or some one of the owner's executors, legal representatives, agents,
lessees or other person having a vested or contingent interest in the same,
as shown by the records of the receiver of taxes and/or in the office of the
County Clerk, containing a description of the premises, a statement of the
particulars in which the building or structure is unsafe or dangerous and
an order requiring the same to be made safe and secure or removed and, if
such service be made by registered mail, for a copy of such notice to be posted
on the premises.
C. A person or entity served with such notice shall commence
the securing or removal of buildings or structures, as specified in said notice,
within 30 days of the service of said notice, which shall be completed within
60 days thereafter unless otherwise provided by the Town Board.
D. A copy of such notice shall be filed in the office of
the Rensselaer County Clerk, which notice shall be filed by such Clerk in
the same manner as a notice of pendency pursuant to Article 65 of the Civil
Practice Law and Rules and shall have the same effect as a notice of pendency
as therein provided, except as otherwise hereinafter provided in this subsection.
A notice so filed shall be effective for a period of one year from the date
of filing; provided, however, that it may be vacated upon the order of a Judge
or Justice of a court of record or upon the consent of the Town Attorney.
The Rensselaer County Clerk shall mark such notice and any record or docket
thereof as canceled of record upon the presentation and filing of such consent
or of a certified copy of such order.
E. A hearing shall be held before the Town Board, notice
of which and the time and place thereof to be specified in the notice to repair
or demolish the building or structure as served upon the owner; the Schodack
Historic Preservation Commission, if the subject property is designated or
is in a designated district; and such other persons having an interest in
the property or structure as is herein prescribed.
F. The Town Board may order the removal or repair of such
building or structure by the town in the event that such owner fails or refuses
to repair or remove the same within the time provided.
G. The town shall assess all costs and expense incurred
by the town in connection with the proceedings to remove or secure, including
the cost of actually removing said building or structure, against the land
on which said buildings or structures are located; and such charges shall
be levied and collected in the same manner as provided by law for the levy
and collection of taxes.