It is the purpose of this chapter to assist
in the continued revitalization of areas throughout the Village to
attract new businesses, promote the public interest in continued development,
ensure regular maintenance and improvements to present structures,
safeguard against blight and preserve property values and community
standards and to establish minimum maintenance standards to safeguard
life, limb, health, safety, property and the public welfare in the
best interest of the residents of the Village of Haverstraw.
It is found and declared that, by reason of
lack of maintenance and progressive deterioration, structures and
properties have the further effect of creating blighting conditions
and initiating slums and that, if the same are not curtailed and removed,
the aforesaid conditions will grow and spread and will necessitate
in time the expenditure of large amounts of public funds to correct
and eliminate the same. By reason of timely regulations and restrictions,
as herein contained, the growth of slums and blight may be prevented
and the neighborhood and property values thereby maintained, the desirability
and amenities of residential and nonresidential uses and neighborhoods
enhanced and the public health, safety and welfare protected and fostered.
As in this chapter, the following terms shall
have the meanings indicated:
ACCESSORY BUILDING
A subordinate building located on the same lot with the main
building, occupied by or devoted to an accessory use. Where an accessory
building is attached to the main building in a substantial manner,
as by a wall or roof, such accessory building shall be considered
part of the main building.
BUILDING
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls
and intended for shelter, housing, protection or enclosure of persons,
animals or property. Depending upon its applicability, the use herein
of "building" shall include the term "structure."
CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
The officer employed by the Village of Haverstraw to enforce
the State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code previously adopted
by said Village.
DETERIORATION
The condition or appearance of a building or structure characterized
by holes, breaks, rot, crumbling, cracking, peeling, rusting or other
evidence of physical decay or neglect, excessive use or lack of maintenance.
DWELLING, MULTIPLE
A building or portion thereof containing three or more dwelling
units and designed or used for occupancy by three or more families
living independently of each other.
EXPOSED TO PUBLIC VIEW
Any premises or open space or any part thereof or any building
or structure that may be lawfully viewed by any member of the public
from a sidewalk, street, alleyway or from any adjoining or neighboring
premises.
EXTERIOR OF PREMISES
Those portions of a building that are exposed to public view
and the open space of any premises outside of any building erected
thereon.
GOOD WORKING REPAIR
A standard of maintenance that renders a building safe, habitable
and possessed of a neat and orderly appearance.
OWNER
Includes any person having individual or joint title to real
property in any form defined by the laws as an estate or interest
therein, whether legal or equitable and however acquired.
PERSON
Includes an individual, a partnership, a joint venture, a
corporation, an association and any other organizations recognized
as an entity by the laws of the State of New York.
PREMISES
A building, dwelling and/or grounds.
PROPERTY
Land and whatever is erected on, growing on, placed on or
affixed thereto.
REFUSE
All cardboard, plastic material or glass containers, wastepaper,
rags, sweeping, pieces of wood, excelsior, rubber and like waste material.
STRUCTURE
A combination of materials assembled, constructed or erected
at a fixed location, including, for example, a building, stationary
and portable carports and swimming pools, the use of which requires
location on the ground or attachment to something having location
on the ground.
ZONING ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
The officer employed by the Village of Haverstraw to enforce
the zoning laws of the Village of Haverstraw and this chapter.
The exterior of the premises and the condition
of the structures shall be maintained so that the premises and all
buildings shall reflect a level of maintenance in keeping with the
standards of the community and shall not constitute blight from the
point of view of adjoining property owners or lead to the progressive
deterioration of the neighborhood. Such maintenance shall include,
without limitation, the following:
A. Foundations, porches, decks, steps and walls shall
be in good condition.
B. Vent attachments shall be safe, durable, smoketight
and capable of withstanding the action of flue gases.
C. Exterior balconies, porches, landings, stairs and
fire escapes shall be provided with banisters or railings properly
designed, installed and maintained to minimize the hazard of falling
and unsightly appearance.
D. All permanent signs and billboards exposed to public
view permitted by reason of other regulations or as a lawful nonconforming
use shall be maintained in good repair. Any signs that have become
excessively weathered, those upon which the paint has excessively
peeled or those whose supports have deteriorated so that they no longer
meet the structural requirements of the New York State Uniform Fire
Prevention and Building Code shall, with their supports, be removed
or put into a good state of repair. All nonoperative or broken electrical
signs shall be repaired or shall, with their supports, be removed.
Signs denoting a business which is no longer on the premises shall
be removed within 30 days of the date on which the business ceases
to occupy the premises.
E. All storefronts and walls exposed to public view shall
be kept in good state of repair. Storefronts or any portion of the
structure shall not show evidence of excessive weathering or deterioration
of any nature. Unoccupied storefronts shall be maintained in a clean
and neat appearance.
F. Any awnings or marquees and accompanying structural
members shall be maintained in a good state of repair. In the event
that said awnings or marquees are made of cloth, plastic or of a similar
material and are exposed to public view, such material shall not show
evidence of excessive weathering, discoloration, ripping, tearing,
holes or other deterioration. Nothing herein shall be construed to
authorize any encroachment on streets, sidewalks or other parts of
the public domain.
G. All vacant buildings shall be continuously guarded
or sealed and kept secure against unauthorized entry. Materials and
methods with which such buildings are sealed must meet the approval
of the Zoning Enforcement Officer as to color, design and building
material. Owners of such buildings shall take such steps and perform
such acts as may be required to ensure that the building and its adjoining
yards remain safe and secure and do not present a hazard to adjoining
property or to the public and that such property does not become infested
with vermin or rodents.
H. Exterior walls, including doors and windows and the
areas around doors, windows, chimneys and other parts of the building,
shall be so maintained as to keep water from entering the building.
Materials which have been damaged or show evidence of dry rot or other
deterioration shall be repaired or replaced and refinished in a workmanlike
manner.
I. All exposed exterior surfaces shall be maintained
free of broken or cracked glass, loose shingles or loose or crumbling
stones or bricks, loose shutters, railings, aerials, excessive peeling
paint or other conditions reflective of deterioration or inadequate
maintenance. Said conditions shall be corrected by repair or removal.
All exposed exterior surfaces of structures not inherently resistant
to deterioration shall be coated, treated or sealed to protect them
from deterioration or weathering. Wood, masonry or other exterior
materials that will naturally resist deterioration do not have to
be treated but must be otherwise maintained in a sound, secure workmanlike
manner. Exterior surfaces that have been painted or otherwise coated
must be maintained in a neat, orderly, serviceable manner. Floors,
walls, ceilings, stairs and fixtures of buildings shall be maintained
in a clean, safe, sanitary condition. Every floor, exterior wall,
roof, porch or appurtenance thereto shall be maintained in a manner
so as to prevent the collapse of the same or injury to the occupants
of the building or to the public.
J. Roof drains, overflow pipes, air-conditioning drains
and any other device used to channel water off or out of a building
shall be maintained in a safe and operable condition and shall not
drain onto a public sidewalk, walkway, street, alleyway or adjoining
property.
K. Lawns shall be cut, and bushes, shrubs and hedges
shall be trimmed regularly during the growing season so as to avoid
an unsightly appearance.
L. All TV dish antennas hereinafter installed in the
Village of Haverstraw shall not be installed on the front of the building
or on the roof of the front side of building or on any portion of
a building facing a public street. All such dish antennas so installed
in the Village of Haverstraw prior to the date of this Subsection
shall be in violation and subject to prosecution if, after notification
in writing by the Village of Haverstraw, such dish antennas are not
relocated within six months of notification. The responsibility to
relocate all violating dish antennas after notification shall be the
dish antenna company which installed the dish antenna, the owner of
the building on which it is installed and, if applicable, the tenant
who requested the installation of the dish antenna.
[Added 6-2-2008 by L.L. No. 9-2008]
An occupant of premises shall be responsible
for compliance with this chapter in regard to the following:
A. Maintenance of that part of the premises which he
or she occupies or controls in a clean, sanitary and safe condition.
B. Maintenance of all plumbing, cooking and refrigeration
fixtures and appliances, as well as other building equipment and storage
facilities, in that part of the premises which he or she occupies
or controls in a clean and sanitary condition and providing reasonable
care in the operation and use thereof.
C. Keeping exits from the building or occupant's portion
thereof clear and unobstructed.
D. Disposal of garbage and refuse into appropriate facilities
in a clean and sanitary manner, in accordance with any applicable
provisions of the Village Code.
E. Extermination of insects, rodents or other pests within
the premises.
F. Maintenance of yards, lawns and courts in a clean,
sanitary and safe condition and free from infestation by rodents or
vermin, insofar as said occupant occupies or controls said yards,
lawns or any parts thereof.
G. The installation and removal of required screens.
H. Keeping domestic animals and pets in an appropriate
manner and under control, in accordance with any other regulations
of the Village.
I. Elimination of all prohibited uses for that part of
the premises which he or she occupies, controls or has accessibility
thereto.
The designation of buildings as unfit for human
use and the procedure for the condemnation and placarding of such
buildings shall be carried out in compliance with the following requirements:
A. Any building which shall be found to have any of the
following defects shall be condemned as unfit for human use and shall
be so designated and placarded by the Zoning Enforcement Officer.
(1) One which is so damaged, decayed, dilapidated, unsanitary,
unsafe or vermin infested that it creates a serious hazard to the
health or safety of the occupants or of the public.
(2) One which lacks illumination, ventilation or sanitary
facilities adequate to protect the health or safety of the occupants
or of the public.
(3) One which, because of its general condition or location,
is unsanitary or otherwise dangerous to the health or safety of the
occupants or the public.
B. Action upon condemnation.
(1) Any building condemned as unfit for human use and
so designated and placarded by the Enforcement Officer shall be vacated
within a reasonable time, as ordered by the Enforcement Officer. The
Enforcement Officer shall remove such placard whenever the defect
or defects upon which the condemnation and placarding action were
based have been eliminated.
(2) In the event that the Enforcement Officer shall find that the property owner has failed to correct the defects noted in the placarding of the building within 90 days, the Enforcement Officer shall order the demolition of the building or abatement of the nuisance, and the cost of said demolition or abatement shall be a lien on the property and collectible in the same manner as delinquent taxes. Unoccupied structures which shall be found to be a serious hazard to the public in the same manner as provided in Subsections
A,
B and
C of this section shall be ordered demolished or abated by the Enforcement Officer, and appeals shall be heard in accordance with Subsection
D. The cost of demolition or abatement shall be a lien on the property and collectible in the same manner as delinquent taxes.
C. No person shall deface or remove the placard from any building which has been condemned as unfit for human use and placarded as such, except as provided in Subsection
B.
D. Any person affected by any notice or order relating
to the condemning and placarding of a building as unfit for human
use may request and shall be granted a hearing on the matter before
the Zoning Board of Appeals. Upon filing a written notice of appeal
with the clerk to the Board of Appeals said filing shall stay all
action by the Enforcement Officer pending the decision of the Zoning
Board of Appeals unless the Enforcement Officer determines that the
public safety requires the demolition or other remedial action must
proceed.
The Mayor and the Board of Trustees are hereby
authorized to make and to adopt such written rules and regulations
as may be necessary for the proper enforcement of the provisions of
this chapter, provided that such rules and regulations shall not be
in conflict with the provisions of this chapter. Such rules and regulations
shall have the same force and effect as the provisions of this chapter
and the penalty for violation of the provisions of this chapter, as
hereinafter provided.
[Amended 4-3-2017 by L.L.
No. 2-2017; 4-3-2017 by L.L. No. 4-2017]
Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions
of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be subject to a minimum fine
of $500. Each week a violation continues unabated, after notice to
comply is served, shall constitute a separate finable offense.