This article shall be known as the "Property Maintenance Law of the Village of Tuxedo Park" and may be referred to herein as the "Property Maintenance Law" or as "this article."
The purposes of this article shall be.
A. To provide for the public health, safety and welfare.
B. To avoid, prevent and eliminate the maintenance or creation of hazards to the public health or safety.
C. To avoid, prevent and eliminate conditions which, if permitted to exist or continue, will depreciate or tend to depreciate the value of adjacent or surrounding properties.
D. To prevent the creation, continuation, extension or aggravation of blight.
E. To preserve property values in the Village.
F. To prevent the physical deterioration or progressive downgrading of the quality of housing facilities in the Village.
G. To prevent and eliminate physical conditions in or on any property which constitute nuisances and are thereby potentially dangerous or hazardous to life, health or safety of persons on or near the premises where such conditions exist.
H. To establish minimum standards governing the maintenance and condition of land, buildings, structures and premises in the Village.
I. To fix responsibilities and duties thereof upon owners, lessees, operators and occupants of property.
J. To provide for administration and enforcement.
K. To fix penalties for the violation of this article.
For the specific purposes of this article, the following terms, whenever used herein or referred to in this article, shall have the respective meanings assigned to them hereunder unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS New or used materials for the construction, renovation or alteration of buildings or structures, including but not limited to foundation and masonry materials, lumber, roofing materials, plumbing and electrical materials, doors, windows, screens, tanks, fences, rails and balustrades, etc.
[Added 2-21-1990 by L.L. No. 1-1990]
DETERIORATED FENCE A fence of any kind composed of any material or fabric anywhere on a person's property that is not in a state of good repair due to any one or a combination of the following conditions:
A. The fabric thereof (wire, slats, posts, pickets etc.) becoming dislodged from the supporting structures or posts.
B. The supporting structures or posts not being vertical, i.e. at right angles to the plane of the horizon or capable of supporting the fence fabric.
C. The fabric of the fence being in a rotted, decayed or unmaintained condition, or overgrown with nonarbor cultural growth.
[Added 1-21-1998 by L.L. No. 2-1998]
DETERIORATED STRUCTURE Any structure or building, including a dwelling, of which any exterior component part, such as its exterior walls or fabric, windows, chimneys, roofs, decks, terraces or parts thereof, is in a state of structural dilapidation, ruin or decay to the extent that such state of dilapidation, ruin or decay is visible to the naked eye of an observer from any public way or street or any adjoining property, notwithstanding that such a condition may not constitute a dangerous building or an unsafe condition under §§
53-10 and
75-24 of this Code, respectively.
[Added 1-21-1998 by L.L. No. 2-1998]
EXTERIOR OF PREMISES Those portions of a building or structure which are exposed to public view or are visible from adjoining or adjacent lots, including all outside surfaces and appurtenances thereto; and the open land space of any premises outside of any building or structure erected thereon.
NUISANCE A. Any public or private condition that would constitute a nuisance according to the statutes, laws and regulations of the State of New York, its governmental agencies or the regulations and laws of the Village.
B. Any physical condition existing in or on the exterior of any premises which is potentially dangerous, detrimental or hazardous to the life, health or safety of persons on, near or passing within the proximity of premises where said condition exists.
OCCUPANT Any person residing, living or sleeping in or on the premises or having actual possession, use or occupancy of a dwelling premises, or any person or entity in possession of or using any premises, or part thereof, whether or not the owners thereof and regardless of the duration of time of such possession, use or occupancy.
OPERATOR Any person, persons or entity, not the owner, who has charge, care or control of a dwelling or premises, or a part thereof, with or without the knowledge, consent or authority of the owner.
OWNER Any person, persons or entity who shall have legal or equitable title in any form whatsoever to any premises or part thereof, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof, or who shall have charge, care or control of any lot, premises, building, structure or part thereof as owner or agent of the owner, or as a fiduciary, trustee, receiver, guardian, lessee or mortgagee in possession, regardless of how such possession was obtained. Any person, group of persons or entity who is a lessee, sublessee or assignee of a lessee of any part or all of any building, structure or land shall be deemed to be a co-owner with the lessor for the purposes of this article and shall have responsibility over the portion of the premises so sublet, leased or assigned.
PREMISES A lot, plot or parcel of land, right-of-way or multiples thereof, including the buildings or structures thereon.
REFUSE OR RUBBISH All discarded, useless, unusable, unused or worthless solid waste matter or materials, combustible or noncombustible, including but not limited to garbage; trash; ashes; paper; paper goods and products; wrappings; cans; bottles; containers; junk; glass; boxes; crockery; wood; plastic; rubber; leather; furniture; household goods; appliances; bedding; scrap lumber; scrap metal; construction material; inoperable machinery, or parts thereof; garden or farming implements and supplies; tires; abandoned, inoperative or unusable automobiles and vehicles; and solid commercial or industrial waste.
STRUCTURE A combination of materials which forms a construction, such as buildings, platforms, sheds, swimming pools, tennis courts of all types and fences, whether above, below or at ground level.
VILLAGE The Village of Tuxedo Park in the County of Orange and State of New York.
In any case where the provisions of this article impose a higher or stricter standard than set forth in any other ordinance, law or regulation of the Village of Tuxedo Park, or under the laws or regulations of the State of New York or any of its agencies, then the standards as set forth herein shall prevail; but if the provisions of this article impose a lower or lesser standard than any other regulation, law or ordinance of the Village, or of the laws and regulations of the State of New York or any of its agencies, then the higher standard contained in any such other ordinance, regulation or law shall prevail.
Compliance with this article shall not constitute a defense against any violation of any other ordinance or law of the Village applicable to any structure or premises, nor shall any one act of compliance constitute a defense against any subsequent or other violation of this article.
Owners, operators and occupants shall have all the duties, obligations and responsibilities prescribed in this article, and no such person or entity shall be relieved of any duty, obligation or responsibility hereunder, nor be entitled to assert, as a defense against any charge made against him or them for violation of this article, the fact that another owner, operator or occupant or any other third person or entity is also responsible therefor and in violation thereof.
In furtherance of the purposes of this article, it shall be the duty and responsibility of the owner, operator or occupant of premises to comply with any or all of the requirements and standards of this article to keep the premises free of conditions which constitute violations hereof and to promptly remove, prevent or abate such conditions.
[Amended 2-21-1990 by L.L. No. 1-1990]
The exterior of all premises shall be kept free of the following matter, materials or conditions:
A.
Refuse, as hereinabove defined.
B.
Rubbish, as hereinabove defined.
D.
Abandoned, uncovered or structurally unsound wells, shafts, towers, chimneys, exterior cellar openings, basement hatchways, foundations or excavations.
E.
Abandoned iceboxes, refrigerators, boilers, hot-water heaters, television sets and other similar major appliances.
F.
Nuisances, as hereinabove defined.
G.
Vehicles or parts thereof, including boats and trailers, motorized or not, licensed or unlicensed, registered or unregistered, which vehicles or parts thereof are or have been junked, abandoned, dismantled or are in a state of visible disrepair.
H.
Fallen trees, limbs or branches within 50 feet of a public roadway or neighboring property line.
I.
Deteriorated fences.
[Added 1-21-1998 by L.L. No. 1-1998]
J.
Deteriorated structures.
[Added 1-21-1998 by L.L. No. 2-1998]