[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Waverly 9-12-2006
by L.L. No. 2-2006. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
The purpose of this law is to promote and preserve the
health, safety and welfare of the public and residents and/or owners of property
located within the Village of Waverly by providing a method for the repair
or removal of buildings that, from any cause, may now be or shall hereafter
become dangerous or unsafe to the public and residents and/or owners of property
within the Village of Waverly.
B.
Unsafe buildings serve as an attractive nuisance for
young children, who may be injured therein; may be a point of congregation
by vagrants and transients; may attract rodents or insects; and may also attract
illegal drug activity.
C.
This chapter shall be in addition to all other powers
conferred upon the Village of Waverly in relation to the same subject by state
law.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Any building, structure or portion thereof used for residential,
business or industrial purposes.
Person appointed by Village government and/or the Mayor to enforce
the provisions of this chapter and any applicable state laws.
Includes all buildings that have any or all of the following defects:
Interior or exterior bearing walls or other vertical structural members
that list, lean or buckle to such an extent as to weaken the structural support
they provide.
Thirty-three percent or more damage to or deterioration of the supporting
member or members or 50% damage to or deterioration of the nonsupporting,
enclosing or outside walls or covering.
Improperly distributed loads upon the floors or roofs or in which the
same are overloaded or which have insufficient strength to be reasonably safe
for the purpose used.
Those which have been damaged by any cause so as to have become dangerous
to life, safety or the general health and welfare of the occupants or the
people of the Village of Waverly.
Those which are so dilapidated, decayed, unsafe and/or unsanitary that
they are unfit for human habitation in accordance with normally accepted standards
set for human habitability.
Light, air and sanitation facilities inadequate to protect the health,
safety or general welfare of human beings who may live therein, with particular
reference to the requirements of the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention
and Building Code as a determinant.[1]
Those having inadequate facilities for exit in case of fire or other
emergency or those having insufficient stairways, elevators or fire escapes,
again referencing the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building
Code as a determinant.
Parts thereof which are so inadequately attached that they may fall
and injure members of the public or property.
Those which consist in the main of debris, rubble or parts of buildings
left on the ground after demolition, reconstruction, fire or other casualty.
Those which, because of their condition, are unsafe, unsanitary or dangerous
to the health, safety or general welfare of the people of the Village of Waverly.
No person, firm, corporation or association owning, possessing or controlling
a building in the Village of Waverly shall permit, suffer or allow said building
now or hereafter to be or become unsafe to the public and/or residents from
any cause whatsoever.
The Village Code Enforcement Officer shall make inspections of all unsafe
buildings within the Village of Waverly and report to the Village Board any
unsafe buildings which be found within the limits of the Village of Waverly.
The Village Board shall consider the reports of the Code Enforcement
Officer and, if in the opinion of the Village Board the report so warrants,
shall determine that the building is unsafe and order its repair or demolition,
if the same cannot be safely repaired, and further order that a notice shall
be given to the owner as follows:
A.
The notice shall contain the following:
(1)
A description of the premises.
(2)
A statement of the particulars in which the building
is unsafe.
(3)
An order requiring the building to be repaired or demolished.
(4)
That the repairing or demolition of the building shall
commence within 10 days of the serving of the notice, as hereinafter provided,
and shall be completed within 30 days thereafter. The Code Enforcement Officer
may extend the time of compliance specified in the notice where there is evidence
of intent to comply within the time specified and conditions exist that prevent
immediate compliance. In granting any such extension of time, the Code Enforcement
Officer may impose such conditions as he or she may deem appropriate.
(5)
A date, time and place for a hearing before the Village
Board in relation to such unsafe building. Such hearing shall be scheduled
not less than five business days from the date of service of the notice.
A.
Said notice shall be served in the following manner:
(1)
By personal service of a copy of the notice upon the
owner or some one of the owner's, executors, legal representative, agents,
lessees or any other person having a vested or contingent interest in the
premises as shown by the last preceding completed assessment roll of the Village
of Waverly or records of the County Clerk, such service to be complete and
the thirty-day time period recited in the notice to commence upon personal
service; or
(2)
By mailing a copy of the notice to such owner or other
person as above described, by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed
to the last known address of such person and by affixing a copy of the notice
to the premises, such service to be completed and the thirty-day time period
recited in the notice to commence 10 days after the return receipt is received
by the Village and filed in the Tioga County Clerk's office; or
B.
A copy of the notice shall be filed in the office of
the Tioga 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. 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 upon the consent of the Village Attorney.
A.
The hearing shall be conducted before the Village Board.
The Code Enforcement Officer shall present his or her report to the Village
Board in writing. The owner or his or her representative, if present, shall
call such witnesses as he or she deems necessary. The Village Board shall
make written findings of fact from the testimony offered as to whether or
not the building in question is an unsafe building.
B.
If such owner shall neglect, fail or refuse to comply
and shall fail to appear at said hearing, then the Village Board shall direct
the repair or demolition of the building forthwith.
C.
If such owner shall neglect, fail or refuse to comply,
and after appearing at said hearing the Village Board finds that the building
is an unsafe building and directs its repair or demolition, the owner shall
repair or demolish said building within the time prescribed by law.
D.
If the owner fails or neglects to repair or demolish
said building as directed by the Village Board following the hearing, then
the Village Board shall direct the repair or demolition of same forthwith.
In the event of neglect or refusal of the persons so notified to comply
with said order of the Village Board, the Village Board shall provide for
the demolition and removal of such building either by Village employees or
by contract. Except in an emergency, any contract in excess of $20,000 shall
be awarded by competitive bidding.
A.
In case there shall be, in the opinion of the Village
Board, actual and immediate danger of the falling of a building so as to endanger
public safety, life or property so as to be an actual or immediate menace
to health or public welfare as a result of the conditions present in or about
a building, the Village Board shall cause the necessary work to be done or
render such a building temporarily safe, whether the procedure prescribed
in this chapter for unsafe buildings has been instituted or not.
B.
When emergency work is to be performed under this section,
the Village Board shall cause the owner of the premises to be served personally
or by certified mail, return receipt requested, and, if served by certified
mail, shall post on the premises a notice to comply containing a description
of the premises, a statement of the facts in which the building is unsafe
or dangerous and orders and directions to correct the conditions that constitute
an emergency within a specified period not to exceed three days from actual
or constructive notice of the condition.
C.
In the event that the emergency does not permit any delay
in correction, the notice shall state that the Village has corrected the emergency
situation.
D.
In both cases, the notice shall state that the corrective
costs of the emergency will be assessed against the owner pursuant to the
provisions of this chapter.
In addition to the remedies provided by this chapter, the Village Board
may request that the Village Attorney make an application to the Supreme Court
for an order determining the building to be an unsafe building and directing
that it shall be repaired and secured or demolished.
A.
All costs and expenses incurred by the Village of Waverly
in connection with the administratively and/or judicially substantiated proceedings
to remove or secure, including the cost of actually removing the building
in question, and any cost incurred by the Village in the consult of engineers
or other experts shall be assessed against the landowner of the land on which
said building is located, any insurance proceeds of the property damaged in
an insured event, the owner of the property or any combination of the above.
Such assessment shall be and constitute a lien upon such land. If the owner
shall fail to pay such expenses with 10 days after the statement is presented
or posted, a legal action may be brought to collect such assessment or to
foreclose such lien. As an alternative, the Code Enforcement Officer may file
a certificate of the actual expenses incurred as aforesaid, together with
a statement identifying the property in connection with the Assessor, who
shall, in the preparation of the next assessment roll, assess such amount
upon such property. Such amount shall be included in the levy against such
property, shall constitute a lien and shall be collected and enforced in the
same manner, by the same proceedings, at the same time and under the same
penalties as are provided by law for the collection and enforcement of real
property tax in the Village of Waverly.
B.
The Village of Waverly may commence a special
proceeding pursuant to § 78-b of the General Municipal Law to collect
the costs of demolition, including reasonable and necessary legal expenses.
