[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of
the Town of Monroe as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 9-27-1971 (Ch. 68, Art. II of the 1976 Code)]
A.
ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
JUNK
JUNK APPLIANCE
JUNK VEHICLE
OPERATOR
OWNER
PERSON
When used in this article, the following terms shall
have the following meanings:
The Zoning Enforcement Officer or his designated agent or
deputy.[1]
Any old, used or secondhand materials of any kind, including
cloth, clothing, rags, bags, papers, rubbish, bottles, glassware,
crockery, rubber, iron, brass, copper, other ferrous and nonferrous
metals, furniture, fixtures, plumbing materials, waste materials,
or any other article or thing which from its worn condition renders
it practically useless for the purpose for which it was made and which
is commonly classed as junk.[2]
Washing machine, drying machine, stove, refrigerator, freezer,
air-conditioning device and machine, water heater and water cooler
and device for the storage of hot water or cold water, dishwasher,
television receiver, furniture, office equipment, and machine or implement
for business, manufacturing or farming purposes and any other similar
thing or part thereof in an inoperative or discarded condition.
Any motor vehicle or part thereof which is not in condition
for lawful operation on the public highways of this state and is in
a rusted, wrecked, discarded, partly dismantled, inoperative or abandoned
condition.[3]
Any person who has apparent charge, custody, care or control,
possession or occupancy of land.
Any person who has any legal title to or beneficial interest
in any land, with or without actual possession or occupancy thereof,
or who has charge, custody, care or control of any land as an owner
or as an agent of an owner, or as an officer, director or employee
of a corporation or other business entity which is an owner or an
agent of an owner, or as an executor, administrator, trustee, conservator
or guardian of an owner or the estate of an owner.
Any individual person, firm, partnership, corporation or
other legal entity.
B.
Words of the male gender shall include the female
gender, and words of the singular number shall include the plural
number, as the context and the circumstances require.
It is hereby found and declared that junk, junk
vehicles and junk appliances upon any property within the Town of
Monroe are nuisances and also are detrimental to the public safety,
health, convenience and welfare; that they constitute a nuisance and
particularly imperil the health and safety of children, constitute
a potential source of fire and explosion, are and may become harborages
for rodents and breeding places for insects and threaten and depreciate
neighboring properties; that the preservation of public health, the
elimination of such public peril and the general protection of property
and maintenance of property values are proper concerns of the Town
of Monroe; and that enactment of this article is necessary for the
protection and preservation of the public safety, health, convenience
and welfare and of property and property values.
[Amended 9-22-1977[1]]
No owner or operator of any parcel of land wholly
or partially within the Town of Monroe shall deposit or cause or permit
to be deposited, or retain or cause or permit to be retained, any
junk, junk vehicle or vehicles or junk appliances on such land, except
when all such storage is visually screened to a height of at least
six feet from the street and all adjoining properties, and except
when all such storage areas are maintained in a neat and orderly fashion
so as not to create health hazards, insect breeding places or rodent
harborage, and except when all such exterior storage areas are securely
locked and physically inaccessible to any person not authorized or
legally entitled to be on the premises or not employed or engaged
in the business if a business is located on said premises. All presently
existing areas wherein junk, junk vehicles or junk appliances are
stored, kept or situated shall comply with this section within six
months from the effective date hereof.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed
original § 68-10, Enforcement of notice; costs, and § 68-13,
Nonapplicability, of this article.
[Amended 10-14-1976]
On information or complaint of any violation of § 405-3, the enforcement officer shall cause to be served written notice, either personally or by mail, upon the owner or operator of the land on which said violation is found or complained of, setting forth the nature of said violation and ordering correction thereof. Said notice shall be in the form prescribed by the Town Council of the Town of Monroe from time to time as it may determine.
[Amended 10-14-1976[1]]
Any person who, as owner or operator of any parcel of land, fails, neglects or refuses to comply with the provisions of this article after notice served in accordance with § 405-4 hereof shall be fined not more than $250, and each day of noncompliance with said notice shall constitute a separate and distinct violation and may be prosecuted as such. Any person who resists, obstructs or interferes with any agent, servant or officer of the Town of Monroe engaged in the enforcement or execution of any provision of this article shall be fined not more than $250. The penalties provided in this section shall be in addition to any other relief or remedy provided by this article or the Connecticut General Statutes, as amended.
[Adopted 1-14-2002 (Ch. 71 of the 1976 Code)]
A.
This article is enacted pursuant to the authority
granted to the Town of Monroe under Connecticut General Statutes § 7-148(c)(7)(H)(xv).
B.
This article prohibits any owner, agent, tenant or
person in control of real property located in the Town of Monroe from
allowing, creating, maintaining or causing to be created or maintained
a blighted premises. This article also establishes penalties for violations
of this article.
For the purpose of this article, the following
words, terms and phrases shall have the following meanings ascribed
to them:
Any building or structure or parcel of land, proximate to
other residential properties, commercial structures, or road, in a
state of disrepair, dilapidation or abandonment.
"State of disrepair or dilapidation" shall mean
in a physically deteriorating condition causing unsafe or unsanitary
conditions and a nuisance to the general public and shall be evidenced
by one or more of the following conditions:
Persistent missing, broken or boarded up windows
and doors, otherwise not required by order of any other Town official
acting within the scope of his or her authority;
Collapsing or missing exterior walls or roof;
Seriously damaged or missing siding;
Unrepaired fire, wind or water damage;
Persistent rodent harborage and/or infestation
that may pose a significant public health or safety risk;
Persistent garbage or trash on the property;
Seriously overgrown brush, shrubs and weeds,
at least one foot in length, that may pose a significant public health
or safety risk;
Felled or damaged trees that may pose a significant
public health or safety risk;
Sinkholes that may pose a significant public
health or safety risk;
Significant and persistent accumulations of
debris bordering on adjacent properties;
Parking lots left in a persistent state of disrepair
or abandonment; and
Seriously damaged or deteriorating structures,
including but not limited to barns, sheds, swing sets, and jungle
gyms, that may pose a significant public health or safety risk or
be termed an attractive nuisance.
In determining whether a premises is "blighted,"
as defined in this article, mitigating factors to be considered include:
The nature and use of the premises as farmland
and/or open space acreage;
The transient seasonal presence of snow, water,
ice, and/or animal harborage, due to the natural topography of the
property, and the feasibility of remediation of such conditions; and
The status of the premises as a recognized historic
structure.
Any written plan submitted by a responsible party, in response
to an enforcement citation as defined in this article, that sets forth
a definite schedule for the remediation of all items set forth in
the enforcement citation.
The party who owns the real property in question, as well
as any tenant, occupant or person who resides at or controls the real
property at issue or who is contractually obligated to maintain the
property by virtue of such tenancy or occupancy. In no event shall
a contractual obligation protect or absolve the owner of the property
of the duty to comply with the terms of this article. "Responsible
party," as used in this article, shall not be limited to the singular.
No responsible party shall allow, maintain or
cause to be maintained a blighted premises in the Town of Monroe.
The designated enforcement officer and/or other
individuals designated by the First Selectman are charged with the
enforcement of this article. The designated enforcement officer is
hereby authorized to take such enforcement actions as are specified
in this article.
A.
The Town of Monroe, through its designated enforcement
officer, shall serve written notice of violation to the responsible
party. The notice may be hand delivered or mailed by certified mail,
return receipt requested, to the last known address of the responsible
party named in the notice. Such notice shall state the violation(s)
and demand the abatement thereof within 14 business days of the date
of the notice. The notice shall also set forth and explain the various
time limits set forth in this article for preparing and submitting
a plan of action and responding to an enforcement citation, if one
is issued. The designated enforcement officer shall file and retain
an original or certified copy of the notice.
B.
If the responsible party fails to correct the violation(s)
or to prepare and submit a plan of action to the designated enforcement
officer, he/she may issue an enforcement citation as specified in
this article. If the responsible party submits such a plan of action,
the designated enforcement officer may, in his or her discretion:
(1)
Accept or reject the plan as prepared in writing within
10 days of its submission.
(2)
Accept the plan subject to conditions recommended
by the enforcement officer within 10 days of the plan's submission,
which conditional plan of action must be acknowledged in writing by
the responsible party as acceptable within 10 days of the conditional
acceptance.
If any violation remains unabated, or if a plan
of action is not submitted and accepted, after the fourteen-business-day
notice period has elapsed, the designated enforcement officer is hereby
authorized to serve an enforcement citation upon a responsible party.
Service shall be in the manner provided for a notice of violation.
If an enforcement citation is not issued within 30 days of the elapsing
of the fourteen-business-day notice period, the notice of violation
shall expire and a new notice of violation must be issued, which will
begin a new fourteen-business-day notice period.
Violations of the provisions of this article
shall be punishable by a fine of $100 for each day any and all violations
remain unabated following service of an enforcement citation. Penalties
shall be stayed during the consideration of a plan of action by the
enforcement officer and shall only begin to accrue:
A.
After issuance of an enforcement citation, fines will
accrue until the responsible party submits to the enforcement officer
a statement in writing that the conditions have been rectified. Submission
of the statement will stay further accrual of fines until the enforcement
officer ascertains whether the conditions have abated. If the conditions
have not been rectified satisfactorily, the enforcement officer shall
notify the responsible party in writing, which shall have the effect
of lifting the stay of the accrual of fines until notice has been
received from the responsible party that the condition has once again
been rectified. Fines shall stop accruing when the enforcement officer
issues to the responsible party, in writing, a notice that the conditions
have been satisfactorily addressed. Payment of accrued fines is due
30 days after the notice from the enforcement officer that the conditions
have been rectified is received by the responsible party.
B.
The final period for contesting an enforcement citation
under this article shall be 30 days after the mailing or delivery
of the citation itself or, in the event of the filing of a plan of
action, 30 days after such plan of action is rejected or the ten-day
period has elapsed during which a responsible party must acknowledge
acceptance of a conditional plan. A responsible party may file with
the enforcement officer, in writing, a petition to contest the enforcement
citation. The procedures for hearing, disposition and enforcement
shall be as set forth in § 7-152c of the Connecticut General
Statutes, as the same may be amended from time to time. Filing of
a petition shall stay payment but not accrual of fines under this
article.
C.
Upon the filing of such a petition, the designated
enforcement officer shall present the case before a three-person Anti-Blight
Appeal Board, which persons shall be appointed pursuant to Chapter
IV, § 2 of the Town Charter. The responsible party shall
also be heard. Neither the designated enforcement officer nor any
regular members of the Planning and Zoning Commission or the Zoning
Board of Appeals nor any employee of the Town of Monroe may be appointed
to the Anti-Blight Appeal Board. If the Anti-Blight Appeal Board finds
in favor of the responsible party, all fines accrued to the date of
decision shall be waived. If the Anti-Blight Appeal Board upholds
the enforcement citation, the fines that have accrued will then become
due and payable, and additional fines may accrue if the conditions
remain unabated.
Any unpaid fine imposed shall constitute a lien
upon the real estate in accordance with Connecticut General Statutes
§ 7-148aa. Each such lien shall be continued, recorded and
released as provided for in § 7-148aa.
In the event that any responsible party shall
fail to abate or correct any violation specified in any notice, after
the issuance of an enforcement citation for such failure, which citation
has become final through the failure of such party to contest the
citation before the Anti-Blight Appeal Board, or by such appeal being
unsuccessful, the Town of Monroe, acting through its designated enforcement
officer, issuing such notice of violation, may cause or take such
action as is necessary to correct such violation. The cost to take
such action shall be recovered under the applicable provisions of
Connecticut General Statutes § 7-148(c)(7)(E).
Any blighted premises for which an application
for a special permit, site plan or other improvements to the blighted
premises is pending prior to or submitted within 10 days of the issuance
of an enforcement citation in the Town Planning and Zoning Commission,
the Zoning Board of Appeals, and/or the Inland Wetlands Commission
shall be exempt from the provisions of this article until a decision
is reached on the same, but in any event not longer than a period
of 130 days from the date of submittal of a complete application.
The responsible party must notify the designated enforcement officer
in writing that he or she has already filed, or submit a complete
copy of any application to the enforcement officer in the event that
the responsible party files a special permit or site plan application
within 10 days of the issuance of an enforcement citation, which notice
or submission will maintain the property's exempt status until a hearing
is concluded and a decision is reached. No fines shall accrue until
a decision has been issued by the applicable board or commission.
