[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City
of Watervliet 5-15-2008 by Ord. No. 1821.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall hereinafter be known and
cited as "Social Host Liability."
The City Council finds as follows:
A.
The City of Watervliet, pursuant to the police powers
delegated to it by the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law, has
the authority to enact laws which promote the public health, safety,
and general welfare of its residents;
B.
The occurrence of loud or unruly gatherings on private
property where alcoholic beverages are served to or consumed by underage
persons is harmful to the underage persons themselves and a threat
to public health, safety, quiet enjoyment of residential property
and general welfare;
C.
Underage persons often obtain alcoholic beverages
at gatherings held at private residences or at rented residential
and commercial premises that are under the control of a person who
knows or should know of the underage service and/or consumption. Persons
responsible for the occurrence of loud or unruly gatherings on private
property over which they have possession or control have failed to
ensure that alcoholic beverages are neither served to nor consumed
by underage persons at these parties;
D.
Landlords have failed to prevent the occurrence or
reoccurrence of loud or unruly gatherings, including those where alcoholic
beverages are served to or consumed by underage persons, on private
property they lease to tenants, which seriously disrupts the quiet
enjoyment of neighboring residents;
E.
Problems associated with loud or unruly gatherings
at which alcoholic beverages are served to or consumed by underage
persons are difficult to prevent and deter unless the Watervliet Police
Department has the legal authority to direct the host to disperse
the gathering;
F.
Control of loud or unruly gatherings on private property
where alcoholic beverages are served to or consumed by underage persons
is necessary when such activity is determined to be a threat to the
peace, health, safety or general welfare of the public;
G.
Persons responsible for abetting or tolerating loud
or unruly gatherings will be more likely to properly supervise or
stop such conduct at gatherings held on property under their possession
or control;
H.
In the past and present, law enforcement, fire and
other emergency response services personnel have and are required
to respond, sometimes on multiple occasions, to loud or unruly gatherings
on private property at which alcoholic beverages are served to or
consumed by underage persons, and responses to such gatherings result
in a disproportionate expenditure of public safety resources by the
City of Watervliet and delays police responses to regular and emergency
calls to the rest of the City;
I.
The intent of this chapter is to protect the public
health, safety, quiet enjoyment of residential property, and general
welfare, rather than to punish. An ordinance that imposes strict liability
on property owners and other responsible persons for the nuisances
created by loud and unruly gatherings is necessary to deter and prevent
such gatherings. Persons who actively and passively aid, allow or
tolerate loud or unruly gatherings shall be held strictly liable for
the nuisances created by such gatherings and the costs associated
with responding to such gatherings.
The purposes of this chapter are:
A.
To protect public health, safety and general welfare;
B.
To enforce laws prohibiting the service to and consumption
of alcoholic beverages by underage persons; and
C.
To reduce the costs of providing police, fire and
other emergency response services to loud or unruly gatherings, by
imposing a civil fee against social hosts and landowners (including
landlords) for the recovery of costs associated with providing law
enforcement, fire and other emergency response services to loud or
unruly gatherings, including those where alcoholic beverages are served
to or consumed by underage persons.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following
terms shall have the following meanings:
Ethyl alcohol, hydrated oxide of ethyl or spirits of wine
from whatever source or by whatever process produced.
Includes alcohol, spirits, liquor, wine, beer, and every
liquid or solid containing alcohol, spirits, wine or beer and which
contains 1/2 of 1% or more of alcohol by volume and which is fit for
beverage purposes either alone or when diluted, mixed or combined
with other substances.
Any person under 16 years of age.
A party or gathering of two or more persons
at or on a residence or other private property upon which loud or
unruly conduct occurs. Such loud or unruly conduct includes but is
not limited to:
Excessive noise;
Excessive traffic;
Obstruction of public streets or crowds that
have spilled into public streets;
Public drunkenness or unlawful public consumption
of alcohol or alcoholic beverages;
Service to or consumption of alcohol or alcoholic
beverages by any underage person, except as permitted by state law;
Harassments, assaults, fights, domestic violence
or other disturbances of the peace;
Vandalism;
Litter; and
Any other conduct which constitutes a threat
to public health, safety, quiet enjoyment, of residential property
or general welfare.
A loud or unruly gathering shall constitute
a public nuisance.
A home, yard, apartment, condominium, hotel or motel room,
or other dwelling unit, or a hall or meeting room, whether occupied
on a temporary or permanent basis, whether occupied as a dwelling,
party or other social function, and whether owned, leased, rented
or used with or without compensation.
The cost associated with responses by law enforcement, fire
and other emergency response providers to loud or unruly gatherings,
including but not limited to:
Salaries and benefits of law enforcement, fire
or other emergency response personnel for the amount of time spent
responding to, remaining at, or otherwise dealing with loud or unruly
gatherings, and the administrative costs attributable to such response(s);
The cost of any medical treatment to or for
any law enforcement, fire or other emergency response personnel injured
responding to, remaining at or leaving the scene of a loud or unruly
gathering;
The cost of repairing any City equipment or
property damaged, and the cost of the use of any such equipment, in
responding to, remaining at or leaving the scene of a loud or unruly
gathering;
Any person, agent, operator, firm, association, organization,
partnership, company, corporation, beneficiary, trust, trustee, and
all other persons having a legal or equitable interest in the residence
or other private property or recorded in the official records of the
state, county or municipality as holding title to the property or
otherwise having control of the property, including the guardian of
the estate of any such person and the executor or administrator of
the estate of such person if ordered to take possession of real property
by a court, on which a loud or unruly gathering is conducted.
A person or persons with a right of possession
in the residence or other private property on which loud or unruly
gathering is conducted, including, but not limited to:
An owner of the residence or other private property;
A tenant or lessee of the residence or other
private property;
The landlord of another person responsible for
the gathering; and
The person(s) who organizes, supervises, officiates,
conducts or controls the gathering or any other person(s) accepting
responsibility for such a gathering.
If a responsible person for the gathering is
a juvenile, then the parents or guardians of that juvenile and the
juvenile will be jointly and severally liable for the response costs
incurred pursuant to this chapter. To incur liability for response
costs imposed by this chapter, the responsible person for the loud
or unruly gathering need not be present at such gathering resulting
in the response giving rise to the imposition of response costs. This
chapter therefore imposes vicarious as well as direct liability upon
a responsible person.
Any person under 21 years of age.
Every owner, occupant, lessee or holder of any possessory interest of a residence or other private property as defined in § 239-4 above, within the City, is required to maintain, manage, and supervise the property and all persons thereon in a manner so as not to violate the provisions of this chapter. The owner of the property remains liable for such violations regardless of any contract or agreement with any third party regarding the property.
A.
It shall be a violation for any responsible person
or party to conduct, aid, allow, permit or condone a loud or unruly
gathering at a residence or other private property.
B.
Fines.
(1)
A first violation of this chapter shall be punishable
by a $250 fine.
(2)
A second violation of this chapter, at the same residence
or other private property or by the same responsible person or party,
within a twelve-month period shall be punishable by a fine of $500.
(3)
A third or subsequent violation of this chapter, at
the same residence or other private property or by the same responsible
person or party, within a twelve-month period shall be punishable
by a fine of $1,000.
C.
The fines prescribed at Subsection B above are in addition to any response costs that may be assessed pursuant to this chapter.
D.
The second, third or subsequent violation fines prescribed in Subsection B(2) and (3) are payable whether or not the responsible person or party for such loud or unruly gathering is different from the responsible person or party for any prior loud or unruly gathering at the residence or other private property.
E.
The fine schedule prescribed at Subsection B above is a "rolling schedule" meaning that in calculating the fine payable, the City Attorney shall count backward starting from the date of the most recent loud or unruly gathering to determine how many prior loud or unruly gatherings have taken place at the residence or other private property in question during the statutory twelve-month period.
G.
A responsible person or party charged with a violation
of this chapter is entitled to a summary hearing in Watervliet City
Court without a jury and the Court must receive any relevant evidence
not legally privileged. Hearsay is admissible. The responsible person
or party may cross-examine witnesses and may present evidence on his/her/their
behalf. A finding that the responsible person or party has violated
any provision of this chapter must be based upon a preponderance of
the evidence.
A.
When a law enforcement, fire or other emergency response
provider responds to a loud or unruly gathering at a residence or
other private property within the City of Watervliet within a twelve-month
period of a warning given to a responsible person or party for a loud
or unruly gathering, all responsible persons or parties shall be jointly
and severally liable for the City's costs of providing response costs
for that response and all subsequent responses during the warning
period.
B.
When a law enforcement, fire or other emergency response
provider official makes an initial response to a loud or unruly gathering
at a residence or other private property within the City of Watervliet,
the official shall inform any responsible person or party for the
gathering at the scene that:
C.
Only one warning will be given to a responsible person or party pursuant to this section before the City assesses response service costs pursuant to § 239-7. If a responsible person or party cannot be identified at the scene, the official may issue a warning to one or more persons identified in § 239-4 and/or subsequently return to the residence or other private property and issue the warning to a then-present responsible person or party. Warnings given to responsible persons or parties who do not reside at the residence or other private property in question shall be delivered by certified mail, return receipt requested.
A.
The amount of response costs shall be deemed a debt owed to the City of Watervliet by the responsible person or party held liable in § 239-7 for the loud or unruly gathering and, if a juvenile, by the juvenile's parents or guardians. The amount of response costs, including reasonable attorneys fees, shall also be a lien against the property concerned and shall be assessed, levied, and collected like other taxes and assessments; provided, however, that the responsible person or party, including the owner and all other persons having an interest in the property, are provided with notice by way of certified mail, return receipt requested, and mailed within 14 days of the response giving rise to such costs. The notice shall contain the following information:
(1)
The name of the person or party being held liable
for the payment of such costs;
(2)
The address of the residence or other private property
where the loud or unruly gathering occurred;
(3)
The date and time of the response;
(4)
The law enforcement, fire or emergency service provider
who responded;
(5)
The date and time of any previous warning given pursuant
to this chapter and/or previous responses to loud or unruly gatherings
at the residence or other private property in questions within the
previous 12 months; and
(6)
An itemized list of the response costs for which the
person or party is being liable.
B.
The responsible person or party must remit payment
of the noticed response costs to the City of Watervliet Director of
Finance within 30 days of the date of the notice. If no payment is
made within 30 days, the response costs, including reasonable attorneys
fees, shall be a lien against the property concerned and shall be
assessed, levied, and collected like other taxes and assessments;
provided, however, that the responsible person or party and all other
persons having an interest in the property are provided with notice
and an opportunity to be heard before the assessment of any lien against
the land.
The City of Watervliet is authorized, after
due demand having been made and proper notice having been given, to
commence an action at law in any court of competent jurisdiction to
collect response costs from the responsible person or party, including
the owner and any other person having an interest in the property
concerned.
A.
If a provision of this chapter is found to be inconsistent
with any provision of other chapters of the City Code or Charter,
the provision or requirement which is the more restrictive or which
establishes the higher standard shall prevail. A greater penalty shall
not be considered as more restrictive or a higher standard.
B.
If any part, provision, section, subdivision, paragraph
or term of this chapter shall be held unconstitutional, invalid or
ineffective, in whole or in part, such determination shall not be
deemed to invalidate the remaining ordinance, parts, provisions, sections,
subdivisions, paragraphs or terms.
This chapter shall take effect immediately.
