[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village
of Belle Terre as Ord. No. 21 of the 1952 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls
and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals
or chattel.
Includes a corporation, a joint association or a partnership,
as well as an individual, as the case may be.
Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires
location on the ground or attachment to something having a location
on the ground.
Any building or structure or part of a building or structure
that at any time is or may become dangerous or unsafe from any cause
shall be repaired, demolished, removed or made safe and secure.
Whenever the Board of Trustees receives information from the
Mayor or any Trustee or any officer or employee of the Village of
Belle Terre that any building or structure or part of a building or
structure is dangerous or unsafe from any cause, whether as a fire
hazard, structurally or otherwise, the Board of Trustees shall appoint
an officer of the village to make an inspection of the same and to
render his written report with all convenient speed to the Board of
Trustees.
If it appears from said written report that said building or
structure or part thereof is dangerous or unsafe from any cause, whether
as a fire hazard, structurally or otherwise, the Board of Trustees
shall cause to be served on the lessees, owner or one of the owners
or the legal representatives or agents of any person or any other
person who may have vested or contingent interest in the building
or structure or premises on which the same may be situated a notice,
in writing, containing a description of the building or structure
or part thereof, a statement of the particulars in which said building
or structure or part thereof is unsafe or dangerous and an order requiring
the same, at the cost and expense of the person served, to be removed
or demolished or to be made safe and secure by means of such repairs
as are deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees. Said order shall
set forth the time within which the person served shall commence and
complete the removal, demolition or securing of the building or structure
or part thereof. Service of said notice and order may be made personally
or by registered mail, addressed to the last known address, if any,
of the lessee, owner or one of the owners or some one of the legal
representatives or agents of any person or any other person who may
have a vested or contingent interest in said building or structure
or premises on which the same may be situated, as said interest may
be shown by the records of the assessment roll of the Village of Belle
Terre or of the Clerk of the County of Suffolk. In the event that
service of said notice or order is made by registered mail, a copy
of said notice and order shall be posted on said building or structure
or the premises on which the same may be situated.
Upon the neglect or refusal of the person served with said notice and order to comply with any of the requirements thereof, a further notice, in writing, shall be served on him, in the manner prescribed by § 54-4 hereof, notifying him that a survey of the premises named in such notice on which the building or structure may be situated will be made at the time and place therein named, which time shall be between 48 and 96 hours from the time of the service of such notice. Such survey shall be made by an officer of the Village of Belle Terre and a practical builder, engineer or architect to be named by the Board of Trustees and a practical builder, engineer or architect appointed by the person thus notified, and the notice served on him shall so state. In the event that the person thus notified neglects or refuses to appoint such surveyor, the other two surveyors, that is the village officer and the practical builder, engineer or architect named by the Board of Trustees, shall make the survey and shall make a report of the survey. Said notice shall state the foregoing and shall state further that, in the event that the building or structure or part thereof referred to in the notice shall be reported by such surveyors as unsafe or dangerous under such survey, their report of survey will be placed before and an application will be made at a Special Term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York in and for the County of Suffolk not less than five nor more than 10 days thereafter for an order determining the building or structure or part thereof to be a public nuisance and directing that the same be demolished, removed or made safe and secure by means of such repairs as may be deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees, and in the event that the same is not demolished, removed or made safe and secure, as foresaid, within a specified time, to authorize and empower the Board of Trustees to remove, demolish or make safe and secure the same and assess the cost and expenses thereof against the land on which said buildings or structures are located; and any trial before said Court will be upon the allegations and statements contained in said report of survey, and that the report of survey, reduced to writing, shall constitute the issue and the basis of the application to be placed before the Court for determination.
A signed copy of the report of survey, as set forth in § 54-5 hereof, shall be posted on the building or structure immediately on the signing thereof.
The Board of Trustees may fix the compensation of the surveyors
named by it.
A.
The
violation of any provision of this chapter or any notice or order
issued hereunder shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding $250
or by imprisonment for not more than 15 days, or both.
B.
A
separate and distinct offense shall be deemed committed on each day
during or on which a violation occurs or continues.
C.
In
addition, the defendant shall pay all costs and expenses incurred
by the Village of Belle Terre in determining such violation.
