[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of North
Tonawanda 4-17-1972. Amendments noted where applicable.]
For the purposes of this ordinance, the term used herein is
defined as follows:
Any act or omission to perform a duty or use of premises
or of building exteriors which is detrimental to the property of others
or which causes or tends to cause substantial diminution in the value
of other property in the neighborhood in which such premises are located,
or which causes or tends to cause any interference with the use and
enjoyment of land or any act or omission to perform a duty, which
act or omission annoys, injures or endangers the comfort, repose,
health or safety of any considerable number of persons; or offends
public decency; or interferes with, obstructs or tends to obstruct
or renders dangerous for passage a public park, square, street or
highway or any other area which is maintained at public expense; or
in any way renders a considerable number of persons insecure in life
or in the use of property. This includes but is not limited to the
keeping or depositing on or the scattering over the premises of any
of the following: lumber, junk, trash or debris; and abandoned, discarded
or unused objects or equipment, such as automobiles, furniture, stoves,
refrigerators, freezers, cans or containers.
No person owning, leasing, occupying or having charge of any
premises shall maintain or keep any nuisance thereon, nor shall any
such person keep or maintain such premises in the manner causing any
interference with the use and enjoyment of the other property in the
neighborhood in which such premises are located.
[Amended 8-17-1976; 6-3-1986]
It shall be the duty of the owner or occupant of any premises
within the city limits, whenever the Building Inspector and Code Enforcement
Officer shall declare any unwholesome grounds, yards, cellars, buildings
or other place, stagnant or unwholesome water, filth and unwholesome
matter, injurious to health, to be a nuisance, to immediately cause
the same to be abated; and in case the owner or occupant shall neglect
or refuse to do so, the Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer
shall place the owner of the same on notice and if the same is not
abated within five days of the date of service of notice shall refer
the matter to the Superintendent of Public Works for immediate abatement
and recovery of the cost of the same.
[Amended 6-3-1986]
A.
It
shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to permit or
maintain the existence of any nuisance on any property under his,
her or its control. The Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer
are hereby authorized to notify, in writing, the owner, lessee or
agent of the owner or lessee, of the existence of the nuisance and
to immediately abate such nuisance. Service of said notice can be
made personally or by mail addressed to the last known place of residence
as appearing in the records of the City of North Tonawanda of such
owner or lessee or agent of such owner or lessee. If the owner, lessee
or agent of the owner or lessee fails, neglects or refuses to abate
the nuisance within five days from the date of the service of the
notice, then the Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer are
hereby authorized to refer the matter to the Superintendent of Public
Works for purposes of abating the nuisance; and the cost of such abatement,
plus $50 for inspection, and any other additional costs, in addition
thereto, shall be certified to the City Assessor, and this amount
shall constitute a lien and charge on the real property on which it
is levied until paid or otherwise satisfied or discharged and shall
be collected by the City Treasurer in the manner provided for the
collection of taxes.
[Amended 4-5-1988; 5-18-1999]
B.
In
any case where the Chief of Police, the Chief of the Fire Department,
the City Engineer or a registered professional engineer authorized
by the Common Council to act for or in the place of the City Engineer
shall produce a certificate to the effect that a condition determined
by the Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer to be a nuisance
is an immediate and substantial hazard to the public health or safety
or to the security of other property, and where the Building Inspector
and Code Enforcement Officer are unable to secure an immediate abatement
of the nuisance by the owner of the property, the Superintendent of
Public Works is hereby authorized to proceed to abate such nuisance
prior to notification of the property owner and/or expiration of the
five-day period otherwise allowed for abatement of the nuisance by
the owner of the property, the cost of such abatement and any other
additional cost, in addition thereto, being chargeable to the property
as hereinbefore described.
C.
It
shall be the responsibility of the owner or occupant of any premises
within the City limits that has sustained a loss due to a fire to
clear said premises of all debris within 30 days after an investigation
has been completed by the owner or occupant's insurance company
or, if no insurance company exists, within 30 days after the completion
of a fire investigation by the Chief of the Fire Department. If the
owner or occupant of said premises receives a demolition permit from
the Building Inspector for said premises damaged by a fire, all cleanup
work connected with said demolition shall be completed within 30 days
after the date of the issuing of said permit. If the premises is not
cleared as per this subsection, then the Building Inspector and Code
Enforcement Officer are hereby authorized to consider said premises
a nuisance and to take steps to abate the same.
[Added 7-18-1989]
[Amended 6-15-1993]
Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions
of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a violation and subject
to a fine of not more than $250 or imprisonment for a period not to
exceed 15 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Each day such
violation is committed or permitted to continue shall constitute a
separate offense and shall be punishable as such.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion
of this ordinance is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional
by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed
a separate, distinct and independent provision, and such holding shall
not affect the validity of the remaining portions hereof.
This ordinance shall take effect immediately.
