The title of this chapter shall be the "Unsafe
Building Demolition Law."
The Building Inspector appointed by the Board
of Trustees of the Village of Saranac Lake shall be charged with the
responsibility of carrying out the obligations and duties set forth
in this chapter.
No person, firm, corporation or association,
who or which is the owner of a building in the Village of Saranac
Lake, shall cause, suffer, allow or permit the said building to become
dangerous or unsafe to the public. In the event that any building
now is or hereafter becomes dangerous or unsafe to the public, from
any cause whatsoever, the said owner or occupant shall repair or remove
the said building.
In the event of the failure of the owner of
any such building to repair or remove the same, the Building Inspector
of the Village of Saranac Lake shall make a complete inspection and
report of the condition of the said building to the Board of Trustees
of said Village. Notice shall thereafter be served on the owner or
some one of the owners, executors, legal representatives, agents,
lessees or any other person having a vested or contingent interest
in the said building. The said notice shall contain a description
of the premises, a statement of the particulars in which the building
or structure is unsafe or dangerous and an order requiring the said
building or structure to be made safe and secure or removed. The said
notice shall also provide for the time within which the person served
with the said notice shall commence and complete the securing or removal
of the building or structure.
In the event of the neglect or refusal of the
person so served with the said notice to comply with same, a survey
of the premises shall be made by an inspector and architect to be
named by the Board of Trustees of said Village, and a particular builder,
engineer or architect appointed by the person notified, as above,
and in the event of the refusal or neglect of the person so notified
to appoint such surveyor, the two surveyors named shall make the survey
and report.
The notice shall further provide that in the
event the building or other structure shall be reported dangerous
or unsafe under such survey, an application will be made at a special
term of the Supreme Court of the county in which the property is located
for an order determining the building or other structure to be a public
nuisance and directing that it shall be repaired and secured or taken
down and removed.
A signed copy of the report of surveys shall
be posted on the building, and the surveyors appointed by the Board
of Trustees shall be compensated by the Village.
All costs and expenses incurred by the Village
in connection with any and all of the above proceedings to remove
or secure, including the cost of actually removing the said building
or structure or securing the same, shall be assessed against the land
on which the building or structure is located.
If such owner or person served by mail shall
fail to pay the costs and expenses incurred by the Village within
10 days after being notified of the costs thereof by registered mail,
the Village Clerk shall file, immediately preceding the time for making
the annual assessment roll, a certificate of such actual costs and
expenses with a statement as to the property upon which such costs
and expenses were incurred, the buildings or other obstructions removed,
as the case may be, with the Assessor of the Village, who shall, in
the preparation of the next assessment roll of general Village taxes,
assess which amount upon such property, and the same shall be levied,
collected and enforced in the same manner, by the same proceedings,
at the same time, under the same penalties, and having the same lien
upon the property assessed as the general Village tax and as a part
thereof.
In cases of great emergency, where the delay
of proceedings, as hereinbefore provided, would result in probable
loss of life or property, the Mayor or Manager shall have the power
to direct the Building Inspector to proceed at once to take such action
as is needed to guard the safety of persons and property.