[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Old Forge 12-21-1970 by Ord. No. 13-1970 (Ch. 126 of the 1994
Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
For the purposes of this chapter, the following
definitions shall apply:
Any structure, whether public or private, that is adapted
for occupancy for the transaction of business, for rendering of professional
service, for amusement, for the display, sale or storage of goods,
wares or merchandise or for the performance of work or labor, including
hotels, apartment buildings, tenement houses, rooming houses, office
buildings, public buildings, stores, theaters, markets, restaurants,
grain elevators, abattoirs, warehouses, workshops, factories and all
outhouses, sheds, barns and other structures on premises used for
business purposes.
The person designated to enforce this chapter or any duly
authorized representative.
[Amended 5-31-1994]
The individual, partnership, association or corporation that
uses or occupies any business building or part or fraction thereof,
whether the actual owner, agent or custodian shall have the responsibility
as occupant.
The actual owner, agent or custodian of the business building,
whether an individual, partnership, association or corporation. The
lessee shall be construed as the owner for the purpose of this chapter
when business building agreements hold the lessee responsible for
maintenance and repairs.
An individual, partnership, association or corporation.
The elimination or extermination of rats within buildings
by any or all of the accepted measures, such as poisoning, fumigation,
trapping and clubbing.[1]
Any condition which provides shelter or protection for rats,
thus favoring their multiplication and continued existence in, under
or outside of any structure.
Applies to a form of construction to prevent the ingress
of rats into business buildings from the exterior or from one building
or establishment to another. It consists essentially of treatment
with material impervious to rat gnawing of all actual or potential
openings in exterior walls, ground or first floors, basements, roofs
and foundations that may be reached by climbing or by burrowing.
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Section (1)(E), the
definition of "Health Officer," which immediately followed this definition,
was repealed 5-31-1994. See now the definition of "Code Enforcement
Officer."
It is hereby ordained and required that all
business buildings in the Borough of Old Forge shall be ratproofed,
freed of rats and maintained in a ratproof and rat-free condition
to the satisfaction of the Code Enforcement Officer.
A.Â
Upon receipt of written notice and/or order from the
Code Enforcement Officer, the owner of any business building specified
therein shall take immediate measures for ratproofing the building;
and unless said work and improvements have been completed by the owner
in the time specified in a written notice, in no event to be less
than 15 days, or within the time to which a written extension may
have been granted by the Code Enforcement Officer, then the owner
shall be deemed guilty of an offense under the provisions of this
chapter.
B.Â
Whenever the Code Enforcement Officer notifies the
occupant or occupants of a business building in writing that there
is evidence of rat infestation of the building, said occupant or occupants
shall immediately institute rat-eradication measures and shall continuously
maintain such measures in a satisfactory manner until the premises
are declared by the Code Enforcement Officer to be free of rat infestation.
Unless said measures are undertaken within five days after receipt
of notice, it shall be construed as a violation of the provisions
of this chapter, and the occupant shall be held responsible therefor.
The owners of all ratproofed business buildings
are required to maintain the premises in a ratproof condition and
to repair all breaks or leaks that may occur in the ratproofing without
a specific order of the Code Enforcement Officer.
From and after passage of this chapter, the
Code Enforcement Officer is empowered to make unannounced inspections
of the interior and exterior of business buildings to determine full
compliance with this chapter. The Code Enforcement Officer shall make
periodic inspections at intervals of not more than 45 days of all
ratproofed buildings to determine evidence of rat infestation and
the existence of new breaks or leaks in their ratproofing. When any
evidence is found indicating the presence of rats or openings through
which rats may again enter business buildings, the Code Enforcement
Officer shall serve the owners or occupants with notice and/or orders
to abate the conditions found.
Whenever, in the opinion of the Code Enforcement Officer, conditions inside or under occupied business buildings provide extensive harborage for rats, said Code Enforcement Officer is empowered, after due notification in accordance with § 262-3A, to close such business buildings until such time as the conditions are abated by ratproofing and harborage removal, including, if necessary, the installation of suitable concrete floors in basements or replacement of wooden first or ground floors with concrete or other major repairs necessary to facilitate rat eradication.
Whenever, in the opinion of the Code Enforcement Officer, conditions inside or under unoccupied business buildings provide extensive harborage for rats, said Code Enforcement Officer is empowered to require compliance with the provisions of § 262-3A above, and, in the event that said conditions are not corrected in a period of 60 days or within the time to which a written extension may have been granted by the Code Enforcement Officer, the Code Enforcement Officer is empowered to institute condemnation and destruction proceedings.
It shall be unlawful under the provisions of
this chapter for the occupant, owner, contractor, public utility company,
plumber or any other person to remove and fail to restore in like
condition the ratproofing from any business building for any purpose;
further, it shall be unlawful for any person or agent to make any
new openings that are not closed or sealed against the entrance of
rats.
It shall be unlawful for any person hereafter
to construct, repair or remodel any building, dwelling, stable or
market or other structure whatsoever unless such construction, repair,
remodeling or installation shall render the building or other structure
ratproof in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The provisions
of this section apply only to such construction, repairs, remodeling
or installation as affect the ratproof condition of any building or
other structure.
It shall be unlawful for any person hereafter to occupy any new or existing business buildings wherein foodstuffs are to be stored, kept, handled, sold, held or offered for sale without complying with § 262-9 of this chapter, and, unless the provisions of this section are complied with, no Borough license or permit to conduct or carry on such business as defined above will be issued.
All food and feed within the Borough of Old
Forge for feeding chickens, cows, pigs, horses and other animals shall
be stored in rat-free and ratproof containers, compartments, rooms
or buildings.
A.Â
Within the corporate limits of the Borough of Old
Forge, all garbage or refuse consisting of waste animal or vegetable
matter upon which rats may feed and all small dead animals shall be
placed and stored until collected in covered metal containers of a
type prescribed by the Code Enforcement Officer. It is further declared
unlawful for any person to dump or place or permit the dumping or
placing on any premises, land or waterway of any dead animals or any
waste vegetable or animal matter of any kind.
B.Â
It shall be unlawful for any person to place, leave,
dump or permit to accumulate any garbage, rubbish or trash in any
building or any premises, improved or vacant, or on any open lot or
alley in the Borough of Old Forge in such a manner that the same shall
or may afford food or harborage for rats.
It shall be unlawful for any person to place
or permit to accumulate on any premises, improved or vacant, or on
any open lot or alley in the Borough of Old Forge any lumber, boxes,
barrels, bottles, cans, containers or similar materials unless the
same shall be placed on open racks that are elevated not less than
18 inches above the ground and evenly piled or stacked.
It shall be unlawful for any person to permit
any weeds to grow in excess of six inches in height on any premises,
improved or vacant, or in any open lot or alley in the Borough of
Old Forge.
[Amended 5-31-1994[1]]
Any person, firm, association or corporation
who or which shall violate any provision or provisions of this chapter,
upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000,
plus costs of prosecution, and, in default of payment of such fine
and costs, by imprisonment for not more than 30 days.
