[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Athens 9-25-2000
by L.L. No. 3-2000. Amendments noted where applicable.]
It is hereby declared and found that litter carelessly deposited in
the town is the cause of civic disgrace; that litter is a health, fire and
safety hazard and pollutant; that an all-out litter control campaign can result
in substantial savings to taxpayers of the town; and that litter is a matter
affecting the public interest and consequently should be subject to supervision
and administrative control for the purpose of safeguarding the health, safety
and general welfare of the people of the town.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Any printed or written matter, any sample or device, circular, leaflet,
pamphlet, paper, booklet or any other printed or otherwise reproduced original
or copy of any matter of literature which:
Advertises for sale any merchandise, product, commodity or thing.
Directs attention to any business or mercantile or commercial establishment
or other activity for the purpose of either directly or indirectly promoting
the interest thereof by sales.
Directs attention to or advertises any meeting, theatrical performance,
exhibition or event of any kind for which an admission fee is charged for
the purpose of private gain or profit.
While containing reading matter other than advertising matter, is predominantly
and essentially an advertisement and is distributed or circulated for advertising
purposes or for the private benefit and gain of any person so engaged as advertiser
or distributor.
Any site, structure or group thereof, including shopping centers,
shopping plazas and other similar places wherein wholesale and/or retail mercantile
activities and services are offered, and further including all parking areas
thereat.
Putrescible animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling,
preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
Includes facilities wherein the nature, size or shape of articles
or raw materials is changed or where articles are assembled, including but
not limited to junkyards, foundries, warehouses and manufacturing facilities.
Garbage, refuse and rubbish, as defined herein, and all other waste
material, including used appliances and auto parts, which if thrown or deposited
as herein prohibited tends to create a danger to the public health, safety
and welfare or creates unsightliness. Materials having a "beneficial use"
designation (B.U.D.) are excluded from this definition.
Any newspaper of general circulation, as defined by law; any newspaper
duly entered with the Post Office Department of the United States in accordance
with federal statute or regulation; and any newspaper filed and recorded with
any recording officer, as provided by law. In addition thereto, "newspaper"
shall mean and include any periodical or current magazine regularly published
with not fewer than four issues per year and sold to the public.
Any printed or written matter, any sample or device, circular, leaflet,
pamphlet, newspaper, magazine, paper, booklet or any other printed or otherwise
reproduced original or copies of any matter of literature not included in
the aforesaid definitions of a commercial handbill or newspaper.
A park, reservation, playground, beach, recreation center or any
other public area in the town, or owned or used by the town, devoted to active
or passive recreation.
Includes an individual, society, club, firm, partnership, proprietorship,
corporation or association of persons, and the singular number shall include
the plural number.
Any house, building or other structure designed or used, either wholly
or in part, for private residential purposes, whether inhabited or temporarily
or continuously uninhabited or vacant, including any yard, grounds, walk,
driveway, porch, steps, vestibule or mailbox belonging or appurtenant to such
dwelling, house, building or other structure.
Any and all streets, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys or other public
ways and any and all public parks, squares, spaces, grounds and buildings.
All putrescible and nonputrescible solid and/or liquid wastes, except
body wastes, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, dead animals,
abandoned automobiles, shopping carts and solid market and industrial wastes.
Streets, roads, avenues, lanes or other traffic ways between right-of-way
lines. The term "road" does not include driveways.
Nonputrescible solid wastes consisting of both combustible and noncombustible
wastes, construction debris, metals, wood, glass, bedding, crockery and similar
materials.
Every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may
be transported or drawn upon a highway, including devices used exclusively
upon stationary rails or tracks.
No person shall deposit or throw litter in or upon any road, sidewalk
or other public place within the town, except in public or private receptacles
for collection.
Persons placing litter in public or private receptacles shall do so
in such a manner as to prevent it from being carried or deposited by the elements
upon any road, sidewalk or other public place or upon private property.
No person shall sweep or deposit in any gutter, ditch, road or other
public place within the town the accumulation of litter from any building
or litter from any public sidewalk or driveway.
No person, while a driver or passenger in a vehicle, shall throw or
deposit litter upon any road or public place within the town or upon private
property.
No person shall throw or deposit litter in any municipal park within
the Town of Athens except in public receptacles and in such a manner that
the litter will be prevented from being carried or deposited by the elements
upon any part of the park or upon any road or other public place. Where public
receptacles are not provided, all such litter shall be carried away from the
park by the person responsible for its presence and properly disposed of elsewhere
as provided herein.
No person shall throw or deposit litter in any river, fountain, pond,
lake, stream, bay, swamp or any other body of water in a park or elsewhere
within the town.
No person shall throw or deposit any commercial handbill in or upon
any vehicle; provided, however, that it shall not be unlawful in any public
place for a person to hand out or distribute, without charge to the receiver
thereof, a handbill to any occupant of a vehicle who is willing to accept
it.
A.
No person shall throw, deposit or distribute any commercial
or noncommercial handbill in or upon private premises except by handing or
transmitting any such handbill directly to the owner, occupant or other person
then present in or upon such private premises.
B.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to the
distribution of mail by the United States or to newspapers, as defined herein.
No person shall throw or deposit litter on any private property or commercial
or industrial place within the town, whether owned by such person or not,
except that the owner or person in control of such private property or commercial
or industrial place may maintain appropriate private receptacles for collection
in such manner that litter will be prevented from being carried or deposited
by the elements upon any street or other public place or upon any private
property.
Each owner or person in control of any commercial place, including but
not limited to shopping centers and delivery and parking areas thereat, shall
keep said places, parking fields, parking areas, delivery areas and other
open areas which are a part of such commercial place free from litter. Necessary
measures must be taken to control odors, fire hazards, vectors, blowing litter
and scavenging. Storage of litter must be screened from view and be landscaped
so as to present a neat appearance.
Each owner or person in control of any industrial place, and delivery
and parking areas thereat, shall keep said places, parking fields, parking
areas, delivery areas and other open areas which are a part of such industrial
place free from litter. Necessary measures must be taken to control odors,
fire hazards, vectors, blowing litter and scavenging. Storage of litter must
be screened from view and be landscaped so as to present a neat appearance.
The Town Board or its designated representative is hereby authorized
and empowered to notify the owner of any open or vacant private property or
commercial or industrial place within the town, upon written complaint and
investigation thereof, to properly dispose of litter located on such owner's
property which is a nuisance or dangerous to public health, safety or welfare.
Such notice shall be by certified mail, addressed to said owner at his or
her last known address.
Any person, firm or corporation who or which shall violate any of the
provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be guilty of an offense
punishable by a fine not exceeding $250 or imprisonment for not more than
15 days, or both, and each week that such violation is carried on or continues
shall constitute a separate violation.
The Town Board, or its designated representative, is hereby authorized
and empowered to order, in writing, the remedying of all conditions found
to exist in or on any premises in violation of this chapter.
