[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Highland
by L.L. No. 8-2002. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Litter Control
Law."
B.
The intent of this chapter is to safeguard the health, safety and
welfare of the inhabitants of the Town, with particular effort to
safeguard their material rights against unwarranted diminishing of
open space, and to minimize visual and hazardous nuisance.
The following terms as used in this chapter shall have the meanings
indicated:
Any printed or written matter, any sample or device, dodger,
circular, leaflet, pamphlet, paper, booklet or any other printed or
otherwise reproduced original or copies of any matter of literature:
Which advertises any merchandise, product, commodity or thing
for sale.
Which directs attention to any business or mercantile or commercial
establishment or other activity for the purpose of either directly
or indirectly promoting the interest thereto by sales;
Which, 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 or any person so engaged as advertiser or distributor.
Putrescible animal and vegetable waste resulting from either
the handling, preparation, cooking or consumption of food.
Includes both commercial handbills and noncommercial handbills,
as such terms are defined in this section. Excluded from this definition
is any printed or written matter, distributed by any emergency service,
religious organization or school district situate within the Town
and "posted" signs as provided for in the Conservation Law.
Garbage, refuse or rubbish, as such are defined herein, and
all other waste materials which, if thrown or deposited as herein
prohibited, tend to create a danger to public health, safety and welfare
or gender or render the roads, private grounds or public places unsightly.
Any newspaper of general circulation as defined by general
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 office as
provided by general law. In addition, "newspaper" means and includes
any periodical or magazine regularly published with not less than
four issued per year and sold to the public.
Any printed or written matter, any sample or device, circular,
dodger, 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 and newspaper.
A park, playground, recreation center or any other public
area owned or used by the Town of Highland or other public entity
or government which is devoted to a recreational purposes.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation or
organization of any kind.
Any private owned unimproved land or any dwelling, house,
building or other structure designated or used either wholly or in
part for private residential purposes, whether inhabited or continuously
uninhabited or vacant, and includes any yard, acreage, grounds, walk,
driveway, porch, steps or vestibule belonging or appurtenant to such
dwelling house, building or other structure.
Any or all roads, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys or other
public ways and any and all public parks, squares, spaces, grounds
and buildings.
Any structure or building owned or operated by federal, county
or state government or any governmental agency.
All putrescible solid wastes (except body wastes) including
garbage, rubbish, street cleanings, dead animals, abandoned automobiles,
dismantled automobiles and parts thereof, scrap metal, junk, machinery
and solid market and industrial wastes.
Nonputrescible solid wastes, consisting of both combustible
and noncombustible wastes, such as papers, wrappings, cigarettes,
cardboard, tin cans, wood products, glass, bedding crockery, building
materials and similar materials.
All retail stores which permit off premises consumption of
food or beverage.
The Town of Highland; County of Sullivan, State of New York.
No person shall throw or deposit litter in or upon any road,
sidewalk or other public place within the Town, except in public receptacles
or in private receptacles for collection; provided, however, that
said public receptacles shall not be used by persons owning or occupying
property in the vicinity of said public receptacles for the deposit
of domestic, commercial and industrial litter arising from the conduct
of said activities.
Persons placing litter in public receptacles or in private receptacles
shall do so in such a manner as to prevent it from being carried,
disbursed, dispensed or deposited upon the premises, road, sidewalk
or public place.
No person shall sweep into or deposit on any road other public
place within the Town the accumulation or litter from any building
or lot or from any public or private sidewalk or driveway. Persons
owning or occupying property shall keep the sidewalk and/or frontage
along public highway in front of their premises free of litter.
No person, while a driver or a passenger in a vehicle, shall
throw or deposit litter upon any road, private premises or public
place within the Town.
No person shall drive or move any truck or other commercial
vehicle unless the vehicle is so constructed or loaded as to prevent
any litter from being blown or deposited upon any road, public place
or private premises.
No person shall throw or deposit litter in any park except in
public receptacles and in such manner as to prevent such litter from
being carried or deposited by the elements upon any part of the park
or upon any street or other public place. Where public receptacles
are not provided, all litter shall be carried from the park by the
person responsible for its presence and shall be properly disposed
of elsewhere.
No person shall throw or deposit litter in any river, lake,
pond, stream or any other bodies of water, or along the banks or shores
thereof.
A.
No person shall throw or deposit any commercial or noncommercial
handbill in or upon any sidewalk, road or other public place.
B.
No person shall hand out or distribute or sell commercial handbills
in any public place; provided, however, that it shall not be deemed
unlawful for any person to hand out or distribute without charge to
the receiver thereof, in any sidewalk, road or other public place,
any noncommercial handbill to any person who is willing to accept
it.
No person shall throw or deposit any handbill in or upon any
vehicle.
No person shall post or affix any notice, poster or other paper
or device, calculated to attract the attention of the public, to any
public lamppost, public utility pole, shade tree or upon any public
structure or building or upon any official traffic control devices
except posted signs as provided for in the Conservation Law or others
as may be authorized or required by law.
No person shall throw or deposit litter on any occupied private
property, whether owned by him or not, except that the owner or person
in control of private property shall maintain private receptacles
for collection in such a manner that litter will not be carried or
deposited by the elements upon any other public place or upon any
private property.
The owner or person in control of any private property shall
at all times maintain the premises free of litter. This section shall
not be construed to prohibit storage of litter in private receptacles
for collection. Abandoned farm or household dumps existing at the
time of the adoption of this chapter and compost piles shall not constitute
a violation of this section.
No person shall throw or deposit litter on any open or vacant
private property whether owned by such person or not.
A.
Notice to remove. The Code Enforcement Officer or his duly designated
agent is authorized or empowered to notify the owner of any private
premises or vacant land, or the tenant or agent of such owner, to
dispose properly of litter located on such owner's property which
is detrimental to the public health, safety, welfare or offensive
to commonly accepted community standards. Notice shall be by registered
or certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to said property
owner or his agent or tenant at his last known address, or served
personally upon said owner, tenant or agent.
B.
Action upon noncompliance. Upon the failure, neglect or refusal of any owner, tenant or agent so notified to dispose properly of said litter within 10 days from receipt of written notice specified in Subsection A of this section or within 10 days after the date of such notice in the event it is returned to the Town by the Post Office because of inability to make delivery thereof, provided that the notice was properly addressed to the last known address of the owner, tenant or agent, the Code Enforcement Officer or his duly designated agent is authorized and empowered to pay for disposing of such litter or to order its disposal by the Town.
C.
When the Town has effectuated the removal of said litter or has paid
for its removal, the actual cost thereof shall, unless paid by the
owner prior thereto, be charged to the owner of the property on the
next regular tax bill forwarded to the owner by the Town. The charge
shall be due and payable by the owner at the time set for payment
of the tax bill.
D.
Where the full amount due the Town is not paid by the owner within 30 days after the disposal of such litter as specified in Subsections B and C of this section, then and in that case, the Code Enforcement Officer shall certify the cost thereof to the Town Tax Collector, who shall examine the certificate and if found to be correct, shall cause the cost as shown thereon to be charged against said lands. The amount so charged shall constitute a lien on the property and shall remain in full force and effect for the amount due, until final payment has been made. Said costs and expenses shall be collected in the manner fixed by law for the collection of taxes and shall be subject to a delinquent penalty at the same rate as in the case of taxes in the event that they are not paid in full on or before the date the tax bill upon which the charge appears becomes delinquent. The certification of the Code Enforcement Officer in accordance with the provisions hereof shall be prima facie evidence that all legal formalities have been complied with and that the work has been done properly and satisfactorily, and shall be dual notice to every person concerned that the amount of the statement, plus interest, constitutes a charge against the property designated or described in the statement and that the same is due and collectible as provided by law.
It is hereby declared to be a duty of the owner or operator
of a takeout restaurant, including but not limited to, coffee shop,
delicatessen or luncheonette to provide not less than one private
receptacle for the receipt of trash, litter, paper, napkins, cups
and remnants of food and nonfood items at each exit, available to
the patrons as they leave the premises. If the owner or operator of
same shall fail to provide such receptacles, he shall be fined upon
conviction, as provided in this chapter.
The Code Enforcement Officer, any police agency and Health Officer
are hereby empowered and authorized to exercise such powers as may
be necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes
and provisions in this chapter.
A.
Any person committing an offense against any provision of this chapter
shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable by the imposition of
a fine in an amount to be fixed by the court, not exceeding $1,000
or up to 15 days in jail, or both such fine and jail sentence. In
addition to the penalties set forth above, or in lieu of same, the
court may impose a fine, to be payable to the Town, equal to the cost
or removal of the litter, refuse or rubbish deposited by the violator.
B.
Each and every day a violation of this chapter continues shall constitute
a separate violation and the penalties prescribed above shall be applicable
to each such separate offense, except that no further penalty shall
be imposed for the period during which any appeal from a conviction
of such offense is pending.
C.
In addition to the above-provided penalties and punishment, the Town
Board may also maintain an action or proceeding in the name of the
Town in a court of competent jurisdiction to compel compliance with
or to restrain by injunction the violation of such law.
