[Adopted 4-19-1999 by L.L. No. 2-1999 (Art. 83 of the 1989
Code)]
The Town Board of the Town of Busti finds and declares that
the continued viability of the Vukote Canals rests, to a substantial
degree, on the proper maintenance and repair of canal retaining walls
and the prompt replacement of deteriorated retaining walls. The property
owners of Vukote Drainage District have expressed a preference that
the responsibility for the maintenance, repair and prompt replacement
of deteriorated or missing retaining walls shall be the responsibility
of the individual adjacent property owner rather than the District.
In response thereto, the Town Board of the Town of Busti affixes and
imposes responsibility for maintenance, repair and replacement of
canal retaining walls on the adjacent property owners and establishes
procedures to govern the maintenance, repair and replacement of deteriorated
canal retaining walls within Vukote Drainage District.
As used in this article, the following terms shall mean and
include:
The owner or owners of any parcel of real property which,
if not for the community spoils area, would adjoin the canal. Each
adjacent property owner is deemed responsible for all linear feet
of the canal retaining wall which, if not for the community spoils
area, would adjoin his or her property.
All of the man-made canals shown on the Vukote Drainage District
Map dated February 29, 1968.
The Vukote Drainage District of the Town of Busti, as formed
by order of the Town Board of the Town of Busti, dated October 1,
1968, and further defined on the Vukote Drainage District Map.
Those wall structures, howsoever constructed, which border
the Vukote Canals and which separate the man-made canal from the adjoining
earthen banks.
The Town Board of the Town of Busti hereby affixes and imposes
upon the individual adjacent property owner the responsibility for
the proper maintenance and repair of retaining walls. The Town Board
of the Town of Busti also affixes and imposes upon the individual
adjacent property owner the responsibility of replacing those missing
or deteriorated canal retaining walls which the Code Enforcement Officer
shall determine requires replacement with new retaining walls constructed
to established standards set forth in subsequent resolutions of the
Town Board of the Town of Busti.
A.
The Code Enforcement Officer of the Town of Busti, after November
1, 2000, shall have the power to require the adjacent property owners
to repair, maintain and also to replace deteriorated retaining walls
for that portion of retaining walls adjacent to said owner's
land. All retaining walls replaced shall be replaced according to
established standards wholly at the owner's expense. The Code Enforcement Officer shall also have
the power to prescribe the manner of undertaking such work and the
kind of materials to be used therein.
[Amended 12-1-1999 by L.L. No. 3-1999]
B.
If a canal retaining wall is required to be repaired, maintained
or replaced, a notice specifying the place and manner and the time
within which the work is to be commenced and/or completed shall be
served upon such owner. If an owner shall not repair, maintain or
reconstruct the adjacent canal retaining wall as required by the notice,
the Code Enforcement Officer may cause the same to be repaired, maintained
or reconstructed by independent contractors, with the cost of such
maintenance, repair or reconstruction to be assessed against the adjacent
property owner's property and the same 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 District unit assessment as part of the general
Town tax.
C.
In the event an adjacent property owner may object to the written notice of the Code Enforcement Officer ordering maintenance, repairs or replacement of retaining walls or walls, the adjacent property owner may file an appeal, in writing, with the Town Clerk. If such appeal is filed within 30 days of the receipt of the Code Enforcement Officer's written notice, the adjacent property owner shall be entitled to a hearing on the Code Enforcement Officer's order before the Vukote Drainage District Hearing Board under procedures set forth in § 392-9B(4).
D.
All notices required to be given herein shall be in writing and may
be delivered personally or by certified mail, return receipt requested.
The landowner shall be given at least 30 days from/after such written
notice before the District may cause maintenance, repair or replacement
to be undertaken in anticipation of charging the cost thereof back
to the adjacent property owner.
A.
Creation. The Vukote Drainage District Hearing Board is hereby created,
which shall consist of three members, all appointed by the Town Board.
The Town Board shall designate the Chairman, and the Hearing Board
shall appoint a Secretary and shall prescribe rules for the conduct
of its affairs. The members shall serve without remuneration and shall
convene at the request of the Chairman or, in his absence, at the
request of the Secretary.
B.
Powers and duties. The Hearing Board shall have the powers and duties
prescribed by statute and by this article and as follows:
(1)
Orders, requirements, decisions, interpretations and determinations.
The Hearing Board may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may
modify the order, requirement, decision, interpretation or determination
appealed from, and shall make such order, requirement, decision, interpretation
or determination as in its opinion should have been made in the matter
by the Code Enforcement Officer or his authorized designee and, to
that end, shall have all the powers of the Code Enforcement Officer
or his designee from whose order, requirement, decision, interpretation
or determination the appeal is taken.
(2)
Voting. The Hearing Board may convene and conduct business on the
appeal under consideration after notice and publication, if at least
two members of the Hearing Board are present. A majority of the entire
Hearing Board shall be required to sustain overturning or modifying
the order of the Code Enforcement Officer.
(3)
Procedure; hearings; meetings. The Hearing Board shall determine
its own rules and procedures consistent with the Town Law, and all
its deliberations, resolutions and orders shall be in accordance therewith.
(4)
The Hearing Board shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of
the appeal or other matter referred to it and give due and public
notice thereof by publication of a notice of such hearing in the official
newspaper of the Town at least five days prior to the date thereof
and shall, at least five days before such hearing, mail notices thereto
to the parties affected by such appeal and shall decide the same within
30 days after the final hearing.
(5)
Meetings of the Hearing Board shall be open to the public, and the
Board shall keep complete minutes of its proceedings. Such minutes
shall show the findings and reasons for the decisions of the Board,
shall be immediately filed in the office of the Town Clerk, and shall
be a public record.
