This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Unsafe
Buildings Law of the Town of Cochecton, New York."
The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the removal or
making safe and secure of buildings in business, industrial and residential
sections that, from any cause, may now be or shall hereafter become
dangerous or unsafe to the public.
When, in the opinion of the Building Inspector, who is hereby
designated as the enforcement officer of this chapter, any building
or structure located in the Town shall be deemed to be dangerous or
unsafe to the public, the enforcement officer shall make an inspection
thereof and report in writing to the Town Board his or her findings
and recommendations in regard to the building's or structure's
removal or making it safe and secure.
The Town Board shall thereafter consider said report, and if
it finds from said report that there is ground to believe that such
building or structure is dangerous or unsafe to the public, the Town
Board, by resolution, shall order it to be made safe and secure or
removed and further order that a notice shall be served upon the owner
or someone of the owner's executors, legal representatives, agents,
lessees or any other person having a vested or contingent interest
in the premises, as shown by the records of the Receiver of Taxes
and/or by the records of the Sullivan County Clerk's office,
by registered mail, addressed to his or her last known address, and
by securely posting a copy of such notice upon said premises.
In the event the owner and persons in interest shall fail to
comply with the final order of the Town Board to make such building
safe and secure or to remove, the Town Board shall order such building
or structure to be made safe and secure or removed and assess all
the costs and expenses, including the cost of actually removing such
building or structure, against the land on which such building or
structure is located at the same time and in the same manner as general
Town taxes.
Where it reasonably appears that there is present a clear and imminent danger to the life, safety or health of any person or property unless an unsafe building is immediately repaired and secured or demolished, the Town Board may, by resolution, authorize the Building Inspector to immediately cause the repair or demolition of such unsafe building. The expenses of such repair or demolition shall be a charge against the land on which it is located and shall be assessed, levied and collected as provided in §
95-8 hereof.