[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Mount Gretna 5-10-1982; amended in its entirety 6-12-2012 by Ord. No. 183. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
ABANDONED OR JUNKED MOTOR VEHICLES
BOROUGH
BOROUGH COUNCIL
NUISANCE
OWNER
PERSON
SIGN
VEGETATION
For the
purpose of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and their
derivations shall have the meaning given herein.
Any vehicle in nonserviceable condition or without having
a current inspection sticker and/or current registration plate, including
classic or antique licensed vehicles.
The Borough of Mount Gretna, which is located within the
confines of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
The Mount Gretna Borough Council, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
The unreasonable, unwarrantable, or unlawful use of public
or private property which causes injury, damage, hurt, inconvenience,
annoyance or discomfort to any person or resident in the legitimate
enjoyment of his reasonable rights of a person or property.
A person owning, leasing, occupying or having charge of any
premises within the Borough.
Any natural person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company, club, copartnership, society, or any organization of any
kind.
Any object, device, display, or structure, or part thereof,
visible from a public way, which is used to advertise, identify, display,
direct or attract attention to a person, organization, institution,
business, product service, or event or location.
Any grass, weed or vegetation whatsoever which is not edible
or planted for some useful or legal purpose.
B.
When not
inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include
the future, words in the plural number include the singular number,
and words in the singular number include the plural number, and the
word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
Nuisances, including but not limited to the following, are hereby
declared to be illegal:
A.
Storing or accumulating the following:
(1)
Garbage, ashes, refuse or rubbish.
(a)
Garbage. Wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking
and consumption of food; wastes from the handling, storage and sale
of produce. It shall be unlawful to place or permit to remain anywhere
in the Borough any garbage or other material subject to decay other
than leaves or grass, excepting in a tightly covered container; excepting
that a mulch heap is permitted, which is properly maintained for gardening
purposes and does not materially disturb or annoy persons of ordinary
sensibilities in the neighborhood. It shall be unlawful to any individual,
firm or corporation to store more than 14 days' worth of garbage as
defined herein which may pose a potential health and safety problems
to the community.
(b)
Refuse/rubbish. Combustible trash, including paper, cartons,
boxes, barrels, wood, excelsior, tree branches, yard trimmings, leaves,
wood furniture, bedding; noncombustible trash, including metals, tin
cans, metal furniture, dirt, small quantities of rock and pieces of
concrete, glass, crockery, other mineral waste; street rubbish, including
street sweeping; dirt, catch-basin dirt, contents of letter receptacles;
provided that refuse shall not include earth and wastes from building
operations, nor shall it include leaves, cornstalks, stubble or other
vegetable material generated in the course of harvesting agricultural
crops. It shall be unlawful to cause or permit to accumulate any dust,
ashes or trash of such a material that it can be blown away by the
wind anywhere in the Borough excepting in a covered container.
(c)
Ashes. Residue from fire used for cooking and for heating buildings.
(2)
Junk material, including but not limited to unused or abandoned machinery,
equipment or appliances, and all forms of waste and refuse of any
type of materials, including scrap metal, glass, industrial waste
and other salvageable materials, including scrap building materials,
that can be seen from any public highway, road, street, avenue, lane
or alley which is maintained by the Borough, or by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
B.
Storing or accumulating abandoned or junked motor vehicles that can
be seen from any public highway, road, street, avenue, lane or alley
which is maintained by the Borough or by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
All such vehicles must be moved in 15 days.
C.
Storage and accumulation shall include any nonserviceable vehicles
with or without a current inspection sticker or current registration
plate, including inoperable classic or antique licensed vehicles.
D.
Large vehicle components including, but not limited to, engines,
transmissions, actual housing, frames or bodies.
(1)
This
section shall not apply with regard to any vehicle or vehicle component
completely contained within an enclosed building. For purposes of
this section, the term "enclosed building" shall mean a roofed and
walled structure building, with operable doors for ingress and egress,
for permanent use.
E.
Storing or accumulating more than one antique or collector motor
vehicles for restoration which are neither sheltered by an enclosed
building; or storing or accumulating in a nonorderly fashion one or
less antique or collector motor vehicles for registration.
F.
Draining or flowing, or allowing to drain or flow, by pipe or other
channel, whether natural or artificial, any foul or offensive water
or drainage from sinks, bathtubs, washstands, lavatories, water closets,
swimming pools, privies, or cesspools of any kind or nature whatsoever,
or any foul or offensive water or foul or offensive drainage of any
kind, from property along any public highway, road, street, avenue,
lane or alley, or from any property into or upon any adjoining property.
G.
Draining or flowing, or allowing to drain or flow, any water or drainage
from within dwelling situate upon property along public highway, road,
street, avenue, lane, or alley in the Borough into or upon the cartway
or traveled portion for said drainage by means of a drainage ditch
or otherwise.
H.
Burning of vegetation, tires, tar products or garbage.
I.
Maintaining or causing to be maintained any dangerous structure,
including but not limited to abandoned or unoccupied buildings or
parts of buildings in a state of dilapidation or disrepair.
J.
Permitting the growth of any grass, weeds, noxious weeds, or any
vegetation whatsoever, not edible or planted for some useful or legal
purpose, to conceal any rubbish, garbage, trash or any other violation
of this chapter.
K.
Permitting or allowing any well or cistern to be, or remain, uncovered.
L.
Pushing, shoveling or otherwise depositing snow upon the cartway
or traveled portion of any public highway, road or street which is
maintained by the Borough or by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
and allowing same to remain thereon.
M.
Allowing or permitting any excavation, material excavated or obstruction
on or adjoining any highway, street, or road, to remain opened or
exposed without the same being secured by a barricade, temporary fence,
or other protective materials.
N.
Interfering with the flow of a stream, creek or other waterway, by
means of dam construction or otherwise, or removing the embankment
of a stream so as to alter the natural flow of the stream.
O.
Defacing public and private property.
(1)
It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, corporation or
agent acting independently or under the direction of the principal
to deface any private or public buildings, structures, signs, banners,
or vehicles within the Borough. Examples of defacing shall include
but not be limited to the following examples: application of paint,
inks and dyes; affixing of any printed materials such as signs or
posters; destruction or removal; defacing in any manner.
P.
Spotlighting: prohibiting certain uses of spotlights from roads in
the Borough. No person shall shine any spotlight from any place on
public roads in the Borough, into any fields, woodlands, forests,
waters, or other lands outside the main traveled portions of the roads,
at any time between the hours of sunset and 7:00 a.m., prevailing
time, on any day.
(1)
Definitions. As used in this subsection, the following terms shall
have the meaning given herein.
(a)
PERSON – Any human being, group of human beings, or other legal
entity or group of legal entities.
(b)
SHINE – The throwing or casting of the rays of a spotlight.
(c)
SPOTLIGHT – Any lamp, light, or other artificial device designed
to direct a beam of light, regardless of the size of such beam or
the intensity thereof and regardless of the area of actual illumination
thereby. Spotlights shall include but not be limited to all vehicle
headlamps, flashlights, arc lights, and any other devices which direct
an intense beam of light on a small area.
(2)
Exceptions. None of the following acts shall be deemed prohibited
by this chapter:
(a)
Use of a spotlight by any policeman, other law enforcement officer,
game protection, fireman, or other emergency officer or government
official, in the performance of his or her official duties;
(b)
Use of a spotlight by any person engaged in and for the purpose
of assisting in any rescue operation, any search for or apprehension
of any criminal or fugitive from justice, any search for any lost
or abducted person, or the lighting of any way or direction of travel
for purposes of lawful travel, whether on or off such public road;
(c)
Use of a spotlight by any person engaged in and for the purpose
of assisting in illuminating the scene of any crime, disaster, public
disturbance, or other public event; but the intentional shining of
spotlights at or for the purpose of discovering any deer, or other
game or domestic animals not deemed excused by this exception;
(d)
Any incidental and peripheral or accidental illumination by
any spotlight otherwise in lawful use.
Q.
All signs are prohibited within the street-right-way located within
the Borough of Mount Gretna except those signs associated with traffic
control and historical markers. If there is a need for any markings
on the paved portion of any right-of-way within the Borough, by either
a public or private organization, the markings shall consist of washable
sidewalk chalk.
A.
Whenever a condition constituting a nuisance is permitted or maintained
the Mount Gretna Borough Council shall cause written notice to be
served upon the owner in one of the following manners:
(1)
By
making personal delivery of the notice to the owners; or
(2)
By
handing a copy of the notice at the residence of the owner to an adult
member of the family with which he resides, but if no adult member
of the family is found, then to an adult person in charge of such
residence; or
(3)
By
fixing a copy of the notice to the door at the entrance of the premises
in violation; or
(4)
By
mailing a copy of the notice to the last known address of the owner
by certified mail; or
(5)
By
publishing a copy of the notice in a local newspaper of general circulation
within Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, once a week for three successive
weeks.
B.
Such notice shall set forth in what respect such condition constitutes a nuisance, whether removal is necessary and required by the Borough, or whether the situation can be corrected by repairs, alterations or by fencing or boarding, or in some way confining and limiting the nuisance. Such notice shall require the owner to commence action in accordance with the terms thereof within 20 days and, thereafter, to comply fully with its terms with reasonable dispatch, with all material to be supplied and work to be done at the owner's expense; provided, however, if any of the provisions of § 121-2E, H, I or J is violated, and if the circumstances require immediate corrective measures, such notice shall require the owner to immediately comply with the terms thereof.
A.
Any person, firm, or corporation who shall violate any provision
of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, as a summary offense,
be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000
per violation, and the cost of prosecution, plus restitution. Enforcement
thereof shall be by an action before a Magisterial District Judge
in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses.
The Borough Solicitor may assume charge of the prosecution. Upon judgment
against any person by summary conviction, or by proceedings by summons
on default of the payment of the fine or penalty imposed and the costs,
the defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment for a period not exceeding
30 days. Each day that a violation of this chapter continues shall
constitute a separate event
B.
The Borough Council may direct the removal, repair, or alterations,
as the case may be, to be done by the Borough and to certify the costs,
including, but not limited to, of the abatement, including, but not
limited to, administrative costs and attorney's fees, the cost
of such removal, repairs or alterations shall be a lien upon such
premises from the time of such removal, cutting, repairs and alterations
which date shall be determined by the certificate of the person doing
such work, and filed with the Borough Secretary.
C.
The Borough, by means of a complaint in equity, may compel the owner
of the premises to comply with the terms of any notice of violation,
or seek any such other relief as any such court of competent jurisdiction
is empowered to afford.
