[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Old Field 3-26-2014 by L.L. No. 1-2014.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Excavations — See Ch. 35.
Fire prevention — See Ch. 40.
Refuse collectors — See Ch.
89.
[1]
Editor’s Note: This local law also repealed former Chapter
80, Property Maintenance, adopted 7-22-1963 (derived from Ordinances
2.1 and 2.2 of Chapter 2 of the Unified Code of Ordinances), as amended.
A.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a minimum standard for
the maintenance of the exterior grounds and visible facades of all
properties within the Village. This chapter is intended to help provide
a stable and inviting neighborhood and to promote public health and
safety by prohibiting certain deficiencies in exterior property maintenance
which create or contribute to unhealthy, unsightly or hazardous conditions.
This chapter is also intended to ensure that property owners or their
delegated agents perform such repair and maintenance of properties
as will prevent deficiencies that could become an attractive nuisance
with regard to children, trespassers or household pets, or that may
attract insect or animal pests.
B.
The adoption and enforcement of this chapter is also intended to
serve as a deterrence to substandard exterior property maintenance,
and as a tool for protecting property investment, the tax base, and
the health, safety and welfare of all Village residents.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall
apply:
Any tropical or semitropical grasses with sympodial rhizome
systems, including, but not limited to, the following plant genera:
Bambusa, Dendrocalamus and Fargesia.
Any tropical or semitropical grasses with monopodial rhizome
systems, including, but not limited to, the following plant genera:
Arundinaria, Chimonobambusa, Phyllostachys, Pleioblastus, Pseudosasa,
Sasa, Sasaella and Semiarundinaria.
Something that impairs or destroys; an impaired condition;
to cause to deteriorate, ruin.
Yard trimmings, vegetable wastes and other organic matter
managed for the purpose of natural transformation into compost and
stored in a container or compact pile that:
Discarded building material, concrete, stones, earth from
excavations or grading, and all other refuse resulting from the erection,
repair, renovation, demolition or other improvement of property.
Food wastes, food wrappers, containers, nonrecyclables or
other materials resulting from the use, consumption and preparation
of food or drink, as well as other expended, used or discarded materials,
such as paper, plastic, metal, rags or glass, etc., or any other wastes
generated from day-to-day activities of a household or public or quasi-public
facility. The term "garbage" does not include properly prepared and
stored recyclable materials or properly maintained compost areas.
Any area of a structure or lot, excluding porch areas, not
enclosed within the walls of a structure. These terms include any
public rights-of-way which pass through or are adjacent to a property.
Waste iron, or other metal or substance, glass, paper, discarded
lumber, rags, machine parts, accessories, machinery, machines, used
parts of motor vehicles and any material commonly known and generally
referred to as "junk" in the ordinary and accepted meaning of the
word.
The person in possession or control of the premises or using
or occupying the premises.
The record owner of the premises, as reflected in the Village
tax records, the owner in fee or the owner of a lesser estate therein,
a mortgagee or vendee in possession, assignee of rents, receiver,
executor, trustee, lessee or other person, firm or corporation in
control of a structure.
A lot, plot or parcel of land located within the boundary
of the Village of Old Field.
Areas of property that are visible by pedestrian or vehicular
traffic in the public right-of-way or visible from the exterior ground
level of adjoining properties.
Putrescible and nonputrescible solid waste consisting of
organic or nonorganic materials, but shall not include human or animal
body waste.
Useless waste or rejected matter; noncombustible waste material.
The term shall include the residue from the burning of wood, and also
tin cans, metals, mineral matter, glass, crockery and minerals.
Includes materials or substances that are discarded or rejected
as being spent, worthless, useless or in excess to the owners at the
time of such discard or rejection, including, but not limited to,
materials or substances such as garbage, refuse, industrial and commercial
wastes, sludge from air or water treatment facilities, rubbish, tires,
ashes, incinerator residue, construction and demolition debris, discarded
motor vehicles, discarded household and commercial appliances and
discarded furniture. An object shall be presumed to be discarded or
rejected solid waste when the object is stored, placed or left on
the grounds or exterior of the property in the view of neighbors or
passersby under circumstances which meet any of the following criteria:
The object produces an offensive smell.
The object is of a type designed for interior use or made of
materials which are suitable only for interior use and the object
is left outside and exposed to precipitation.
The object has reached a degree of dilapidation or disrepair
that can reasonably be presumed to render the material unsuitable
for or incapable of being used for its original intended purpose or
some other reasonable purpose.
The object is left, placed or stored in a manner which appears
likely to cause injuries.
A lot, plot or parcel of land located within the boundary
of the Village of Old Field, which is not improved with a structure
as defined above.
It shall be the duty and responsibility of the owner, tenant,
occupant or other person having possession or charge of any structure,
lot or property in the Village of Old Field to ensure that:
A.
All grounds and exterior of the property are kept clean and free and clear of all composting materials, construction debris, garbage, junk, refuse, rubbish and/or solid waste all as defined in § 80-2 above, unless otherwise permitted by the Village of Old Field.
B.
No
unregistered motor vehicle, or a motor vehicle not suitable for operation
as originally intended, shall be stored on the grounds and exterior
of the property except within an enclosed garage or on an approved
driveway. Lack of a license plate affixed to a motor vehicle shall
be presumptive evidence that the vehicle is unregistered.
C.
Lawns, trees and shrubbery located within the public view as defined in § 80-2 herein shall be maintained in a safe and attractive condition, free of nuisance, hazard, debris, litter and unsightly materials, and in a manner that does not pose an obstruction or danger to the passage of pedestrians or vehicles traveling the roadways. For the purposes of this provision, all lawns shall be trimmed to a height of no greater than eight inches. Dead or diseased trees, or any portion thereof, which present any hazard to life or property shall be removed. This standard shall not apply to unimproved property as defined herein unless an obstruction or danger to the passage of pedestrians or vehicles traveling the roadways shall exist.
D.
Fences and walls are to be maintained in a safe and structurally
sound condition. Broken fences and walls are to be repaired or replaced.
E.
Steps, walks, driveways, private roads, and other similar paved and/or
concrete areas are to be maintained and kept in a proper state of
repair and maintained free from hazardous conditions.
F.
Structures shall be maintained at all times in a safe and secure
manner with appurtenant roofing, siding, chimneys, windows and doors.
Broken or missing roofing, siding, chimneys, windows or doors shall
be repaired or replaced.
G.
All premises shall be graded and maintained to prevent the accumulation
of stagnant water thereon or within any structure located thereon.
H.
Roof drains, overflow pipes, air-conditioning drains and any other
water runoff shall be maintained in a safe and operable condition
and shall not drain onto a public right-of-way, street or adjoining
property.
A.
No owner or occupant of property, or person, corporation or other
entity, shall plant, install, or cause or permit the planting or installation,
of plant species commonly classified as "running bamboo," upon any
property located within the Village of Old Field.
B.
Duty to confine bamboo. In the event any species commonly considered
to be classified as "bamboo," either "running" or "clumping," hereinafter
defined as any tropical or semitropical monopodial (leptomorph) or
sympodial (pachymorph) grasses, including, but not limited to, Arundinaria,
Bambusa, Chimonobambusa, Dendrocalamus, Fargesia, Phyllostachys, Pleioblastus,
Pseudosasa, Sasa, Sasaella and Semiarundinaria, is existing on any
property within the Village of Old Field at the time of the adoption
of this chapter, the owner or occupant of said property shall confine
such species to said property to prevent the encroachment, spread,
invasion or intrusion of same onto any other property or right-of-way.
C.
Presumption. In the event any species commonly classified as "bamboo"
is found to have encroached, spread, invaded, or intruded upon any
other property or right-of-way, said species shall be presumed to
be classified as "running bamboo." This presumption shall be rebuttable.
The failure by the owner, tenant or occupant of any property located within the Village of Old Field to repair, improve or maintain his property, including any structures and improvements thereon, in accordance with the standards set forth in § 80-3 or in violation of § 80-4 hereof shall be deemed a public nuisance.
A.
Any
owner, tenant or occupant of any property located within the Village
of Old Field who is maintaining a public nuisance on his property
shall abate the nuisance when ordered to do so by the Village's
Code Enforcement Officer or Building Inspector and within the time
prescribed in the written notice as provided herein.
B.
All
written notices under this section shall specify the name of the owner,
tenant or occupant of the property, and the time period within which
the public nuisance must be corrected, and may be served on the owner,
tenant or occupant by posting a copy of such violation notice upon
the front portion of the property or upon the main structure and by
mailing a copy of such notice by certified mail to the last known
address of the property owner as shown on the current assessment rolls
of the Village.
Any person committing an offense against any provision of this
chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a violation pursuant
to the Penal Law of the State of New York, punishable by a fine not
exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 days,
or by both such fine and imprisonment. The continuation of an offense
against the provisions of this chapter shall constitute, for each
day the offense is continued, a separate and distinct offense hereunder.
A.
Upon the failure of an owner, tenant or occupant to comply with a
notice to abate a public nuisance, the Village Board shall hold a
public hearing. The public hearing shall be held upon notice posted
conspicuously on the affected property and forwarded by certified
mail to the last known address of the property owner, as it appears
on the current assessment rolls of the Village. Posting and service
of such notice shall not be less than 15 days prior to the date of
such hearing.
B.
The Village Board, after a public hearing as provided in Subsection A, may abate the public nuisance upon the failure of such owner, tenant or occupant to comply with the order of the Village Clerk or Building Inspector to do so. The Village Board shall ascertain the cost of the proceeding and the costs to abate the nuisance, and such costs shall be charged and assessed against the owner of the property. The costs so assessed shall constitute a lien and charge on the real property on which it is levied, until paid or otherwise satisfied or discharged, and shall be collected in the same manner and at the same time as other Village charges.
