Cross reference: Vegetation, ch. 82.
State law references: Public nuisances generally,
MCL 600.2801 et seq.; nuisance abatement, MCL 600.2940.
[Code 1974, § 51-1]
Whatever annoys, injures, or endangers the safety, health, welfare,
comfort, or repose of the public; offends public decency or aesthetic
sensibilities; interferes with, obstructs, or renders dangerous any
street, highway, navigable lake, or stream; or in any way renders
the public insecure in life or property is hereby declared to be a
public nuisance. Public nuisances shall include, but not be limited
to, whatever is forbidden by any provision of this chapter. No person
shall commit, create or maintain any public nuisance.
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Cross reference: Definitions generally, § 1-2.
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[Code 1974, § 51-2]
The following acts, apparatus, accumulations, violations, and
activities are hereby declared to be public nuisances:
(1)
No person shall maintain or permit to remain on premises owned or
occupied by him; or throw, place, or leave; or permit the throwing,
placing, or leaving on the premises of another any of the following
substances: organic refuse, food wastes, ashes, dead animals, fish,
animal bones, hides, rotten soap, grease, tallow, offal, shell, food
containers or wrappings, cans, bottles, jars, crockery, garbage, discarded
furniture, cartons, boxes, crates, rags, discarded clothing, bedding,
floor covering, wallpaper, sweepings, waste paper, newspapers or magazines,
discarded appliances, rubbish, excrement, rot, construction debris
including, but not limited to, lumber, bricks, block, plumbing or
heating materials, roofing materials, concrete, cement, electrical
materials or siding, yard debris or rubbish including, but not limited
to, grass clippings, clippings from hedges or shrubs, or detached
tree branches, industrial waste, unclean or nauseous fluids or gases,
in any of the following locations:
a.
Any public street, highway, lane, road, alley, public place, square,
sidewalk or any lands within the boundaries of the Township owned
by the Township or other municipal corporation.
b.
Any river, lake, stream, or other body of water.
c.
Any private place or premises where in the opinion of the Township
superintendent or his agent the specified substances constitute a
dangerous condition or are detrimental to the public health, safety,
or welfare or offend aesthetic sensibilities or may cause sickness
or attract flies, insects, rodents, or vermin.
(2)
The emission of noxious fumes or gas, smoke, ashes, or soot in such
quantities as to render occupancy of property dangerous or uncomfortable
to a person of ordinary sensibilities.
(3)
The keeping of explosives, inflammable liquids, or other dangerous
substances stored in any manner or in any amount contrary to the provisions
of any statute or applicable administrative regulation of the state.
(4)
All dangerous, unguarded excavations or dangerous, unguarded machinery
in any public place, or so situated, left or operated on private property
as to attract the public.
(5)
The owning, driving, or moving upon private property of a truck or
other motor vehicle which is constructed or loaded so as to permit
any part of its load or contents to be deposited upon any street,
alley, sidewalk, or other public or private place or which deposits
from its wheels, tires, or other parts unto the street, alley, sidewalk,
or other public or private place dirt, grease, sticky substances,
or foreign matter of any kind. Provided, however, that under circumstances
determined by the Township superintendent to be in the public interest,
he may grant persons temporary exemption from the provisions of this
subsection conditioned upon cleaning and correcting the violating
condition as specified by the Township superintendent and execution
of an agreement by such person to reimburse the Township for any extraordinary
maintenance expenses incurred by the Township in connection with such
violation.
(6)
The keeping of bees, when such keeping results in the disturbance
of the safety, comfort, and repose of one or more persons or shall
render one or more persons insecure in the use of his property.
(7)
The keeping of horses or livestock unless permitted by Chapter 86 of this Code or the failure to keep horses or livestock within sufficient fences, barricades, or restraints to keep such animals from entering the public way or the property of another.
(8)
The keeping, either inside or outside of any building, structure,
or dwelling, in a place accessible to children, any abandoned, unattended,
unused, or discarded icebox, refrigerator, or any airtight container
of any kind which has a snap latch or other locking device thereon
without first removing the snap latch or other locking device or the
doors from such icebox, refrigerator, or other such airtight container.
(9)
Abandoning, leaving, keeping, or maintaining a junk or abandoned
motor vehicle, as provided in the Michigan Vehicle Code (MCL § 257.1
et seq.).
[Code 1974, § 51-3]
(a)
Whenever any public nuisance described in § 46-1 or 46-2 shall exist upon Township property or upon the property of another municipal corporation within the boundaries of the Township, such public nuisance may be abated by the Township superintendent or his agent without notice and the cost of abatement charged as provided in § 46-5. Except as provided in the Michigan Vehicle Code (MCL § 257.1 et seq.) for junk or abandoned motor vehicles, whenever any such public nuisance shall exist on private premises within the Township, the Township superintendent or his agent shall give notice in writing by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the owner or occupant of the property where the public nuisance exists or to the person otherwise responsible for such public nuisance. Such notice shall specify the location and nature of the public nuisance and shall indicate that such owner or occupant or person otherwise responsible is required to repair, tear down, abate, or otherwise remove the public nuisance within 10 days of the receipt of the notice. Following the issuance of such notice, the Township superintendent or his agent may proceed to initiate civil or criminal proceedings permitted by law to abate the nuisance.
(b)
If the Township intends to abate the nuisance by entering the property and causing the work to be done to repair, tear down, abate, or otherwise remove the nuisance and charge the cost thereof to the property owner, this intent and the advisement of the owner or occupant that a hearing may be requested within the ten-day period pursuant to § 46-4 shall be done. If no hearing is requested in the time allotted, or following a hearing held pursuant to § 46-4, such nuisance may then be repaired, torn down, abated, or otherwise removed by the Township superintendent or his agent and the cost thereof charged as provided in § 46-5. If the actual owner or occupant of the premises is unknown or cannot be located, notice may be given by posting a copy of such notice upon a conspicuous part of the property where the public nuisance is located and by mailing a copy of such notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the owner or party in interest at the address shown on the Township tax records at least 12 days before further action by the Township superintendent.
[Code 1974, § 51-4]
If, after notice provided under § 46-3 the recipient of the notice requests a hearing as therein provided, a hearing shall be held before the Township superintendent or a hearing officer appointed by the superintendent to determine the applicability of this chapter to the property in question. The Township superintendent or his appointed hearing officer shall make a decision with written findings of fact based upon his investigation and evidence presented at the hearing as to whether the condition in question violates the provisions of this chapter. If the Township superintendent or his appointed hearing officer determines that the condition violates the provisions of this chapter, he shall order the person requesting the hearing or owner or occupant of the premises in question to repair, tear down, abate, or otherwise remove the nuisance in question within a reasonable time but not less than five days. If the public nuisance is not repaired, torn down, abated, or otherwise removed within the period allowed in the order, the Township superintendent or his agent may repair, tear down, abate, or otherwise remove such public nuisance and charge the cost thereof as provided in § 46-5.
[Code 1974, § 51-5]
All expenses incurred by the Township superintendent or his
agent in repairing, tearing down, abating, or otherwise removing a
public nuisance under this chapter shall be charged to the person
responsible therefor, the occupant of the land in question, or the
person who appears as owner or party in interest upon the last local
tax assessment records of the Township. If such person fails to pay
the charge within 30 days after a statement therefor is mailed to
him, the amount of expenses incurred by the Township in repairing,
tearing down, abating, or otherwise removing the public nuisance may
be paid from the Township general fund and the amount thereof assessed
against the lands on which the expenditures were made on the next
general assessment roll of the Township and shall be collected in
the same manner as other taxes are collected. The Township shall have
a lien upon such lands for such expense, such lien to be enforced
in the manner prescribed by the general laws of the state providing
for the enforcement of tax liens.
