No person shall erect, contrive, cause, continue, maintain or
permit to exist any public nuisance within the Town of Pittsfield.
A public nuisance is a thing, act, occupation, condition or
use of property which shall continue for such length of time as to:
A. Substantially annoy, injure, or endanger the comfort, health, repose
or safety of the public.
B. In any way render the public insecure in life or in the use of property.
C. Greatly offend the public morals of decency.
D. Unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct, or tend to
obstruct or render dangerous for passage any street, alley, highway,
navigable body of water or public way.
E. Any condition
or use of premises or of building exteriors which is detrimental to
the property of others or which causes or tends to cause substantial
diminution on the value of the property in the neighborhood in which
such premises are located.
No person shall throw or deposit any weeds, sod, brush, cans,
garbage, or rubbish on or along any highway, or upon the lands of
another within the limits of the Town, except that it shall be lawful
to dump any such material in or upon any public dumping grounds duly
designated as such by the Town Board so long as any such dumping is
done in full compliance with any applicable rules and regulations.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things
are hereby specifically declared to be public nuisances affecting
health but shall not be construed to exclude other health nuisances
coming within the definition of § 179- 2 of this chapter:
A. All decayed, harmfully adulterated, or unwholesome food or drink
sold or offered for sale to the public.
B. Carcasses of animals, birds, or fowl not buried or otherwise disposed
of in a sanitary manner within 24 hours of death.
C. Accumulations of decayed animal or vegetable matter, trash, rubbish,
rotting lumber, bedding, packing material, scrap metal or any material
in which flies, mosquitoes, disease-carrying insects, rats or other
vermin breed.
D. All stagnant water in which mosquitoes, flies, or other insects can
multiply.
E. Garbage cans which are not flytight.
F. All noxious weeds and other rank growth of vegetation.
G. All animals running at large.
H. The escape of smoke, soot, cinders, noxious acids, fumes, gases,
fly ash, or industrial dust within the Town of such quantities as
to endanger the health of persons of ordinary sensibilities or to
threaten or cause substantial injury to property.
I. The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal
or body of water by sewage, creamery or industrial wastes, refuse,
garbage or other substance.
J. Any use of property, substances, or things within the Town emitting
or causing any foul, offensive, noisome, nauseous, noxious, or disagreeable
odors, or stenches extremely repulsive to the physical senses of ordinary
persons which annoy, discomfort, injure or inconvenience the health
of any appreciable number of persons with the Town.
K. All abandoned wells not securely covered or secured from public use.
L. Any obstruction in or across any watercourse, drainage ditch or swale.
M. The deposit of garbage, refuse, or any offensive substance on any
public or private property except as may be permitted by ordinance.
N. Junked vehicles. Disassembled, dismantled, partially dismantled, inoperable, junked, wrecked, or unlicensed motor vehicles, truck bodies, tractors, trailers, boats or campers, exempting farm equipment on land used for agricultural purposes, in such state of physical or mechanical ruin as to be incapable of propulsion or of being operated upon the public streets, highways, or waters. See §
179-3.1 herein.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions, and things are hereby specifically declared to be public nuisances offending public morals and decency, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances offending public morals and decency coming with the definition of §
179-2 of this chapter:
A. All disorderly houses, bawdy houses, houses of ill fame, gambling
houses, and buildings or structures kept or restored to for the purpose
of prostitution, promiscuous sexual intercourse, total nudity, or
gambling.
B. All gambling devices and slot machines.
C. All places where intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverages
are sold, brewed, bottled, manufactured, or rectified without a permit
or license as provided by the Town.
D. Any place or premises where Town ordinances or state laws relating
to public health, safety, peace, morals or welfare are openly, continuously,
repeatedly, and intentionally violated.
E. Any place or premises resorted to for the purpose of drinking intoxicating
liquor or fermented malt beverages in violation of the laws of the
State of Wisconsin or the ordinances of the Town.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions, and things are hereby declared to be public nuisances affecting peace and safety, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances affecting public peace or safety coming within the provisions of §
179-2 of this chapter:
A. All ice and snow not removed from the public sidewalks with 24 hours
after it has ceased to fall thereon.
B. All signs and billboards, awnings, and other similar structures over
or near streets, sidewalks, public grounds or places frequented by
the public so situated or constructed as to endanger the public safety.
C. All buildings erected, repaired or altered within the fire limits
of the Town in violation of the provisions of the ordinances of the
Town relating to materials and manner of construction of buildings
and structures within said district.
D. All unauthorized signs, signals, markings, or devices which purport
to be, or may be mistaken as, official traffic control devices placed
or maintained upon or in view of the public highway or railway crossing.
E. All trees, hedges, billboards or other obstructions which prevent
persons driving vehicles on public streets, alleys, or highways from
obtaining a clear view of traffic when approaching an intersection
or pedestrian crosswalk.
F. All limbs of trees which project over a public sidewalk less the
eight feet above the surface thereof or less than 10 feet over the
surface of a public street.
G. All uses or display of fireworks except as provided by the laws of
the State of Wisconsin and ordinances of the Town.
H. All buildings or structures so old, dilapidated or out of repair
so as to be dangerous, unsafe, unsanitary, or otherwise unfit for
human use.
I. All wires over streets, alleys or public grounds which are strung
less than 15 feet above the surface of the street or ground.
J. The obstruction of streets, alleys, sidewalks or crosswalks and all
excavations in or under the same, except as permitted by ordinances
of the Town, or which, although made in accordance with such ordinances,
are kept or maintained for an unreasonable length of time after the
purpose thereof has been accomplished.
K. All open and unguarded pits, wells, excavations, or unused basements
freely accessible from any public street, alley, or sidewalk.
L. All abandoned refrigerators or iceboxes from which the doors and
other covers have not been removed or which cannot be opened by pushing
from the inside by a small child.
M. Any unauthorized or unlawful use of property abutting on a public
street, alley or sidewalk or of a public street, alley or sidewalk
which causes large crowds of people to gather, obstructing traffic
and free use of the streets or sidewalks.
N. Repeated or continuous violations of the ordinances of the Town or
laws of the State of Wisconsin relative to the storage of flammable
liquids.
O. Any structure, material or condition which constitutes a fire hazard
or will impair extinguishing of any fires.
P. Any and all excavations, including basements, which have been abandoned
or for which a building permit has become null and void, or which
permit has been revoked by the Zoning Administrator.
Q. All loud and unusual noises or annoying vibrations, which offend
the peace and quiet of persons of ordinary sensibilities.
R. All trees
which are a menace to public safety or are the cause of substantial
annoyance to the general public.
S. Any authorized
or unlawful use of property abutting on a public street, alley or
sidewalk of a public street, alley, or sidewalk which causes large
crowds of people to gather, obstructing traffic and free use of the
streets or sidewalks.
T. Any nuisance
so defined by the Wisconsin Statutes.
No person shall store junk or discarded property, including
old, unused junk and automobiles not in good, safe operating condition,
and any other vehicles or personal property of any kind, or automobile
parts, trucks, tractors, machinery, machinery implements, or machinery
parts, refrigerators, furnaces, washing machines, stoves, wood, bricks,
cement blocks or other unsightly debris which is no longer safely
usable for the purpose for which it was manufactured and/or which
substantially depreciates property values in the neighborhood, except
in an enclosure which houses such property from public view or upon
permit issued by the Town. A violation of this section is declared
a public nuisance.
The Town acknowledges the need for agricultural practices and
recognizes that the law should not hamper agricultural production.
In order to protect the interests of all involved, the Town hereby
adopts § 823.08, Wis. Stats. (as from time to time amended,
repealed or modified by the Wisconsin Legislature), for the judging
of actions within this chapter against agricultural uses or practices.
The penalty for violation of any provision of this chapter shall
be a forfeiture of not less than $75 nor more than $1,000 together
with the actual costs of prosecution, including attorneys' fees. Each
day of continuing violation shall constitute a separate offense and,
in default of payment of such forfeiture and costs of prosecution,
the person convicted may be imprisoned in the County Jail of Brown
County until said forfeiture and cost are paid, but not to exceed
30 days for each violation.