Under the authority of MGL c. 111, §§ 31 and
31B, 122 through 127A, and 143, and pursuant to 310 CMR 7.00, Air
Pollution Control, the Board of Health may investigate, at its discretion,
specific conditions or nuisances that may be injurious to the public
health and may order the abatement of any threat to the public health
or nuisance found to exist in the Town of Sharon.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
ABATE
To repair, replace, remove, destroy, or otherwise remedy
a condition.
NUISANCE
An act or failure to perform a legal duty which causes or
permits a condition to exist which injures or endangers the public
health, safety, or welfare of the inhabitants of the Town of Sharon.
OCCUPANT
Any tenant, with or without a legally binding lease, who
resides in a dwelling or has possession of a space or operates a business
out of a space in the Town of Sharon.
OWNER
Any person or group of persons, whether individuals, a business
entity, or organization, whether incorporated or not, who owns, possesses,
manages, or controls any property and shall be sufficiently identified
by the name and/or address appearing in the records of the Town Assessor.
PROPERTY
Any land, building, structure or real property, including
any fixtures attached thereto, or any personal property located within
the Town.
RUBBISH
Combustible and noncombustible waste materials, except garbage
and approved compost containers, and includes but is not limited to
such material as paper, rags, cartons, boxes, wood, excelsior, rubber,
leather, tree branches, yard trimmings, grass clippings, tin cans,
metals, glass, crockery, plastics, mineral matter, dust and the residue
from the burning of wood, coal, coke or other combustibles.
VERMIN
Any invertebrate or vertebrate animals which may act as carriers
or agents of infection and disease transmission.
Any person or persons owning, occupying, or having control of
any premises abutting and/or adjoining a private way, and having the
right to use such private way, shall, when ordered by the Board of
Health in writing, remove or abate from that part of said private
way adjoining such premises any substance, material or condition which
is or may become a menace to the public health or a nuisance, and
such removal or abatement shall take place within the time specified
in said order. The owner or occupant of any dwelling abutting a private
passageway, private road, drive, or right-of-way owned or used in
common with other dwellings or which the owner or occupants under
his/her control have the right to use or are in fact using shall be
responsible for maintaining in a clean and sanitary condition free
of garbage, rubbish, other filth or causes of sickness that part of
the passageway or right-of-way which abuts his/her property and which
he/she or the occupants under his/her control have the right to use,
or are in fact using, or which he/she owns.
No person shall keep or maintain dogs, cats, fowl, hogs, goats,
cows, chickens, horses, or other animals in a manner that creates
a nuisance. However, the odor from normal maintenance of livestock
or the spreading of manure upon agricultural, horticultural or farming
lands, or noise from livestock or farm equipment used in normal, generally
acceptable farming procedures or from plowing or cultivation operations
upon agricultural, horticultural or farming lands shall not be deemed
to constitute a nuisance.
MGL c. 111, § 31C, Atmospheric pollution, and 310
CMR 7.00, Air Pollution Control, Section 7.10, Noise, Section 7.52,
Enforcement Provisions, as most recently amended, are hereby adopted
as local regulations for the Town of Sharon.
The Board of Health may require property owners or occupants
to take measures to control mosquitoes or other insects in the Town
of Sharon, where they are a public nuisance, or where mosquito-borne
or insect-borne disease, such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis or West
Nile Encephalitis, pose a threat to the public health. The Board may
also advise the East Norfolk Mosquito Control Commission to act on
its behalf to carry out measures to control mosquito populations in
the Town of Sharon under MGL c. 252, § 5B.
Each provision of this regulation shall be construed as separate
to the end that if any provision, sentence, clause, or phrase thereof
shall be held invalid for any reason, the remainder of that section
and all other sections shall continue in full force and effect.