[Adopted 6-9-1983 by L.L. No. 2-1983; amended in its entirety 8-8-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
To rent any property or part of it as a residence
or dwelling, the owner must first obtain a certificate of compliance
issued by the Code Enforcement Officer of the Village of Morrisville.
This will include the submission of a list of the proposed number
of tenants, which must be updated as tenancies change or are terminated,
and a diagram showing the exterior and interior dimensions of the
building that is acceptable to the Village Code Enforcement Officer.
The application for a certificate of compliance and associated diagrams
shall be submitted to the Village Code Enforcement Officer, along
with an application fee, the amount of which shall be determined from
time to time by resolution of the Board of Trustees.
All owners (as determined by the most recent
tax roll) of properties subject to inspection under this article shall
be responsible for the payment of an inspection fee for each required
inspection. The amount of such inspection fee(s) shall be determined
from time to time by resolution of the Board of Trustees. All such fees shall be invoiced and collected in the manner provided in §
91-10E of this Code.
Enforcement of this article shall be the responsibility
of the Code Enforcement Officer, who shall have the authority to issue
appearance tickets to enforce this article.
No owner shall allow any person to occupy a
rental dwelling or dwelling unit unless it complies with the provisions
of this article. All rental property shall be subject to inspection
at any time as determined by the Code Enforcement Officer. Any refusal
to allow an inspection by the Code Enforcement Officer shall constitute
a violation of this article, and shall be grounds for the immediate
revocation of any certificate of occupancy for the premises to which
such access was denied.
Failure to comply with any provision of this
article, or any violation notice issued with respect to this article,
shall constitute an offense. A person convicted of an offense shall
be punished by a fine not to exceed $250 or imprisonment not to exceed
15 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Each and every day
a violation exists shall constitute a separate offense for which the
aforesaid penalties may be cumulatively imposed. The ultimate responsibility
for compliance with the provisions of this article and payment of
any penalties for offenses committed with respect to this article
shall lie with the property owner as listed on the deed or the most
recent real property tax assessment roll. Any unpaid fee or fine will
be assessed and levied against the property in the same manner as
Village taxes.
[Adopted 3-10-2016 by L.L. No. 1-2016]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
ROOMING HOUSE
A dwelling unit or structure used for temporary or transient
occupancy purposes by two or more individuals not constituting a family
or functional family unit who share kitchen and/or bathroom, and/or
other common facilities and pay rent and/or other expenses by the
room, or based on a share of total expenses of the dwelling unit.
The term includes boardinghouses, private dormitories, fraternity
and/or sorority houses, and other similar types of group residential
quarters. The term does not include a motel or hotel, or a duly permitted
bed-and-breakfast.
All group residences shall be subject to, and be in conformance
with, the following supplemental regulations:
A. No exterior alterations shall be made to any existing dwelling to be used as a rooming house other than those mandated by any other codes or regulations to assure safety and sanitation. All alterations of the premises, e.g., driveways, parking areas, landscaping, shall be compatible with the neighborhood and appropriately screened from adjoining properties as determined by the Planning Board upon site plan approval as required by §
143-2;
B. All new construction applicable to a rooming house shall be compatible
with the scale, character and architectural design of existing neighborhood
dwellings and shall comply with all regulations applicable to the
district, as determined by the Planning Board upon an application
for site plan approval;
C. The number of residents in a rooming house shall be consistent with
the number of bedrooms and other living accommodations available in
the structure. There shall be a minimum of 70 square feet of bedroom
area with code-compliant emergency escape and rescue openings for
each resident;
D. Vehicle parking areas shall be in accordance with the provisions of §
143-2B;
E. All exterior site lighting associated with a rooming house shall
be designed and installed in such manner as to avoid any light spillover
at the property line between the rooming house and adjoining properties.
All exterior lighting fixtures shall include glare-reduction devices
and must include designation of the fixtures as International Dark-Sky
Association (IDA) approved and as Illumination Engineering Society
of North America (IESNA) "full cutoff" fixtures;
F. All buildings and premises used as rooming houses shall conform to all applicable zoning regulations set forth in Chapter
180 of this Code.
A license to operate a rooming house may be revoked by the Board of Trustees upon noncompliance with any of the conditions set forth above in §
143-9 if such noncompliance has not been corrected within 10 days of prior written notice given to the property owner and rooming house operator, and after a hearing has been held by the Board of Trustees wherein the owner and/or operator can be heard by the Board of Trustees with respect to the noncompliance. Notice of said hearing, setting forth the date, time and location of the hearing, shall have been published in the Village's official newspaper at least five days prior to the hearing and mailed to the owner(s) and/or operator(s) listed on the application for license no less than 10 days prior to the hearing.