The provisions of this chapter shall constitute and shall hereafter
be known as the "Housing Code of the Town of Westernport." The code
may be cited as the "Housing Code" and will be referred to herein
as "this code."
It is hereby found and declared that there exist in the Town
of Westernport structures used for habitation which are, or may become
in the future, substandard with respect to structure, equipment or
maintenance and further that such conditions, together with inadequate
provision for light and air, insufficient protection against fire
hazards, lack of proper heating, unsanitary conditions and overcrowding,
constitute a menace to the health, safety, welfare and reasonable
comfort of its citizens. It is further found and declared that the
existence of such conditions, factors or characteristics will, if
not remedied, create slum and blighted areas requiring large-scale
clearance, contribute substantially and increasingly to the spread
of disease and crime and to losses by fire and accident, and necessitate
excessive expenditures of public funds for the prevention of or protection
from the same, and further that, in the absence of corrective measures,
such areas will experience a deterioration of social values, an impairment
of economic values and depreciation of assessable base, and a curtailment
of investment and tax revenues. It is further found and declared that
the establishment and maintenance of minimum housing standards are
essential to the prevention of blight and decay and the safeguarding
of public health, safety, morals and general welfare.
The purpose of this code is to establish and maintain requirements,
standards and conditions essential for the protection of the health,
safety, morals and general welfare of the public and of the owners
and occupants of dwellings in the Town of Westernport; to establish
standards governing the condition, use, operation, occupancy and maintenance
of dwellings and other structures and the utilities, facilities and
other physical components, things and conditions to be supplied to
dwellings in order to make dwellings safe, sanitary and fit for human
habitation; to fix certain responsibilities and duties of owners,
agents and occupants of dwellings; to provide for the licensing of
certain rental units, boardinghouses, multiple-family dwellings and
any combination thereof; to authorize and establish procedures for
the inspection of dwellings, the correction of violations of the provisions
of this code and the condemnation of dwellings, so as to eliminate
and to prevent all conditions in and about dwellings which are now
or which may in the future become so unsafe, dangerous, unhygienic
or unsanitary as to constitute a menace to the health and safety of
the people; and to fix penalties for violations of the provisions
of this code. This code is hereby declared to be remedial and essential
to the public interest, and it is the intention of the Mayor and Commissioners
that this code be liberally construed to effectuate the purposes stated
above.
No building, structure or premises, or any part thereof, shall
be used or designed, intended or maintained to be used for habitation
unless it shall conform to the provisions of this code. The provisions
of this code shall apply and prevail irrespective of when such building
or structure shall have been constructed, altered or repaired and
irrespective of any permits or licenses heretofore issued relating
to the use, occupancy, construction or repair of such building or
structure or to the installation or repair of the facilities thereof.
In any case where a provision of this code concerns the same
subject matter as an existing provision of any zoning, building, electrical,
plumbing, health, fire or safety ordinance or code or regulation,
the applicable provisions concerned shall be construed so as to give
effect to each; provided, however, that if such provisions are found
to be in irreconcilable conflict, the provision which establishes
the higher standard for the promotion and protection of the public
health and safety shall prevail. In any case where a provision of
this code is found to be in conflict with an existing provision of
any other ordinance or code or regulation in force in the Town of
Westernport which establishes a lower standard for the promotion and
protection of the public health and safety, the provision of this
code shall prevail, and the other existing provision of such other
ordinance or code or regulation is hereby repealed to the extent that
it may be found in conflict with this code.
For the purpose of this code, certain words, terms and phrases
and their derivatives shall be construed and given the meanings specified
in this section. Words used in the singular shall be construed to
include the plural, and the plural the singular. Words used in the
masculine gender shall be construed to include the feminine, and the
feminine the masculine. Whenever the words "dwelling," "dwelling unit,"
"rental unit," "boardinghouse," "boarding unit" and "premises" are
used in this code, they shall be construed as though they were followed
by the words "or any part thereof." The word "shall" shall mean mandatory
whenever used in this code.
Any person or business entity designated, for the purposes
of this code, to serve as the representative of an owner that is not
a resident of Allegany County, Maryland.
Any way less than 30 feet in width on which dwellings do
not front.
Accepted as satisfactory by the appropriate Town authority
as being in accordance with the requirements of this code, unless
otherwise noted.
A subsurface space adjacent to a building for affording access
to or for lighting or ventilating the basement or a cellar of said
building.
The usable portion of a building immediately below the main
entrance story. No building shall have more than one basement.
Any house, building or combination of buildings, or any portion
thereof, which is used or designed to be used, with or without meals,
where lodging is provided for two or more persons who are not members
of the operator's family, whether for consideration or not, and
shall not include hotels, motels or lodging houses.
The surface suspended from or attached to the underside of
floors or roofs which does not form a structural part of a floor or
roof, or shall mean the underside of exposed floor or roof construction.
The clear distance between the floor and the ceiling directly
above.
The lowest space or spaces in a building located under the
basement story.
Any connection, either direct or indirect, that will permit
or may possibly permit the flow of water of unknown or questionable
safety, sewage, other liquids, gases or mixtures into a piping system
or receptacles containing or intended to contain potable water.
The individual holding the position wherein he/she is authorized
by the Town Administrator to oversee the Department of Community Development.
A house or building or portion thereof which is occupied
in whole or in part as a home, residence or sleeping place of one
or more human beings, either permanently or transiently.
A room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit
occupied by one or more persons with facilities which are used or
intended to be used exclusively by the occupants of such unit for
living, sleeping, eating and cooking.
In existence at the time of passage of this code, or any
building or other structure erected under a permit issued before the
passage of this code.
In general, the way out from any point in a building along
a continuous and unobstructed line of travel which ultimately leads
to a street or other public thoroughfare.
The extinction of insects, rodents, vermin or other pests.
A person living alone, or two or more persons living together
as a housekeeping unit, with separate identity from other persons
or groups in the same structure.
Protected to resist the damaging effects of fire in accordance
with the requirements of the code for such construction.
An enclosed pipe, duct or passageway used only for the transmission
of heat or the products of combustion.
A room used or intended to be used for living, sleeping,
eating or cooking. Storerooms, bathrooms, toilet rooms and closets,
halls or spaces in attics or in basements are not habitable rooms.
Any business that is required to pay an occupancy tax to
the State of Maryland.
The presence, within or around a dwelling, of large numbers
of insects, rodents, vermin or other pests.
Shall have the same meaning as that contained within § 10-101(c)
of the Real Property Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, as
amended from time to time, which, as of the effective date of the
enactment of this code, provides as follows:
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(c) "Land installment contract" means a legally binding executory
agreement under which:
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(1)
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The vendor agrees to sell an interest in property to the purchaser
and the purchaser agrees to pay the purchase price in five or more
subsequent payments exclusive of the down payment, if any; and
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(2)
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The vendor retains title as security for the purchaser's
obligation.
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A fixed wash bowl equipped with plumbing.
The holder of a contract for the possession and profit of
lands and tenements for a fixed term, for life, or at will.
The holder of a license issued under Article III of this chapter.
A parcel or portion of land now or hereafter laid out and
included within certain fixed lines.
The way or manner any such building, structure, appliance,
apparatus or equipment is serviced, repaired or altered to perpetuate
the use or purpose for which such building, structure, appliance,
apparatus or equipment was originally intended.
Any doorway, passageway, stairway or other means of escape
in exits from a building or other structure.
Any house, building, or combination of buildings, including
groups of detached buildings comprising a single apartment project
under a single ownership and management, or any portion of any building,
which is used or designed to be used for:
As used in Article VIII of this code shall mean any combination of boarding units and dwelling units totaling three or more in number.
Includes the person who actually uses or has possession of
the premises.
Any person, firm, corporation, limited liability company,
limited liability partnership, limited partnership, partnership or
other business entity, guardian, conservator, receiver, trustee, executor,
personal representative, judicial officer, or any other person who,
alone or jointly or severally with others, owns, holds, or controls
the whole, or any part, of the freehold or leasehold title to any
dwelling or dwelling unit, with or without accompanying actual possession
thereof, and shall include, in addition to the holder of legal title,
any vendee in possession thereof, but shall not include a mortgagee
or an owner of a reversionary interest under a ground rent lease.
Any individual, firm, corporation, limited liability company,
limited liability partnership, limited partnership, partnership or
other business entity, guardian, conservator, receiver, trustee, executor,
personal representative, or any other judicial officer.
A lot or group of lots including any building or group of
buildings or other structures or parts thereof which may be situated
thereon and considered as a unit devoted to a certain use or occupancy,
including the necessary and customary accessory buildings and other
open spaces required or used in connection with such use of a lot
or group of lots.
Open to common use without reference to ownership.
Hallway accessible to the public.
Any dwelling unit or boarding unit located in the Town of
Westernport which is rented, leased or let, whether for consideration
or not, by the owner of said unit to one or more tenants for occupancy
as a residence. A rental unit shall not include units located within
a permitted hotel/motel, bed-and-breakfast, nursing home or hospital.
Rental units shall include assisted living facilities, group homes,
and boardinghouses.
The shingles, tiles, composition, sheet metal covering or
other waterproof protection on top of a roof.
Any window, cover or enclosure, or any combination of them,
placed above a roof for the admission of light or air.
A part of a building occupied by one tenant.
A person occupying or using a rental dwelling unit or any
part or parts thereof owned by another with the express written or
oral permission of said owner.
An enclosed space containing a water closet or urinal and
lavatory basin.
A clean, smooth floor, without cracks or holes, made of terrazzo,
ceramic, asphalt or rubber tile, smooth concrete, linoleum or other
similar material, or made of wood, and, if made of wood, then with
tightly fitting joints, covered with varnish, lacquer or other similar
water-resistant coating.
