[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Bethlehem 9-14-2016 by L.L. No. 4-2016.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Solid waste — See Ch. 97.
[1]
Editor's Note: This local law also repealed former Ch. 76,
Garbage, Rubbish and Refuse, adopted 5-13-1970, as amended.
[Amended 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
A clean, wholesome, attractive and healthful environment is
important to the health and welfare of the residents of the Town,
and to the maintenance and continued development of the economy of
the Town. It is the purpose of this chapter to provide for the proper
maintenance of improved residential, commercial, and industrial properties
to prevent blight, unhealthy, hazardous, or unsightly conditions due
to the accumulation of brush, grass, weeds, garbage, rubbish, or junk
vehicles in order to protect the public health, safety and general
welfare of the residents of this town. By this chapter, the Town seeks
to remove such threats to health, life and property by requiring owners
to take remedial action to cut, trim or remove brush, grass, weeds,
rubbish, and junk vehicles.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Offal, waste food, dead animals or fowl or parts thereof,
vegetable matter of any kind and any other waste or discarded matter
which shall be either flammable or capable of fermentation or decay.
Property that has been developed and includes, but is not
limited to, structures, parking, and driveways that has been placed
on said property or lot.
Any vehicle designed for operation by any power other than
muscular power, but including a trailer, lacking a current registration
plate and which has been abandoned, junked, discarded, dismantled
(in whole or in part) or is in a rusted or wrecked condition or which
is not in condition for legal use upon the highways.
[Added 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
An individual, society, club, firm, partnership, corporation
or association of persons.
Waste material, including papers, cartons, tin cans, scrap
metal, bottles, plastic and cardboard, containers, waste or discarded
wood and lumber, junk vehicles and any and all similar substances,
articles, and deleterious materials. Any abandoned, discarded or unused
objects or equipment, such as, but not limited to, furniture, stoves,
refrigerators, freezers, appliances, cans, containers or vehicle tires.
[Amended 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
It shall be unlawful for any person having control or ownership
in any improved residential, commercial, or industrial lot or property
in the Town:
A.
To permit or maintain on any such lot or land any growth of weeds,
grass or other rank vegetation to a greater height than 10 inches
on the average.
B.
To permit accumulation of dead weeds, grass or brush.
C.
To permit, maintain, deposit or scatter rubbish or garbage over any
premises.
D.
To permit
or maintain on any such lot or land any junk vehicles.
[Added 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
[Amended 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
A.
No person
shall place or deposit, or permit or cause to be placed or deposited,
any rubbish or garbage outside any building within the Town of Bethlehem,
unless the garbage is properly and carefully contained within a covered
metal, wooden or molded plastic receptacle or placed in an adequate
solid (opaque) enclosure, which receptacle or enclosure shall be capable
of holding the contents thereof within the confines of the said receptacle
or enclosure so as to prevent the same from falling out, being blown
about or in any way removed from the said receptacle or enclosure
except for transmittal to a proper place of disposal.
A.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent any person
from placing any of the aforementioned articles, except those set
forth under the definition of "garbage,” on his own property
for the purpose of being picked up by the Town pursuant to its announced
policies or private contractor on cleanup days; provided, however,
that said material is properly packaged, contained or bound to prevent
its being blown about, and provided further that said material shall
not be placed on the property for pickup more than two days before
the next scheduled cleanup day.
[Amended 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
B.
Any person committing an offense against the provisions of this section
shall be guilty of a violation and, upon conviction thereof, shall
be punishable by a fine not exceeding $250 or by imprisonment for
a term not exceeding 15 days, or both. Each day's continued violation
shall constitute a separate, additional violation.
It shall be the duty of any person having control or ownership
in any improved residential, commercial, or industrial lot or property
in the Town to:
A.
Maintain the lot in a clean and sanitary condition and not permit
the accumulation of rubbish including junk vehicles.
[Amended 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
C.
The provisions of § 76-6A and B of this chapter related to junk vehicles shall not be construed to prohibit the open storage, not to exceed four years, of a motor vehicle which is unregistered and is in operable condition and is owned by a member of the armed forces who is serving on active duty.
[Added 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
[Amended 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
B.
Service and contents of abatement notice. Written notice shall be
mailed to such owner at the last known address as shown on the records
of the Town Assessor, or if such owner address is unknown, such notice
may be affixed to or posted upon said lot or land or served by personal
service by the Building Inspector or a Police Officer. Such notice
shall contain a description of the premises, specify the provisions
of the Town Code or the Uniform Building Code deemed to have been
violated, require the owner to correct the condition within 10 days
of the date of such abatement notice, and provide that if the owner
fails to do so, the Town or the Town's contractor may undertake or
cause to be undertaken the required work and the Town shall assess
a lien against the property for the cost of the work, together with
an additional administrative fee of 15% for costs of inspection and
other incidental costs associated with abating the condition, to be
added to the total costs of the work.
C.
The notice
for junk vehicles shall state that if the person served contends that
said vehicle is not junk or unregistered, as herein defined, that
he shall notify the Code Enforcement Officer in writing of such contention
within 10 days of personal service or 13 days of the date of mailing,
where service is by certified or registered mail.
D.
The person
served shall allow a representative of the Town to inspect such vehicle
with the person served or a representative of the person served within
five days of such notification. Within five days after such inspection,
the Town shall inform the person served of its findings, in writing,
by personal service or by certified or registered mail. If the findings
are that one or more of the vehicles specified in the original notice
is deemed a junk vehicle located outside a building by the person
served with the original notice, said person shall remove said vehicle
from the lot within the Town within five days of personal service
of such findings or eight days of mailing, where service of such findings
is by registered or certified mail.
[Amended 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
If the Town determines that an emergency exists, the Town may
undertake or cause to be undertaken removal of the rubbish, vegetation
or junk vehicles prior to the expiration of the specified period of
time, provided the abatement notice identifies the violations as constituting
such an emergency.
[Amended 10-26-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
A.
Should the owner fail to comply with a final order, or should the
Town determine that an emergency exists, the Town may undertake or
cause to undertake the required removal of rubbish, vegetation, or
junk vehicle. The Town shall keep records of the cost of such work.
B.
Should the rubbish, vegetation or junk vehicle removal be performed by the Town or the Town's contractor, the Town shall serve a billing notice on the owner, in the same manner as specified in § 76-8 of this chapter, setting forth the cost of such work together with an additional administrative fee of 15% for costs of inspection and other incidental costs associated with abating the condition, to be added to the total costs of the work.
C.
For junk vehicles, the Town will identify the storage area designated
for junk vehicles and hold it there for 10 days.
D.
Within such ten-day period, the owner or his agent may claim such
junk vehicle upon payment of the towing or removal charges. Such owner
or his agent shall immediately remove such junk vehicle at his own
expense to a legal storage space.
E.
Upon the
expiration of such ten-day period, no claim having been made, ownership
of such junk vehicle shall be deemed forfeited, and such car may be
sold by the Town to the highest bidder for disposal as scrap. In the
event of such sale, any money received by the Town will be applied
to the charges associated with the removal. Any remaining money realized
from such sale shall belong to the Town and be deposited in the general
fund. If no bids shall be received, the Town may dispose of said junk
vehicle in any manner deemed advisable.
F.
An owner served with a billing notice pursuant to Subsection B of this section may request and shall be granted a hearing before the Director of Planning to dispute the charges, provided that such owner shall file, within 10 days of the date of the billing notice, in the office of the Building Inspector, a written request for such hearing. Upon receipt of a request for a hearing, Director of Planning shall set a time and a place for such hearing and shall give the applicant at least 10 days of written notice thereof. Such hearing shall commence not later than 30 days after the date on which the request was filed; however, hearings may be postponed beyond such thirty-day period for good cause shown. At such hearing, the owner shall be given an opportunity to show cause why such costs should be reduced or otherwise modified. The Director of Planning shall make a final determination on the charges, and such decision shall be deemed a final order. If the owner does not request a hearing on the billing notice, such notice shall be deemed a final order.
G.
The costs specified in the billing notice, if not paid by or on behalf of the owner within 30 days of the date of the billing notice, shall be added to and collected with the subsequent Town tax levy, and shall bear interest and be enforced as provided by law for Town taxes. Should the owner fail to pay the billing invoice, the cost of the work, repair, or demolition as finally determined, together with an additional administrative fee of 15% for costs of inspection and other incidental costs associated with abating the condition, added to the total costs of the work, repair, or demolition, shall be assessed as a lien against the abated property. Notice shall be given to the Tax Collector's Office specifying the total cost of the work, together with the administrative fee of 15%, and the property affected by section, block and lot numbers as the same appear on the Official Tax Assessment Map of the Town of Bethlehem. From the hour of filing of said notice, the charges specified shall be a lien upon the property affected thereby. A copy of said notice shall also be served on the owner as provided for in § 76-6 of this chapter.
No action for damages may be maintained against the Town by
reason of its failure to comply with any of the provisions of this
chapter.
