[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Amherst 6-5-2017 by L.L. No. 13-2017. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Noise — See Ch. 138.
The title of this law shall be "Social Host Liability."
A.
The Town Board, pursuant to the police powers delegated to it by
the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law, has the authority to enact
laws which promote the public health, safety, and general welfare
of its residents;
B.
The occurrence of loud or unruly gatherings on private property where
alcoholic beverages are served to or consumed by underage persons
is harmful to the underage persons themselves and a threat to public
health, safety, quiet enjoyment of residential property and general
welfare;
C.
Underage persons often obtain alcoholic beverages at gatherings held
at private residences or at rented residential and commercial premises
that are under the control of a person who knows or should know of
the underage service and/or consumption. Persons responsible for the
occurrence of loud or unruly gatherings on private property over which
they have possession or control have failed to ensure that alcoholic
beverages are neither served to nor consumed by underage persons at
these parties;
D.
Landlords have failed to prevent the occurrence or reoccurrence of
loud or unruly gatherings, including those where alcoholic beverages
are served to or consumed by underage persons, on private property
they lease to tenants, which seriously disrupts the quiet enjoyment
of neighboring residents;
E.
Problems associated with loud or unruly gatherings at which alcoholic
beverages are served to or consumed by underage persons are difficult
to prevent and deter unless the Amherst Police Department has the
legal authority to direct the host to disperse the gathering;
F.
Control of loud or unruly gatherings on private property where alcoholic
beverages are served to or consumed by underage persons is necessary
when such activity is determined to be a threat to the peace, health,
safety or general welfare of the public;
G.
Persons responsible for abetting or tolerating loud or unruly gatherings
will be more likely to properly supervise or stop such conduct at
gatherings held on property under their possession or control;
H.
In the past and present, law enforcement, fire and other emergency
response services personnel have and are required to respond, sometimes
on multiple occasions, to loud or unruly gatherings on private property
at which alcoholic beverages are served to or consumed by underage
persons, and responses to such gatherings result in a disproportionate
expenditure of public safety resources by the Town of Amherst and
delays police responses to regular and emergency calls to the rest
of the Town;
I.
The intent of this Chapter is to protect the public health, safety,
quiet enjoyment of residential property, and general welfare, rather
than to punish. An ordinance that imposes strict liability on property
owners and other responsible persons for the nuisances created by
loud and unruly gatherings is necessary to deter and prevent such
gatherings. Persons who actively and passively aid, allow or tolerate
loud or unruly gatherings shall be held strictly liable for the nuisances
created by such gatherings and the costs associated with responding
to such gatherings.
The purposes of this Chapter are:
A.
To protect public health, safety and general welfare;
B.
To enforce laws prohibiting the service to and consumption of alcoholic
beverages by underage persons; and
C.
To reduce the costs of providing police, fire and other emergency
response services to loud or unruly gatherings, by imposing a civil
fee against social hosts and landowners (including landlords) for
the recovery of costs associated with providing law enforcement, fire
and other emergency response services to loud or unruly gatherings,
including those where alcoholic beverages are served to or consumed
by underage persons.
For the purposes of this Chapter, the following terms shall
have the following meanings:
Ethyl alcohol, hydrated oxide of ethyl or spirits of wine
from whatever source or by whatever process produced.
Includes alcohol, spirits, liquor, wine, beer, and every
liquid or solid containing alcohol, spirits, wine or beer and which
contains 1/2 of 1% or more of alcohol by volume and which is fit for
beverage purposes either alone or when diluted, mixed or combined
with other substances.
Any person under sixteen (16) years of age.
A party or gathering of two (2) or more persons at or on a residence
or other private property upon which loud or unruly conduct occurs.
Such loud or unruly conduct includes but is not limited to:
Excessive noise;
Excessive traffic;
Obstruction of public streets or crowds that have spilled into
public streets;
Public drunkenness or unlawful public consumption of alcohol
or alcoholic beverages;
Service to or consumption of alcohol or alcoholic beverages
by any underage person, except as permitted by state law;
Harassments, assaults, fights, domestic violence or other disturbances
of the peace;
Vandalism;
Litter; and
Any other conduct which constitutes a threat to public health,
safety, quiet enjoyment, of residential property or general welfare.
A loud or unruly gathering shall constitute a public nuisance.
A home, yard, apartment, condominium, hotel or motel room,
or other dwelling unit, or a hall or meeting room, whether occupied
on a temporary or permanent basis, whether occupied as a dwelling,
party or other social function, and whether owned, leased, rented
or used with or without compensation.
The cost associated with responses by law enforcement, fire
and other emergency response providers to loud or unruly gatherings,
including but not limited to:
Salaries and benefits of law enforcement, fire or other emergency
response personnel for the amount of time spent responding to, remaining
at, or otherwise dealing with loud or unruly gatherings, and the administrative
costs attributable to such response(s);
The cost of any medical treatment to or for any law enforcement,
fire or other emergency response personnel injured responding to,
remaining at or leaving the scene of a loud or unruly gathering;
The cost of repairing any Town equipment or property damage,
and the cost of the use of any such equipment, in responding to, remaining
at or leaving the scene of a loud or unruly gathering;
Any person, agent, operator, firm, association, organization,
partnership, company, corporation, beneficiary, trust, trustee, and
all other persons having a legal or equitable interest in the residence
or other private property or recorded in the official records of the
state, county or municipality as holding title to the property or
otherwise having control of the property, including the guardian of
the estate of any such person and the executor or administrator of
the estate of such person if ordered to take possession of real property
by a court, on which a loud or unruly gathering is conducted.
A person or persons with a right of possession in the residence
or other private property on which loud or unruly gathering is conducted,
including, but not limited to:
An owner of the residence or other private property;
A tenant or lessee of the residence or other private property;
The landlord of another person responsible for the gathering;
and
The person(s) who organizes, supervises, officiates, conducts
or controls the gathering or any other person(s) accepting responsibility
for such a gathering.
If a responsible person for the gathering is a juvenile, then
the parents or guardians of that juvenile and the juvenile will be
jointly and severally liable for the response costs incurred pursuant
to this chapter. To incur liability for response costs imposed by
this Chapter, the responsible person for the loud or unruly gathering
need not be present at such gathering resulting in the response giving
rise to the imposition of response costs. This chapter therefore imposes
vicarious as well as direct liability upon a responsible person.
Any person under twenty-one (21) years of age.
A.
It shall be a violation for any responsible person or party to conduct,
aid, allow, permit or condone a loud or unruly gathering at a residence
or other private property.
B.
Fines.
(1)
A first violation of this Chapter shall be punishable by a Two Hundred-Fifty
Dollar ($250) fine and shall be required to complete a substance abuse
education program provided by a certified prevention agency within
ninety (90) days of the offense.
(2)
A second violation of this Chapter, at the same residence or other
private property or by the same responsible person or party, within
a twelve-month period shall be punishable by a fine of Five Hundred
Dollar ($500).
(3)
A third or subsequent violation of this chapter, at the same residence
or other private property or by the same responsible person or party,
within a twelve-month period shall be punishable by a fine of One
Thousand Dollar ($1,000).
C.
The fines prescribed at Subsection B above are in addition to any response costs that may be assessed pursuant to this Chapter.
D.
The fine schedule prescribed at Subsection B above is a "rolling schedule" meaning that in calculating the fine payable, the Town Attorney shall count backward starting from the date of the most recent loud or unruly gathering to determine how many prior loud or unruly gatherings have taken place at the residence or other private property in question during the statutory twelve (12) month period.
F.
A responsible person or party charged with a violation of this Chapter
is entitled to a summary hearing in Amherst Town Court without a jury
and the Court must receive any relevant evidence not legally privileged.
Hearsay is admissible. The responsible person or party may cross-examine
witnesses and may present evidence on his/her/their behalf. A finding
that the responsible person or party has violated any provision of
this Chapter must be based upon a preponderance of the evidence.
A.
When a law enforcement, fire or other emergency response provider
responds to a loud or unruly gathering at a residence or other private
property within the Town of Amherst within a twelve (12) month period
of a warning given to a responsible person or party for a loud or
unruly gathering, all responsible persons or parties shall be jointly
and severally liable for the Town's costs of providing response
costs for that response and all subsequent responses during the warning
period.
B.
When a law enforcement, fire or other emergency response provider
official makes an initial response to a loud or unruly gathering at
a residence or other private property within the Town of Amherst,
the official shall inform any responsible person or party for the
gathering at the scene that:
C.
Only one warning will be given to a responsible person or party pursuant
to this section before the Town assesses response service costs pursuant
to this Chapter. If a responsible person or party cannot be identified
at the scene, the official may issue a warning to one or more persons
identified in this Chapter or subsequently return to the residence
or other private property and issue the warning to a then-present
responsible person or party. Warnings given to responsible persons
or parties who do not reside at the residence or other private property
in question shall be delivered by certified mail, return receipt requested.
D.
With the acceptance of this ordinance, recovered funds are to be
made available to cover the cost of this ordinance as calculated at
the end of each year based on costs expended by the Town of Amherst
Police Department. The recovered funds are to be earmarked to the
trust in agency account for safety education programs.
A.
The amount of response costs shall be deemed a debt owed to the Town
of Amherst by the responsible person or party held liable in this
Chapter for the loud or unruly gathering and, if a juvenile, by the
juvenile's parents or guardians. The amount of response costs,
including reasonable attorney's fees, shall also be a lien against
the property concerned and shall be assessed, levied, and collected
like other taxes and assessments; provided, however, that the responsible
person or party, including the owner and all other persons having
an interest in the property, are provided with notice by way of certified
mail, return receipt requested, and mailed within fourteen (14) days
of the response giving rise to such costs. The notice shall contain
the following information:
(1)
The name of the person or party being held liable for the payment
of such costs;
(2)
The address of the residence or other private property where the
loud or unruly gathering occurred;
(3)
The date and time of the response;
(4)
The law enforcement, fire or emergency service provider who responded;
(5)
The date and time of any previous warning given pursuant to this
Chapter and/or previous responses to loud or unruly gatherings at
the residence or other private property in question within the previous
twelve (12) months; and
(6)
An itemized list of the response costs for which the person or party
is being liable.
B.
The responsible person or party must remit payment of the noticed
response costs to the Town of Amherst Comptroller's Office within
thirty (30) days of the date of the notice. If no payment is made
within thirty (30) days, the response costs, including reasonable
attorney's fees, shall be a lien against the property concerned
and shall be assessed, levied, and collected like other taxes and
assessments; provided, however, that the responsible person or party
and all other persons having an interest in the property are provided
with notice and an opportunity to be heard before the assessment of
any lien against the land.
The Town of Amherst is authorized, after due demand having been
made and proper notice having been given, to commence an action at
law in any court of competent jurisdiction to collect response costs
from the responsible person or party, including the owner and any
other person having an interest in the property concerned.
A.
If a provision of this chapter is found to be inconsistent with any
provision of other Chapters of the Town Code, the provision or requirement
which is the more restrictive or which establishes the higher standard
shall prevail. A greater penalty shall not be considered as more restrictive
or a higher standard.
B.
If any part, provision, section, subdivision, paragraph or term of
this chapter shall be held unconstitutional, invalid or ineffective,
in whole or in part, such determination shall not be deemed to invalidate
the remaining ordinance, parts, provisions, sections, subdivisions,
paragraphs or terms.
This Chapter shall take effect immediately.
