Town of Edmonston, MD Lot and Property Maintenance

As a measure towards the prevention of fires and a deterrent against an infestation or nesting of rodents or other vermin either of which would constitute a detriment to the public health and well-being, any and all upholstered or otherwise permeable furniture manufactured exclusively for intended indoor use shall not be placed outside of a building or structure, including but not limited to porches, decks, driveways or carports.

Notice of violation shall be in writing and shall be served upon the occupant in person, by registered mail or by posting of violation upon the property where violation has occurred. Additionally, the owner of the property may be served in person, by registered mail or by posting of notice of violation at their last known/recorded address.

Upon notice of violation, the responsible party shall have seven days to comply with the orders to remove. Failure to comply shall result in the issuance of a municipal citation in the amount of $200 for the first offense and $500 for the second and each subsequent offense thereafter within a twenty-four-month period. Furthermore, each offense which remains noncompliant beyond the seven days shall be considered unwanted trash or debris and shall be collected and disposed of by the Town of Edmonston. All associated costs shall be billed to the occupant/owner and upon failure to remit payment within 30 days to the Town will constitute an uncollected bill for services which shall be forwarded and attached as a lien upon the property tax of said property.

§ 285-2 Unsafe conditions; penalties.

Whenever any dwelling or any building, structure, excavation, matter, condition or anything in or about a dwelling or lot on which it is situated, or the plumbing, sewerage, drainage, light or ventilation thereof, is found by the Mayor and Town Council of Edmonston to be dangerous or detrimental to life, health or safety of the occupants or to the public by reason of lack of maintenance, disrepair or unsanitary or rodent-infested or vermin-infested condition, or because it otherwise fails to comply with the minimum conditions of the Building Code of Edmonston in such a way as to cause such an unsafe condition, the Mayor and Council may order that the matter, condition or thing be removed, abated, suspended, altered or otherwise improved as the order shall specify. If any such order of the Mayor and Council issued under the authority of the provisions of this article is not complied with within 30 days after the service thereof, then the order may be executed by the Town of Edmonston through its officer, agents, employees or contractors, and any expense incurred in the execution of said order shall be paid by the owner of said property; such expense may be recovered by the Town by appropriate legal action. The Mayor and Council may also order such premises vacated until such premises shall be made to comply with the conditions of this article. The cost to the Town of executing such order shall constitute a lien on the property and may be billed and collected in the same manner as Town property taxes are now billed and collected by the Town Treasurer.

Notice. The order shall be in the form of a written notice and shall be sent by registered or certified mail to the owner of the property. If the owner does not occupy the premises, a copy of the notice shall also be served on the occupant of the property; provided, however, that if the identity of the occupant cannot be readily determined, it shall be sufficient to address the notice merely to "occupant of premises at _____ Street, Edmonston, Maryland" and to serve the notice upon any responsible adult at the premises. If the owner cannot be located through reasonable diligence and if the property is unoccupied, the order shall be posted in a conspicuous manner on the premises. Notice shall also be served personally or by registered or certified mail on any mortgagee or trustee under a deed of trust of the premises whose name so appears in the land records of Prince George's County, Maryland.

Penalties. Any person, firm or corporation failing to comply with the order of the Mayor and Town Council provided for in this article shall be deemed guilty of a municipal infraction, subject to a fine of $100.

Right to hearing. Any owner or other person upon whom an order has been served pursuant to this article or who is aggrieved by this order shall have the right to a hearing before the Mayor and Town Council, provided that he/she make a written request to the Mayor and Council, either personally through the Town Clerk or by registered mail, within 14 days of the service of said order. Upon receipt of such a request, the Mayor and Town Council shall grant a hearing either at its next regular meeting or earlier at a special meeting called for this purpose, provided that at least 15 days' notice of the hearing be given to the party requesting the hearing.

§ 285-3 Graffiti.

[Added 2-12-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-OR-02]

All property owners within the corporate limits of the Town of Edmonston whether such property be improved or unimproved shall be responsible for the removal of any graffiti placed on any part of the property within 48 hours after graffiti has been applied or after notice is given by the Code Enforcement Officer or Edmonston Police of the nuisance. Upon failure to remove such public nuisance within the time specified, the nuisance will be removed by the Town or its agents and the cost thereof be charged to him/her, her, or them, as the case may be.

Failure to pay such costs necessary to cause removal of graffiti by the proper person or persons within the time specified shall cause the Town of Edmonston to collect same by entering same on the tax records as a tax upon such real estate or by suit deemed necessary, or both.

§ 285-4 Trash accumulation and obnoxious growths deemed nuisances; abatement procedures.

[Amended 8-17-1998 by Ord. No. 98-003]

Any trash, waste material, garbage, offensive and dirty material or grass, weeds, briars and brush more than eight inches tall which has been or which may hereafter be allowed to accumulate or grow on any private property in the Town of Edmonston is hereby declared to be a public nuisance. It shall be the duty of the Code Enforcement Officer to notify the owner or owners, tenant or tenants or person or persons in possession of any real estate where such public nuisance exists to remove such public nuisance within seven days, inclusive of Sundays and holidays, after the date of such notice, and that upon failure to remove such public nuisance within the time specified, the nuisance will be removed by the Town and the cost thereof be charged to him/her, her or them, as the case may be, unless cause to the contrary be shown by filing objections, in writing, with the Code Enforcement Officer on or before the expiration date of such notice. If such written objections are filed, it shall be the duty of such person to appear before the Mayor and Town Council at its next meeting, when public hearing shall be accorded to such person. Such notice shall be given by placing the same in the United States Mail, addressed to the last known address of such person or persons, and with sufficient postage prepaid. If such public nuisance is not removed within the time specified in such notice, and no written objections have been filed, or filed and overruled by the Mayor and Town Council, then the Code Enforcement Officer shall cause the public nuisance to be removed, and he/she is authorized to incur the necessary expense in so doing, and shall place a charge against the proper person or persons for such costs and proceed to collect the same by entering same on the tax records as a tax upon such real estate, or by suit if deemed necessary, or both.

§ 285-5 Weeds, litter and obstructions in street and sidewalk area.

All property owners within the corporate limits of the Town of Edmonston, whether such property be improved or unimproved, shall be responsible for and shall keep the property cleared of weeds, debris and litter or other obstruction the entire distance to the street or sidewalk even though a portion of the land lying between the lot and the sidewalk may not be titled to the property owner abutting, but may even belong to the Town. Upon failure of any person to keep such property clear the entire distance to the walk or street, the owner shall have the usual ten-day notice served before the Town may have the property cleared and taxed to such owner.

§ 285-6 Snow and ice removal.

[Added 1-22-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-OR-001]

The owner or owners, tenant or tenants, person or persons in possession of any building whether commercial or residential, located in the Town, which abuts a paved public sidewalk must remove, or cause to be removed within 24 hours after the cessation of a snow or ice fall and all snow or ice from the public sidewalk in front of or abutting said building or property.

§ 285-7 Advertising signs in public right-of-way.

[Added 5-14-2008 by Ord. No. 2008-OR-001]

It shall be unlawful to place advertising signs of any type such as announcing the sale of property, chattels or goods, espousing the election of candidates or issues of elections, offering services, in the public rights-of-way described more fully as the area between the public sidewalk and roadway, or in lieu of a sidewalk the area between the front fence, or property line and roadway.

(1)

Owners or residents of property giving anyone permission to place such signs are advised to have them placed on their property.

All such signs placed in the public rights-of-way shall be removed by the Edmonston Public Works Department and the owners of such signs will be advised to recover their signs and to place them on private property. Failure to recover their signs within 48 hours of notification will result in the destruction of the signs by the Town of Edmonston, and the enacting of the penalties assigned to this article.

§ 285-8 Violations and penalties.

[Amended 5-11-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-O-011]

Violations of this article are municipal infractions, subject to a fine of $100 for each offense. Each day a violation continues constitutes a separate offense.