[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of the Village of
Footville as Ch. 12 of the 1990 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
No person shall erect, contrive, cause, continue, maintain or
permit to exist any public nuisance within the Village or within the
police jurisdiction of the Village.
A public nuisance is a thing, act, occupation, condition or
use of property which shall continue for such length of time as to:
A.
Substantially annoy, injure or endanger the comfort, health, repose
or safety of the public;
B.
In any way render the public insecure in life or in the use of property;
C.
Greatly offend the public morals or decency; or
D.
Unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct or tend to
obstruct or render dangerous for passage any street, alley, highway,
navigable body of water or other public way.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby specifically declared to be public health nuisances, but shall not be construed to exclude other health nuisances coming within the definition of § 218-2.
A.
All decayed, harmfully adulterated or unwholesome food or drink sold
or offered for sale to the public;
B.
Carcasses of animals, birds or fowl not buried or otherwise disposed
of in a sanitary manner within 24 hours after death;
C.
Accumulations of decayed animal or vegetable matter, trash, rubbish,
rotting lumber, bedding, packing material, abandoned vehicles or machinery,
scrap metal or any material in which flies, mosquitoes, disease-carrying
insects, rats or other vermin may breed;
D.
All stagnant water in which mosquitoes, flies or other insects can
multiply;
E.
Garbage cans which are not flytight;
F.
The escape of smoke, soot, cinders, noxious acids, fumes, gases,
fly ash or industrial dust within the Village limits in such quantities
as to endanger the health of persons of ordinary sensibilities or
to threaten or cause substantial injury to property;
G.
The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal
or body of water by sewage, creamery or industrial wastes or other
substances;
H.
Any use of property, substances or things within the Village emitting
or causing any foul, offensive, noisesome, nauseous, noxious, or disagreeable
odors, effluvia or stenches extremely repulsive to the physical senses
of ordinary persons which annoy, discomfort, injure or inconvenience
the health of any appreciable number of persons within the Village;
J.
Any obstruction in or across any watercourse, drainage ditch or ravine;
K.
The deposit of garbage, rubbish, or any offensive substance on any
street, sidewalk or public place, or on any private property, except
as may be permitted by ordinance;
L.
Any rank growth of weeds or other vegetation on private property.
[Amended 11-5-1998]
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things
are hereby specifically declared to be public nuisances offending
public morals and decency, but such enumeration shall not be construed
to exclude other nuisances offending public morals and decency coming
within the definition of Subsection A of this section:
A.
All disorderly houses, bawdy houses, house of ill fame, gambling
houses and buildings or structures kept or resorted to for the purpose
of prostitution, promiscuous sexual intercourse or gambling;
B.
All gambling devices and slot machines;
C.
All places where intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverages
are sold, possessed, stored, brewed, bottled, manufactured or rectified
without a permit or license as provided for by this Code;
D.
Any place or premises within the Village where ordinances or state
laws relating to public health, safety, peace, morals or welfare are
openly, continuously, repeatedly and intentionally violated.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby declared to be public nuisances affecting peace and safety, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances affecting public peace or safety coming within the provisions of § 218-2:
A.
All buildings erected, repaired or altered in violation of the provisions
of the ordinances of the Village relating to materials and manner
of construction of buildings and structures;
B.
All unauthorized signs, signals, markings or devices which purport
to be or may be mistaken as official traffic control devices placed
or maintained upon or in view of any public highway or railway crossing;
C.
All trees, hedges, billboards or other obstructions which prevent
persons driving vehicles on public streets, alleys or highways from
obtaining a clear view of traffic when approaching an intersection
or pedestrian crosswalk;
D.
All limbs of trees which project over a public sidewalk less than
eight feet above the surface thereof or less than 10 feet above the
surface of a public street; and any tree with Dutch Elm disease;
E.
All use or display of fireworks except as provided by the laws of
the State of Wisconsin and ordinances of the Village;
F.
All buildings or structures so old, dilapidated or out of repair
as to be dangerous, unsafe, insanitary or otherwise unfit for human
use;
H.
All obstructions of streets, alleys, sidewalks or crosswalks and
all excavations in or under the same, except as permitted by the ordinances
of the Village or which, although made in accordance with such ordinances,
are kept or maintained for an unreasonable length of time after the
purpose thereof has been accomplished;
I.
All open and unguarded pits, wells, excavations or unused basements
freely accessible from any public street, alley or sidewalk;
J.
All abandoned refrigerators or iceboxes from which the doors and
other covers have not been removed or which are not equipped with
a device for opening from the inside by pushing only;
K.
Any unauthorized or unlawful use of property abutting on a public
street, alley or sidewalk or of a public street, alley or sidewalk
which causes large crowds of people to gather, obstructing traffic
and free use of the streets or sidewalks;
L.
Any advertisements or signs affixed to any building, wall, fence,
sidewalk, street or other private or public property without permission
of the owner thereof;
M.
Any sign, marquee, or awning which is in an unsafe condition, or
which overhangs any roadway, or which overhangs any sidewalk less
than 10 feet above the sidewalk surface;
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. III)]
N.
Any nuisance so defined by the Wisconsin Statutes.
A.
Inspection of premises. Whenever complaint is made to the Village
President that a public nuisance exists, or has existed, within the
Village, he shall promptly notify the Building Inspector or Chief
of Police or some other Village official whom the President shall
designate, who shall forthwith inspect or cause to be inspected the
premises and shall make a written report of his findings to the President.
Whenever practicable, the inspecting officer shall cause photographs
to be made of the premises and shall file the same in the office of
the Village Clerk.
B.
Summary abatement.
(1)
Notice to owner. If the inspecting officer shall determine that a
public nuisance exists on private property and that there is great
and immediate danger to the public health, safety, peace, morals or
decency, the Village President may direct the Chief of Police, or
a deputy sheriff, to serve a notice on the owner, or, if the owner
cannot be found, on the occupant or person causing, permitting or
maintaining such nuisance and to post a copy of the notice on the
premises. Such notice shall direct the owner, occupant or person causing,
permitting or maintaining such nuisance to abate or remove such nuisance
within 24 hours and shall state that unless such nuisance is so abated,
the Village will cause the same to be abated and will charge the cost
thereof to the owner, occupant or person causing, permitting or maintaining
the same, as the case may be.
(2)
Abatement by Village. If the nuisance is not abated within the time
provided or if the owner, occupant or person causing the nuisance
cannot be found, the Director of Public Works, or some other Village
official whom the President shall designate, shall cause the abatement
or removal of such public nuisance.
C.
Abatement by court action. If the inspecting officer shall determine
that a public nuisance exists on private premises but that the nature
of such nuisance is not such as to threaten great and immediate danger
to the public health, safety, peace, morals or decency, he shall file
a written report of his findings with the President, who shall cause
an action to abate such nuisance to be commenced in the name of the
Village.
In addition to any other penalty imposed by this chapter for
the erection, contrivance, creation, continuance or maintenance of
a public nuisance, the cost of abating a public nuisance by the Village
shall be collected as a debt from the owner, occupant or person causing,
permitting or maintaining the nuisance, and if notice to abate the
nuisance has been given to the owner, such cost shall be assessed
against the real estate as other special taxes.
[Amended 9-11-1986]
A.
BLIGHTING INFLUENCE
DEBRIS
JUNK
NONCOMBUSTIBLE MATERIAL
REFUSE
RUBBISH
Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following words
and phrases shall have the meanings assigned to them in this subsection.
Words and phrases not herein otherwise defined shall have the meanings
accepted by common use.
A condition having an adverse effect on surrounding properties.
Broken concrete, bricks, blocks or other mineral matter;
bottles, porcelain and other glass or crockery, boxes; lumber (new
or used), posts, sticks, or other wood; paper, rags, cardboard, excelsior,
rubber, plastic, wire, tin and metal items; discarded household goods
or appliances, junk lawn mowers, tar paper, residues from burning
or any similar materials which constitute health, fire or safety hazards
or a serious blighting influence upon their neighborhood or the Village
of Footville in general.
Any old or scrap metal, metal alloy, synthetic or organic
material or waste, or any junked, ruined, dismantled or wrecked motor
vehicle or machinery, or any part thereof, whether salvageable or
not. An unlicensed motor vehicle shall be construed to be a junked
motor vehicle.
Material that cannot be burned.
Debris as heretofore defined.
Combustible and noncombustible waste materials, except garbage,
and the term shall include the residue from the burning of wood, coal,
coke and other combustible materials, paper, rags, cartons, boxes,
wood, excelsior, rubber, leather, tin cans, metals, mineral matter,
glass crockery and dust, and other similar materials.
B.
Exterior area requirements. No person shall allow or permit the exterior
areas of his property to remain in a condition that is not in accord
with the following provisions of this section:
All exterior areas of any premises shall be kept in a clean
and sanitary condition, free from any accumulation of combustible
or noncombustible material, debris, junk and refuse or any similar
material which could or may cause fire, safety or health hazards or
a serious blighting influence upon surrounding properties.
C.
Powers and duties of Building Inspector. The Building Inspector shall
enforce the provisions of this section and is hereby authorized and
directed to make inspections in response to a complaint that an alleged
violation of this section exists; or when he has good reason to believe
that a violation is being committed.
[Added 7-1-2010 by Ord.
No. 07-01-10]
A.
Mowing of lawns required. In order to preserve the overall appearance
of privately owned property in the Village, and the value thereof,
and to reduce the spread of weeds and associated hazards to health,
the owner, occupant and person in charge of each and every residence,
building or other structure or unoccupied lot in the Village of Footville
fronting on or abutting any street shall be required to keep any lawn
thereon mowed so that the grass or other vegetation shall not exceed
a length of six inches above grade. For purposes of enforcement of
this section, the owner, occupant and person in charge of the property
specified above shall be jointly and separately responsible for compliance
therewith and a separate offense shall be deemed committed for each
day during which a violation occurs or continues.
B.
Notice of violation. In the event a violation of this section is
reported to or identified by the Village Clerk, the Clerk may send
a notice of the violation, by first class mail, addressed to the property
on which the violation has occurred. If the owner of the property
is other than the occupant thereof, the Village Clerk shall send a
separate and additional notice of the violation, by first-class mail,
to the owner, provided that the owner has, prior to the violation,
notified the Village Clerk of the owner's address and made a
specific request to receive such an additional notice.
C.
Assessment of mowing cost. In the event that within five days of
the date of such notice, such lawn is not mowed so as to comply with
the requirements of this section, and irrespective of whether a citation
is issued in regard to any such violation, the Village may cause the
lawn to be mowed and may assess the cost of such mowing as a special
charge for current services rendered against the property involved
in accordance with § 66.0627, Wis. Stats.
D.
Calculation of cost. The amount to be charged for such mowing shall
be calculated based upon a cost per hour for the time required for
Village employees to perform the mowing, including travel time, which
cost per hour shall incorporate the cost of any fuel, supplies and
equipment required to perform the mowing, subject to a minimum charge,
all to be established by the Village Board from time to time and to
be kept on file and available for public inspection in the office
of the Village Clerk. Notice of the special charge shall be provided
by the posting of this section and by means of a statement for the
amount of the special charge to be issued by the Village Clerk to
the person or entity required to pay the charge.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. III)]
Violations of this chapter shall be subject to the penalties provided in § 1-4, Penalties.
