[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village
of Westville as Ch. 25, Art. I, of the 2015 Code. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
(See 65 ILCS 5/11-60-2 and 720 ILCS 5/47-5; 5/47-10 and 5/47-15.)
A.
It is hereby declared to be a nuisance and to be against the health,
peace and comfort of the Village for any person, firm or corporation
within the limits of the Village to permit the following; but the
enumeration of the following nuisances shall not be deemed to be exclusive:
(1)
Filth. To cause or suffer the carcass of any animal or any offal,
filth or noisome substance to be collected, deposited or to remain
in any place, to the prejudice of others.
(2)
Deposit of offensive materials. To throw or deposit any offal or
other offensive matter or the carcass of any dead animal in any watercourse,
lake, pond, spring, well or common sewer, street or public highway.
(3)
Corruption of water. To corrupt or render unwholesome, or impure,
the water of any spring, river, stream, pond or lake, well, public
or private, to the injury or prejudice of others.
(4)
Highway encroachment. To obstruct or encroach upon public highways,
private ways, streets, alleys, commons, landing places, and ways to
burying places.
(5)
Manufacturing gunpowder. To carry on the business of manufacturing
gunpowder, nitroglycerine, or other highly explosive substances, or
mixing or grinding the materials therefor, in any building within
300 feet of any valuable building erected at the time such business
may be commenced.
(6)
Powder magazines. To establish powder magazines near incorporated
towns, at a point different from that appointed according to law by
the corporate authorities of the town, or within 800 feet of any occupied
dwelling house.
(7)
Noxious odors. To erect, continue or use any building or other place
for the exercise of any trade, employment or manufacture, which, by
occasioning noxious exhalations, offensive smells or otherwise, is
offensive or dangerous to the health of individuals or of the public.
(8)
Unlawful advertising. To advertise wares or occupations by painting
notices of the same on or affixing them to fences or other private
property or on rocks or other natural objects without the consent
of the owner, or if in the highway or other public place, without
permission of the proper authorities.
(9)
Wells unplugged. To permit any well drilled for oil, gas, salt water
disposal or any other purpose in connection with the production of
oil and gas to remain unplugged after such well is no longer used
for the purpose for which it was drilled.
(10)
Burn-out pits. To construct or operate any salt water pit or
oil field refuse pit, commonly called a "burn-out pit," so that salt
water, brine or oil field refuse or other waste liquids may escape
therefrom in any manner except by the evaporation of such salt water
or brine or by the burning of such oil field waste or refuse.
(11)
Discarded materials. To permit concrete bases, discarded machinery
and materials to remain around any oil or gas well or to fail to fill
any holes, cellars, slush pits and other excavations made in connection
with any such well or to restore the surface of the lands surrounding
any such well to its condition before the drilling of any such well,
upon abandonment of any such oil or gas well.
(12)
Underground wells. To permit any salt water, oil, gas or other
wastes from any well drilled for oil, gas or exploratory purposes
to escape to the surface, or into a mine or coal seam, or into any
underground freshwater supply or from one underground stratum to another.
(13)
Harassment. To harass, intimidate or threaten any person who
is about to sell or lease or has sold or leased a residence or other
real property, or is about to buy or lease, or has bought or leased
a residence or other real property, when the harassment, intimidation,
or threat relates to a person's attempt to sell, buy or lease a residence,
or other real property, or refers to a person's sale, purchase or
lease of a residence or other real property.
(14)
Business. To establish, maintain, and carry on any offensive
or unwholesome business or establishment within the limits of the
Village or within 1 1/2 miles of the Village limits.
(15)
Filthy premises conditions. To keep or suffer to be kept any
chicken coop, cow barn, stable, cellar, vault, drain, privy, sewer
or sink upon any premises belonging to or occupied by any person,
or any railroad car, building, yard, grounds, and premises belonging
to or occupied by any person.
(16)
Expectorate. To expectorate on any public sidewalk or street,
or other public building or floor or walk of any public vehicle or
hall.
(17)
Litter on streets. It shall be unlawful for any person to deposit
or allow trash, paper, cardboard, wire, dirt, rock, stone, glass,
brick, lumber, wood or litter of material objects of any size or description
to fall upon the streets of the Village from any moving vehicle, or
to be thrown from a moving vehicle, or to throw from a moving vehicle
and to remain thereon.
(18)
Accumulation of junk and trash. To deposit or pile up any rags,
old rope, paper, iron, brass, copper, tin, aluminum, used lumber,
derelict truck trailers, camping trailers, or boats, appliances, construction
materials, demolition debris, ashes, garbage, refuse, plastic, brush,
litter, weeds, slush, lead, glass bottles or broken glass upon any
residential home lot, piece or parcel of land or upon any public or
private alley, street or public way within the Village.
(19)
Rodents. To cause or permit any condition or situation to exist
that shall attract, harbor, or encourage the infestation of rodents.
(20)
Bringing nuisances into the Village. To bring into the Village
or keep therein for sale or otherwise, either for food or for any
other purpose, any dead or live animal or any matter, substance, or
thing which shall be a nuisance or which shall occasion a nuisance
in the Village, or which may or shall be dangerous or detrimental
to health.
(21)
Offensive liquids. To keep nauseous, foul or putrid liquid or
substance or any liquid or substance likely to become noxious, foul,
offensive, or putrid, or permit any such liquid to be discharged,
placed, thrown, or to flow from or out of any premises into or upon
any adjacent premises or any public street or alley, or permit the
same to be done by any person connected with the premises.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
(22)
Dense or offensive smoke. To cause or permit the emission of
dense smoke from any fire, chimney, engine, oil burner or any other
agency in the Village so as to cause annoyance or discomfort to the
residents thereof.
(23)
Scrap tires, both mounted and dismounted. To keep any scrap
tires, either mounted or dismounted, in open view, or so as to allow
such tires to accumulate stagnant water so as to provide a breeding
ground for mosquitoes and other pests.
(24)
Motor transport engines. To operate motor vehicle transport
engines in the nighttime between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.,
in any place in which a majority of the buildings within a radius
of 400 feet are used exclusively for residence purposes, excluding
state and federal highways.
(25)
Accumulation of debris. To store, dump or permit the accumulation
of debris, refuse, garbage, trash, tires, buckets, cans, wheelbarrows,
garbage cans or other containers in a manner that may harbor mosquitoes,
flies, insects, rodents, nuisance birds or other animal pests that
are offensive, injurious or dangerous to the health of individuals
or the public.
(26)
Water bodies. To create a condition, through the improper maintenance
of a swimming pool or wading pool, or by causing an action that alters
the condition of a natural body of water, so that it harbors mosquitoes,
flies, or other animal pests that are offensive, injurious, or dangerous
to the health of individuals or the public.
[Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions,
Art. I)]
(27)
Generally. To commit any act which is a nuisance according to
the common law of the land or made such by statute of the state.
B.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the corporate
authorities of this Village from declaring what shall be nuisances,
and abating them within the Village limits.
No building, vehicle, structure, receptacle, yard, lot, premises,
or part thereof shall be made, used, kept, maintained or operated
in the Village if such use, keeping or maintaining shall be dangerous
or detrimental to health.
Whenever the Superintendent, Mayor or Police Chief finds that
a nuisance exists, he shall direct the Village Clerk to mail (certified)
to the party responsible for the nuisance and to the party on whose
property the nuisance exists a written notice ordering that the nuisance
be abated within a reasonable time. The notice to abate shall contain:
A.
A description of what constitutes the nuisance;
B.
The location of the nuisance;
C.
A statement of what condition or state of affairs must be achieved
in order for the nuisance to be deemed abated;
D.
The date by which abatement must be completed;
E.
The date by which a request for a hearing must be filed and a statement
of the procedure for so filing;
F.
A statement that the responsible party has a right to appeal the
abatement order to the Village Board of Trustees;
G.
A statement indicating that if the nuisance is not abated by the
date prescribed and/or if no request for hearing is made within the
time prescribed, the Village will abate the nuisance and assess the
costs against the property and/or impose a fine.
Any person ordered to abate a nuisance may have a hearing with
the Police Chief or his designated representative ordering the abatement.
A request for a hearing must be made in writing and delivered to the
Village Clerk within the time stated in the notice; otherwise, it
will be presumed that a nuisance exists and that such nuisance must
be abated as ordered. The hearing shall not be a formal trial-type
proceeding, but appropriate procedural safeguards shall be observed
to ensure fairness. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Police Chief
or his designated representative shall render his decision and the
reasons therefor in writing. If he finds that a nuisance exists, he
shall order it abated within an additional time, which must be reasonable
under the circumstances.
A.
Any party aggrieved by the decision of the Police Chief may appeal
to the Board of Trustees. Such appeal shall be taken by filing with
the Village Clerk within five days of such decision a written statement
indicating the basis for the appeal.
B.
The appeal shall be heard by the Board of Trustees at the next regular
or special meeting after such filing. The Board's findings shall be
conclusive; and if a nuisance is found to exist, it shall be ordered
abated within a time reasonable under the circumstances.
If the person ordered to abate a nuisance fails to do so, or
if the nuisance poses an emergency, the Village may perform the required
action to abate. Any Village official who is authorized to abate any
nuisance as defined in this chapter shall have authority to engage
the necessary assistance and to incur the necessary expenses therefor.
The official who abates a nuisance shall keep an accurate account
of the expenses incurred. The itemized expense shall be filed with
the Village Clerk, who shall pay such expenses on behalf of the Village.
(See 65 ILCS 6/11-60-2.)
If the person notified to abate a nuisance shall neglect or
refuse to comply with the requirements of such notice by abating such
nuisance within the time specified, such person shall be guilty of
a violation of this chapter. The Village shall not be required to
issue another notice where the condition or violation is at first
abated but later resumed and/or repeated.
