[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Commissioners of the Town
of Westernport 1-7-2019 by Ord.
No. 12-3-2018. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any building used to house more than one family unit, such
as an apartment house, condominium, etc.
All property which is not public property, including the
property of institutions.
Any street, Town right-of-way, or alleyway.
Includes newspapers, some "glossies," metal and cans, and/or
other items as may be deemed necessary.
All rubbish, waste matter, garbage, trash, debris, dead animals,
or other discarded material of every kind and description.
Any single-family residence intended for occupancy by one
family.
A.
The Town will not collect refuse from nonresidential properties.
Owners of nonresidential properties shall be required to arrange for
their own contractor to collect their refuse.
A.
The owner of any multifamily building shall be primarily responsible
for payment of the assessments for each occupied unit in the building.
The Town, at the request of a tenant or a landlord, will bill the
assessment to the tenant; but in the event the tenant does not pay
the assessment, it shall be the responsibility of the owner of the
property to pay the same. In the event that a tenant does not pay
a monthly assessment for two consecutive months, the Town will give
prompt notice of this fact to the landlord.
The following regulations shall apply to all refuse to be collected
by the Town under this article:
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person to place or store refuse on private
property.
B.
It shall be unlawful for any person to transport refuse from outside
the Town limits into the Town or from property to property within
the Town for the purpose of having the Town's contractor collect
it.
C.
It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly allow refuse transported
from outside the Town limits or from another Town property to be placed
with refuse generated by said person to be collected by the Town or
to place such refuse for collection by the Town.
D.
In the event that any person places or stores refuse on private property for more than one day, the Town shall have the authority to enter upon said property, to remove the refuse, and assess the full cost thereof, including all expenses associated therewith, along with any penalties as provided for in § 195-7 hereof, against the person so placing the refuse.
E.
All refuse must be bagged in accordance with § 195-4 hereof and placed on a public way as designated by the Town for pickup by the Town's contractor. It shall be unlawful for any person to place or store refuse on a public way other than that designated by the Town for pickup or to place refuse on any public way without paying the Town assessment as provided for herein.
A.
The assessments and other charges provided for herein shall constitute
a lien on the property and shall be treated as any other Town tax
or assessment, and the Town shall, in the event that said assessment
is not paid, file notice of lien against any property to which said
assessments may apply and may employ such other means as are available
to it by its general powers, ordinance or statute to collect the same.
B.
The Town shall bill the assessments and other charges provided for
herein, in the case of water customers, on the water bills; and in
the case of persons who are not water customers, the Town shall send
separate bills for said assessments.
C.
In the event that any assessment provided for under this article
is not paid 30 days after having been billed by the Town, the Town
shall charge interest on said assessment at the legal rate; and said
interest shall become part of the assessment and shall be treated
as any other Town tax or assessment.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A structure enclosed by four walls and having a roof. Buildings include, but are not limited to, residences, garages, storage buildings, business structures, or any other structure permitted in Chapter 250, Zoning.
Discarded material or refuse of any kind, except normal household
refuse placed in a proper container awaiting removal by Town trash
collectors; used lumber, construction materials, discarded or inoperable
machinery, car or vehicle parts, tires, refrigerators, bathroom fixtures,
or household accessories or appliances of any kind; furniture other
than usable lawn and garden furniture; brush; yard waste; tall grass
and weeds 12 inches high or more; anything that is broken or dismantled;
the remnants of anything which is broken or dismantled; or any parts
or pieces thereof; pieces of broken trees, bushes or shrubbery; anything
which is not intended for use out of doors and which is left out of
doors more than 24 hours unless awaiting pickup by Town trash collectors;
animal excrement; filth; and any other item determined to be debris,
trash or rubbish by the Mayor or his or her authorized representative.
Any natural person, firm, partnership, association, corporation
or organization of any kind.
A.
Debris, trash and rubbish shall be prohibited from being located
within the Town unless stored in a building, out of sight.
B.
Debris, trash and rubbish awaiting pickup by the Town or by Town
trash collectors must be placed at the edge of the Town right-of-way
not more than 24 hours before the scheduled pickup period.
C.
Nothing herein shall prohibit the storage of debris, trash and rubbish
by a properly licensed salvage yard as long as such salvage yard is
in compliance with the Allegany County Junk Abatement Code or a junk
ordinance enacted by the Town.
D.
No lot, plot or parcel of land in one ownership (hereafter "lot") or qualifying portion thereof will be held to be in violation of the prohibition against "tall grass and weeds 12 inches high or more," as set forth in the definition of "debris, trash and rubbish" under § 195-8, Definitions, when the subject property or qualifying portion of the subject property meets one of the following criteria:
(1)
Wooded or forested lot: whether or not contiguous with or adjacent
to other property of the same owner, any property or that portion
thereof which is mature forest or woodlands, substantially in its
natural state, such that concentrations of tall grass and weeds are
suppressed by the naturally occurring detritus and undergrowth; or
(2)
Vacant lot: unless contiguous with or adjacent to other property of the same owner which has been improved with a building (as defined in Chapter 250, Zoning), any property which does not qualify as an exemption under Subsection D(1) of this section, so long as the subject property or portion thereof is mowed or otherwise cleared at least once annually and the grass and weeds are not allowed to exceed 30 inches in height.
A.
Violation of any provision(s) of this article is a municipal infraction and is subject to Chapter 135, Municipal Infractions, and the fines or penalties provided in the resolution of fines for municipal infractions. The Mayor and Commissioners may change the amount of fines and penalties in the resolution of fines for municipal infractions after the changes have been duly posted in accordance with the policy of the Mayor and Commissioners of Westernport for advertising for the adoption of resolutions.
B.
Nothing contained in this article shall prohibit or prevent the Town
from seeking other legal remedies, such as injunction, criminal prosecution
or damages in a civil action pursuant to Title 6 of the Local Government
Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, as amended.
