For the purpose of this chapter, certain terms and words used
herein shall be defined as follows:
The Town's cost of labor, equipment and supplies for,
or the contract price of and any charges to the Town with respect
to, its removal and disposal of weeds or trash from a parcel.
Conditions created by the strict imposition of an ordinance
onto a specific property with exceptional or extraordinary characteristics
or limitations, thereby rendering undue oppression or near impossibility
to the property owner or occupant with regard to compliance.
Any person shown by any public record maintained by any circuit
court, treasurer, commissioner of revenue, or Town Clerk to have an
interest in a parcel lying in the Town of Abingdon, Virginia as of
the date of the abatement of public nuisance under this article or
any successor in title taking with actual or constructive notice of
the existence of a public nuisance.
Any real estate (and any interest therein) lying in the Town
of Abingdon, Virginia, identified by a Town of Abingdon or Washington
County Official Tax Map Number herein including, but not limited to,
yards, grounds, driveways, entrance or passageways, parking areas,
storage areas, vacant land, body of water and including sidewalks,
grass strips, one-half of alleys, curbs or rights-of-way up the edge
of pavement of any public street.
The state of facts requiring governmental action for the
establishment and maintenance of public health, safety, order and
convenience.
The Town Manager of the Town of Abingdon or his designee.
Abandoned personal property, garbage, refuse, or debris openly
lying on any parcel, which might endanger the health of other residents
in the Town.
Any plant grass, or other vegetation over 10 inches in height
growing upon a parcel in the Town of Abingdon, including but not limited
to, any sage brush, poison oak, poison ivy, Ailanthus Altissima (commonly
called Tree of Heaven or Paradise Tree), ragweed, dandelions, milkweed,
Canada thistle, and any other undesirable growth, excluding trees,
ornamental shrubbery, vegetable and flower gardens purposefully planted
and maintained by the property owner or occupant free of weeds, cultivated
crops, or undisturbed woodland not otherwise in violation.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance superseded former Art.
II, which pertained to similar subject matter and derived from Ord.
of 7-7-2005.
[Ord. of 7-7-2005; Ord. of 9-3-2013]
Weeds growing or trash lying on any parcel shall constitute
a public nuisance, except that in the case of a parcel greater than
one acre in area natural vegetation growing more than 50 feet from
every property line shall not constitute a public nuisance. It shall
be unlawful to cause or allow a public nuisance with any respect to
a parcel. The owner of any parcel shall abate any public nuisance
with respect to his parcel.
[Ord. of 7-7-2005; Ord. of 9-3-2013]
It shall be unlawful and a public nuisance for the owner of
any parcel to allow weeds, as defined herein, to grow or trash to
stand upon such parcel. It shall be the duty of the owner of any parcel
to immediately cut, remove or destroy any and all weeds and to remove
trash on his parcel. Any owner who shall violate any provision of
this section shall be deemed guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor and each
day that such weeds shall remain uncut or such trash is allowed to
stand after the period within which they are required hereunder to
be cut or removed shall be deemed to constitute a separate offense
under this section.
[Ord. of 7-7-2005; Ord. of 9-3-2013]
(a)
Notwithstanding the criminal sanctions provided for elsewhere in
this Code, and in addition to them, whenever the Town Manager determines
that a public nuisance exists with respect to any parcel, the Town
Manager shall mail by United States postal service certified mail
to the owner of the parcel at the owner's address, as determined
by public records, written notice that there exists a public nuisance
with respect to the parcel and demand the abatement of the nuisance
within 14 days following the mailing of the notice. Such notice, when
so addressed and deposited with the postal service with proper postage
prepaid, shall be deemed complete and sufficient. In the event that
such notice is returned by the postal authorities or if the owner's
address is unknown, the Town Manager shall cause a copy of the notice
to be posted in a conspicuous place on the parcel. The posting shall
be accomplished at least seven days prior to abatement of the public
nuisance with respect to that parcel.
(b)
The notice shall:
(1)
Be in writing;
(2)
Set forth the alleged violation of this article;
(3)
Describe the parcel of real property where the violations are
alleged to exist or to have been committed;
(4)
Advise that if the weeds or trash are not removed within prescribed
time, and that if the weeds and trash do not remain abated or removed,
the Town will proceed to abate the nuisance with the costs thereof
together with an administrative fee and interest authorized by this
article being specially assessed against the owner and the parcel;
(5)
Advise that the cost of abatement together with the administrative
fee and interest constitutes a lien against the property in favor
of the Town; and
(6)
Advise that within 14 days of the certified mailing of the notice
or posting, whichever is applicable, the owner may appeal to the Town
Manager stating in detail the reasons why the proposed action should
not be taken.
(c)
In the event the owner appeals the proposed abatement as provided
for above, the Town Manager shall set a hearing and notify the owner
of time and location of a hearing to be held within five says from
the date of the Town Manager's receipt of the appeal. At any
hearing, the Town Manager shall hear and investigate any objection
that may be raised and take action in response as he may deem reasonable.
(d)
Any notice sent by the Town Manager to any owner of a parcel which,
because of weeds or trash, has been declared a public nuisance under
this article and which notice otherwise complies with the requirements
of this section, shall constitute complete and sufficient notice for
any similar condition during the same period of April 1 until November
1 in the year which the notice was sent.
[Ord. of 7-7-2005; Ord. of 9-3-2013]
(a)
If the owner shall fail or neglect to complete abatement of the public
nuisance as required within 14 days of mailing of notice or of posting,
whichever is applicable, or if the owner fails to continue to comply
with the requirements of this section, the Town Manager may direct
in writing that Town forces abate or complete the abatement of such
a public nuisance, or the Town Manager may contract for his abatement
on behalf of the Town with a private contractor.
(b)
Any owner may abate the public nuisance himself without liability
to the Town provided he completes the abatement prior to commencement
of the abatement by Town personnel or any private contractor on behalf
of the Town.
[Ord. of 7-7-2005; Ord. of 9-3-2013]
The Town Manager shall keep an account of the cost of abating
public nuisances and embody such account in periodic reports with
assessment lists which shall be transmitted to the Town Manager and
the manager of billings and collections at convenient intervals. The
copy retained by the Town Clerk shall be available for public inspection.
The reports shall refer to each parcel as to which public nuisance
was abated by description sufficient to identify the parcel, and specify
the cost of abatement including but not limited to a minimum of two
hours labor as well as other reasonable charges for equipment; and
interest at the legal rate established at that time by the Code of
Virginia, 1950, as amended, should the said abatement costs not be
paid within 30 days of the date they are billed by the Town's
billing clerk to the owner.
[Ord. of 7-7-2005; Ord. of 9-3-2013]
(a)
Upon completion of the reports and assessment lists, the Town Manager
shall send by certified mail to each owner at his address as determined
from public records a notice including a statement to the owner of
the abatement cost and administrative fees. The notice shall also
advise the owner of his right to object to, be heard upon, and contest
the amount of the abatement costs. The notice shall further provide
that upon confirmation by the Town Manager of the abatement cost and
administrative fee, they shall constitute special assessments against
the owner and the parcel, a personal obligation of the owner, and
a lien upon the owner's parcel from the date and time of the
recordation of the notice of the lien, and from the date of such confirmation,
until paid, bear interest at the legal rate, and that any fees, charges
or costs for the collection for abatement of a nuisance thereof shall
be collected in any manner provided by the Code of Virginia for the
collection of state and local taxes.
(b)
The owner shall have 14 days from the date of receipt of the notice
of assessment to appeal the amount of the assessment to the Town Manager.
The Town Manager shall set a hearing and notify the owner of the time
and location of the hearing for the purpose of hearing the owner's
objections to and comments upon the report and proposed assessment,
of correcting any mistakes or inaccuracies in these documents and
of confirming the same. If the owner does not appeal the assessment
as stated in the notice, the assessment shall be deemed confirmed.
(c)
With respect to all assessments remaining unpaid 14 days after the
confirmation, the Town Manager shall cause a notice of the lien of
the special assessment prepared by the Town Attorney to be recorded
in the clerk's office of the Circuit Court of Washington County,
Virginia. The Town Attorney may take appropriate steps in the appropriate
court to enforce the lien to satisfy the special assessment.
(d)
The Town Manager, when in his/her sole discretion it is just and
proper to do so, may waive liens or adjust compliance provisions imposed
pursuant to this section whenever doing so will:
(1)
Facilitate the sale of the property and encourage its productive
refuse. Such liens may be waived only as to a purchaser who is unrelated
by blood or marriage to the owner and who has no business association
with the owner. All such liens shall remain a personal obligation
of the owner of the property at the time the liens were imposed.
