[Ord. No. 2020-1, 7/20/2020]
This Part shall be referred to as the "Smith Township Disruptive Property Ordinance."
[Ord. No. 2020-1, 7/20/2020]
The Smith Township Board of Supervisors hereby finds that disruptive properties place a substantial unacceptable threat and burden on the common health, safety, and welfare of the residents of Smith Township. To this end, the Smith Township Board of Supervisors hereby authorizes and directs the Smith Township Code Enforcement Officer or his/her designee, as provided in the following sections, to charge the cost of law enforcement resulting from the authorities being called to a disruptive property to the property owner in order to deter repeated violations of state and local law, and to pursue misdemeanor charges against the owner and/or occupant of a disruptive property when disruptive activity (as defined herein) remains unabated over an unreasonably long period of time. Nothing herein is intended to deter individuals within Smith Township from requesting public safety services when they are in legitimate need of such service.
[Ord. No. 2020-1, 7/20/2020]
As used in this Part, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
DISRUPTIVE CONDUCT/ACTIVITIES
Shall include any form of conduct, action, omission, incident or behavior perpetrated, caused or permitted on a property by the owner(s), tenant(s), occupant(s), or their invitee(s) of the property which constitutes a violation of any of the following ordinances of Smith Township or statutes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:
1. 
Any public order offense relating to: soliciting business, noise control, unlicensed alcohol or liquor sale, or alcohol or liquor consumption on streets or sidewalks; or 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5501 (riot), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5502 (failure to disperse), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5503 (disorderly conduct), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5505 (public drunkenness), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5506 (loitering), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5512 (lotteries), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5513 (gambling/gambling devices), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5514 (pool selling and bookmaking), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 4304 (endangering the welfare of children), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6110.1 (possession of firearm by minor), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6301 (corruption of minors), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6308 (purchase, consumption, or possession of alcoholic beverages by minor), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6310 (inducement of minor to buy alcoholic beverages), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6310.1 (selling or furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6310.7 (selling or furnishing nonalcoholic beverages to minors), or 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6319 (solicitation of minors to traffic drugs) of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code.
2. 
Any firearms or other weapons offense under the Smith Township Code of Ordinances or the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6101 et seq.
3. 
Any violation related to the maintenance of a property free from noxious weeds, excessively high grass, and refuse under the Smith Township Code of Ordinances.
4. 
Any public decency offenses under the Smith Township Code of Ordinances or 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5901 (open lewdness), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5902 (prostitution), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5903 (obscene and other sexual materials and performances), or 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5904 (public exhibition of insane or deformed person).
5. 
Any offense against property under the Smith Township Code of Ordinances.
6. 
Any sanitation violation of the garbage/rubbish collection ordinances of the Smith Township Code of Ordinances or 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6501 (scattering rubbish).
7. 
Any animal offense relating to animals or wildlife or 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5511 (cruelty to animals).[1]
8. 
Any violation of the Pennsylvania Controlled Substance, Drug, Device, and Cosmetic Act, 35 P.S. § 780-101 et seq.
PUBLIC OFFICER
A member of the Smith Township Police Department, a member of another police department with authority to operate within the Township (either state, county, federal or by way of intermunicipal agreement), the Township Code Enforcement Officer and/or any individual designated by the Township to enforce the provisions of the Township Code.
[1]
Editor's Note: 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5511 was repealed by P.L. 215, No. 10, 6-28-2017.
[Ord. No. 2020-1, 7/20/2020]
1. 
It shall be unlawful for any person and/or entity to engage in behavior deemed to be disruptive conduct/activities as defined herein.
2. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to own, operate, or otherwise supervise, participate in and/or to visit or frequent any property in which disruptive conduct/activities are occurring.
3. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to own, operate, or otherwise supervise, participate in and/or to visit or frequent any ill-governed or disorderly residence or place in Smith Township, such residence or place being maintained to the encouragement of idleness, gaming, drinking, or misbehavior, or to the common nuisance, or disturbance of the neighborhood or of orderly citizens.
[Ord. No. 2020-1, 7/20/2020]
1. 
A public officer shall investigate alleged incidents of disruptive conduct/activities. The public officer shall then complete a disruptive conduct report upon a finding that the reported incident constitutes disruptive conduct as defined herein.
2. 
The information filed within said report shall include, if possible, the identity of the alleged perpetrator(s) of the disruptive conduct and all other obtainable information, including the factual basis for the disruptive conduct described on the prescribed form.
3. 
A copy of the disruptive conduct incident report shall then be given or mailed to the occupant and mailed to the owner, operator, responsible agent, or manager within 10 working days of the occurrence of the alleged disruptive conduct.
4. 
The content of the disruptive conduct incident report shall count against all occupants of the non-owner-occupied dwelling unit involved in the disruptive conduct unless specifically stated otherwise.
[Ord. No. 2020-1, 7/20/2020]
1. 
Any person violating any of the provisions of this Part shall, upon conviction thereof in an action brought before a Magisterial District Judge in the manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 plus costs and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, to a term of imprisonment not to exceed 90 days. Each day that a violation of this Part continues or each section of this Part which shall be found to have been violated shall constitute a separate offense.
2. 
In addition to any fines and court costs imposed, the Township shall be entitled to provide invoices related to the costs incurred by the Township, its agents and/or designees in relation to the costs incurred in reviewing and prosecuting any violations under this Part. This shall include reasonable fees for any public officers as well as legal and administrative personnel.
3. 
After three disruptive conduct incidents during any twelve-month period or five disruptive conduct incidents within a twenty-four-month period by an occupant documented by the disruptive conduct incident reports, the owner, operator, responsible agent, or manager shall have 10 working days from the date of his/her receiving the notice of the third and/or fifth such disruptive conduct incident to begin the eviction proceedings against the occupants. Failure to take such action will result in the immediate revocation of the occupancy license. The non-owner-occupied dwelling unit involved shall not have its license reinstated until the disruptive occupants have been evicted, the Magisterial District Judge has ruled in the occupant's favor, the Magisterial District Judge has ruled in the owner's favor but has not ordered the eviction of the occupant(s), or the occupants have filed an appeal to a higher court or declared bankruptcy, thereby preventing their eviction. The disruptive occupant(s), upon eviction, shall not reoccupy any non-owner-occupied dwelling unit on the same premises involved for a period of at least 12 months from the date of eviction.
[Ord. No. 2020-1, 7/20/2020]
All non-owner-occupied dwelling units which are condemned as uninhabitable for human occupancy or dwelling units which are being renovated (and remain in compliance with all other federal, state, local and Township laws), for which a legal and current building permit has been issued, shall be exempt from the registration and licensing provisions of this Part until such time as the dwelling unit is declared habitable or the building renovations are complete, respectively.