[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).
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.
[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.