[Adopted 6-3-1969 as Ch. 42 of the 1969 Code of the Town of Huntington; amended in its entirety 10-15-2002 by L.L. No. 49-2002]
[Amended 4-25-2006 by L.L. No. 12-2006]
It is the intention of the Town Board to protect the health and safety of the community by requiring the owners and occupants of lands fronting public streets, sidewalks, roadways and highways to refrain from littering and requiring them to maintain sidewalks and curbing adjacent to their properties in a safe condition for the protection of pedestrians. In order to accomplish this goal, the Town Board is exercising its authority under § 10(1)(ii)(a)(6) and (12) and § 10(1)(ii)(d)(3) of the Municipal Home Rule Law, § 130(15) of the Town Law and any other applicable provision of law now or hereinafter enacted, to supersede and/or expand upon the applicable provisions of § 130(4) of the Town Law, § 151 of the Highway Law, and any other applicable or successor law, in order to transfer liability for damage or injury to person or property as a result of the failure to repair and maintain sidewalks, and to remove snow, ice and obstructions or defects therefrom in the zoning districts and areas designated in § 173-16 to the abutting owners and occupants of land.
For the purpose of this article, the following words shall have the meanings indicated:
SIDEWALK
The area between the edge of a roadway or highway pavement and the lot line of the abutting property, including but not limited to the curb, utility, brick, tree, dirt or landscape areas.
[Amended 4-25-2006 by L.L. No. 12-2006; 6-15-2021 by L.L. No. 30-2021]
The owner, lessee, tenant and occupant of lands fronting or abutting on any streets, highway, roadway, public lane, alley or square in any zoning district, shall maintain and repair the sidewalk adjoining his lands and shall keep such sidewalk free and clear of snow, ice, filth, dirt, weeds and all other obstructions. Such owner, lessee, tenant and occupant of residential properties shall remove snow and ice within twenty-four (24) hours and within twelve (12) hours for commercial properties after snow has ceased to fall or after the deposit of any dirt, object or other material upon such sidewalks. The period between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. shall not be included in computing such requirements. Such owner, lessee, tenant or occupant, and each of them, shall be liable for any injury or damage to person or property by reason of the omission, failure or neglect to repair or maintain such sidewalk in a safe condition or to remove snow, ice or other obstructions and/or defects therefrom.
No person owning or occupying a place of business shall sweep into or deposit, or cause the deposit, in any gutter, sidewalk, street, roadway, highway or other public place within the town the accumulation of litter from any building or lot or from any public or private sidewalk or driveway. Persons owning or occupying places of business within the town shall keep the sidewalks adjacent to their properties and parking areas on their business premises free of litter, and shall sweep clean the sidewalks on and in front of their premises on Mondays through Fridays.
Whenever such owner and occupant, and each of them, shall omit to maintain and repair the sidewalk adjoining his land and to keep the same clear of and from snow, ice and all other obstructions and/or defects, the Town Board of the Town of Huntington may cause such act to be done and the direct and indirect costs of repairing, removing and/or remedying the condition shall be made a lien against the property and collected in the same manner as real property taxes. Written notice of such costs shall be mailed to the owner of the property by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested and by regular mail to the last address shown on the most current assessment role on file in the Office of the Town Assessor. Said owner shall have ten (10) days from receipt of such written notice to pay the full amount of such costs. In the event the owner fails, refuses and/or neglects to pay the monies due and owing to the town within said ten-day period the Town of Huntington Tax Receiver shall cause the costs to be charged against such lands. The amount so charged shall forthwith become a lien against such lands and shall be added to and become part of the taxes next to be assessed and levied upon such lands, the same to bear interest at the same rate as taxes, and shall be collected and enforced by the same officers and in the same manner as taxes.
[Amended 11-6-2019 by L.L. No. 56-2019; 6-15-2021 by L.L. No. 30-2021]
[1]
(A) 
A violation of § 173-16 of this article by any person or entity is an offense which, upon conviction, is punishable by a fine as follows:
(1) 
For a first offense, not less than one hundred dollars ($100.) nor more than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.) for properties with up to one hundred (100) linear feet of sidewalk frontage, and not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.) for properties with more than one hundred (100) linear feet of sidewalk frontage.
(2) 
For a second or subsequent offense committed within five years of the first offense, not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.) for properties with up to one hundred (100) linear feet of sidewalk frontage, and not less than five hundred dollars ($500.) nor more than one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.) for properties with more than one hundred (100) linear feet of sidewalk frontage.
(B) 
A violation of § 173-17 of this article by any person or entity is an offense which, upon conviction, is punishable by a fine of not less than two hundred fifty ($250) dollars and not more than one thousand ($1,000) dollars.
(C) 
Each day or part thereof any violation of this article continues after notification by the town or service of an appearance ticket, summons or notice of violation returnable before the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication shall be deemed a separate offense punishable in like manner. Any person or entity found by the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication to have violated § 173-16 or § 173-17 of this article shall likewise be subject to a monetary penalty within the range of fines authorized herein for such offense or continuing offense.
(D) 
The town attorney may also bring an action or proceeding in the name of the town in a court of competent jurisdiction, to enjoin the violation and/or to recover the costs incurred by the town for cleaning up or otherwise remedying the conditions brought about by the violation of this article.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Art. V, Notification of Defects, adopted 5-10-1977 by L.L. No. 2-1977, as amended, which immediately followed this section, was repealed 10-15-2002 by L.L. No. 49-2002. See now Ch. 174, Liability of Town, Art. I, Written Notice of Defects.