City of Gunter, TX HEALTH AND SANITATION NUISANCES

The following are specifically declared to constitute public nuisances and are prohibited within the municipal limits and within the extraterritorial jurisdiction:

(1)

Bakeries, restaurants, food markets, and other places where food is prepared, kept for sale, or served and not kept in a clean, sanitary condition, or in which persons who do not have valid health certificates or who have any communicable disease are employed, or in connection with which suitable sanitary toilet facilities are not provided, or in which there is evidence of insects, flies, rats, mice, or vermin and with food which is accessible to their contamination.

(2)

Spoiled or diseased meats or other foods, whether stored or offered for sale or being transported for purpose of sale.

(3)

Barns, stables, hog pens, chicken yards, cow lots, manure piles, or any accumulations of organic materials of whatever kind, so maintained as to be breeding places of insects, flies, or mosquitoes or convenient harborage for rats and mice.

(4)

The discharge or exposure of sewage, human excreta, wastewater, garbage, or other organic filth into or on any place in such a manner that transmission of disease from the infected material may result, or the placing or maintaining of such materials as tin cans or rubbish of any sort that might constitute a breeding place for mosquitoes or flies or offer a hiding place or protection for rodents.

(5)

Privies not protected against flies, or privies and cesspools the drainage from which is likely to pollute the soil, surface water, or water supply from which water for public or private consumption is obtained.

(6)

All cellars, vaults, drains, pools, privies, sewers, yards, grounds, or premises which have for any cause become foul or nauseous, or not provided with adequate means of ingress or egress, or not sufficiently supported, ventilated, sewered, drained, cleaned, or lighted.

(7)

The transportation of garbage, human excreta, or other organic waste, except in tight covered wagons or containers which prevent leakage or access to flies.

(8)

Stagnant water on private or public premises likely to afford breeding places for mosquitoes.

(9)

Hide houses, bone boiling, or rendering establishments, tallow soap works, or other trades deleteriously affecting public health.

(10)

All carcasses, all decaying flesh, fish, fowls, fruit, or vegetables, all deposits of manure, all flesh of any kind or description whatever, all filthy or offensive water or slops in any private yard or premises, and all other unwholesome substances when thrown upon or conducted into or upon any street, alley, public ground, or enclosure in such manner as to render such substances unwholesome and offensive or liable to become unwholesome or offensive.

(11)

The act of sweeping or depositing any trash, paper, or rubbish into any street, alley, public thoroughfare, or other public place while driving, walking, or by any other means.

(12)

The act of burning any substance of any kind which may cause or produce an offensive smell, smoke, or odor capable of annoying persons living in the vicinity or persons passing along the streets, alleys, or public thoroughfares.

(13)

The act by any person of permitting or allowing any weeds, filth, or rubbish of any kind to remain on any sidewalk in front of or at the side of any premises owned by such person or in the street to the middle thereof, in front or at the side of any premises owned or controlled by such person, or upon any alley that may be at the rear or side of any lots owned or controlled by such person.

(14)

The act of scattering or distributing any advertisements, circulars, handbills, printed or written announcements, or paper of like character, or any medicines, upon the streets, sidewalks, or alleys or within the public buildings or grounds within the municipality.

(15)

The act of conducting or causing to be conducted into any alley or gutter, drain, or public ground, except such articles as are permitted by ordinance, in such manner as to obstruct such passageway.

(16)

Buildings, barns, sheds, filling stations, construction camps, junk shops, camp houses, or any part thereof which are in such a dilapidated or filthy condition as to harbor vermin or endanger the life or health of persons living in the vicinity or the public generally.

(17)

Displaying of food in the open air, unless in proper cases constructed so as to protect such food from insects, flies, dust, filth, dogs, rodents, and insects.

(18)

Every trade, business, or occupation injurious to the health or comfort of persons who reside in the vicinity, and any can or receptacle containing water or slops suffered to become stagnant or offensive or unwholesome from any cause.

(19)

The act of conducting any business or enterprise upon any premises or within any building which through negligence allows paper, paper cups, or any other debris to escape from such premises or building and litter any sidewalk, alley, street, or other public place or private property.

(20)

Allowing weeds, grass, or other uncultivated plants to attain a height greater than 12 inches on any lot or tract or within 150 feet of any property line which abuts street rights-of-way, alleys, or utility easements, within the municipality. It shall be the responsibility of the person owning, claiming, occupying or having supervision or control of any real property to keep the area from the line of his property to the curbline adjacent to it, if there is a curbline, and, if not, then to the centerline of the adjacent street, or to the edge of the pavement, cleared of the weeds, grass, or other uncultivated plants. Notwithstanding this subsection (20), uses permitted by section 27.11 of exhibit A to article 14.02, chapter 14 of this code (“zoning ordinance”) shall not constitute a nuisance to the extent that the following requirements are met:

(A)

The property shall be at least 10 acres in total area, and may incorporate multiple adjacent tracts to meet the minimum area required; and

(B)

The allowed uses that grow greater than 12 inches shall not occur within 15 feet from any portion of the property line.

(Ordinance 031208-6, sec. 1 (93.051), adopted 1/12/04; Ordinance 2014-01-27-01 adopted 1/27/14; Ordinance 2014-10-27-01, sec. 2, adopted 10/27/14)

(a)

The municipality shall provide notice to any person allowing conditions prohibited in sections 6.03.002 and 6.03.003 of the alleged violation. Such notice may be in writing served upon such owner in person by an officer or employee of the municipality or may be by letter, by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to such owner at his or her postal address. If personal service is not feasible and the owner's address not known, notice may be given by publishing a brief summary of the order two times within ten consecutive days in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. The notice shall describe the prohibited conditions and specify a period of not less than ten days from the date of receipt or publication of the notice in which the prohibited conditions are to be abated.

(b)

If the conditions have not been abated by the date specified in the notice, the municipality may abate the conditions and may pay therefor and charge the expenses incurred in doing such work or having such work done or improvements made to the owner of such lot or real estate. If such work is done or improvements made at the expense of the municipality, such expense shall be assessed on the real estate or lot or lots upon which such expense was incurred.

(c)

The doing of such work by the municipality shall not relieve the owner or occupant of the lot or premises from prosecution for failure to comply with such notice of violation cited in this section.

(Ordinance 031208-6, sec. 1 (93.053), adopted 1/12/04)