For purposes of this article:
Garbage.
All decayable waste from public and private establishments,
including but not limited to vegetable, animal and fish offal and
animal and fish carcasses. The term does not include sewage, body
waste and industrial byproducts.
Junk.
All worn-out, worthless and discarded material, including
but not limited to odds and ends, old iron or other metal, glass,
paper and cordage.
Litter.
Any quantity of uncontainerized paper, metal, plastic, glass,
or miscellaneous solid waste which may be classed as trash, debris,
rubbish, refuse, garbage or junk not placed in a solid waste container.
Private property.
Includes, but is not limited to, the following locations
owned by private individuals, firms, corporations, institutions or
organizations: yards, grounds, driveways, entranceways, passageways,
parking areas, working areas, storage areas, vacant lots, drainways
and recreation facilities.
Public property.
Includes, but is not limited to, the following exterior locations:
streets, street medians, roads, road medians, catchbasins, sidewalks,
recreation paths, strips between streets and sidewalks, lanes, alleys,
public rights-of-way, public parking lots, school grounds, municipal
vacant lots, parks, other publicly owned recreation facilities, and
municipal waterways and bodies of water.
Refuse.
Garbage, rubbish and other decayable and nondecayable waste,
including but not limited to vegetable matter and animal and fish
carcasses. The term does not include sewage from a public or private
establishment or residence. The term does include refuse, such as
boulders, rocks, trees, bushes, limbs, and grass, resulting from lot
clearing or other such activity.
Rubbish.
All nondecayable wastes, except ashes, from a public or private
establishment or residence.
(Ordinance 88-04-12-3, art. 1, adopted 4/12/88; Ordinance adopting Code)
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to
violate the provisions of this article. Any person violating any of
the provisions of this article shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor,
and each such person shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense
for each and every day or portion thereof during which any violation
of any provision of this article is committed, continued, or permitted,
and upon the conviction of any such violation, such offense shall
be punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1000.00).
(Ordinance 88-04-12-3, art. 4, adopted 4/12/88)
Designated personnel in the following two departments are authorized
to enforce sections of this article as prescribed below:
(1) Police department and code enforcement.
Police and code
enforcement officers are empowered to enforce any regulation of which
violations may be observed in the normal course of patrol duty. Officers
have authority to enforce, in their normal course of duty, violations
of the following sections:
(C) Section
10.04.005(a), transporting loose materials without adequate covering.
(D) Section
10.04.006(a), lack of containers at loading/unloading operations.
(2) City manager.
In pursuance of his normal work, the city
manager, or his representative, is authorized to enforce the following
sections:
(A) Section
10.04.007, litter control at construction/demolition projects and appropriate collection/disposal.
(B) Section
10.04.008, wherever violations of clean property regulations constitute existing or potential fire or health hazards.
(Ordinance 88-04-12-3, art. 3, adopted 4/12/88; Ordinance 94-07-12-2 adopted 7/12/94; Ordinance
2011-10-17-02 adopted 10/17/11)
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to throw, discard, place or deposit
litter in any manner or amount on any public or private property within
the corporate limits of the city, except in containers lawfully provided
therefor.
(b) In the prosecution charging a violation of subsection
(a) of this section from a motor vehicle, proof that the particular vehicle described in the complaint was the origin of the litter, together with proof that the defendant named in the complaint was at the time of such violation the registered owner of said vehicle, shall constitute in evidence a presumption that the registered owner was the person who committed the violation.
(c) It shall be the duty of every person distributing handbills, leaflets,
flyers or any other advertising and information material to take whatever
measures that may be necessary to keep such materials from littering
public or private property.
(d) To facilitate proper disposal of litter by pedestrians and motorists,
publicly patronized or used establishments shall provide, regularly
empty and maintain in good condition adequate containers that meet
standards prescribed by the city. This requirement shall be applicable,
but not limited to, fast food outlets, shopping centers, convenience
stores, supermarkets, service stations, commercial parking lots, and
public institutions.
(Ordinance 88-04-12-3, art. 2, sec.
1, adopted 4/12/88)
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, institution
or organization to transport any loose cargo by truck or other motor
vehicles within the corporate limits of the city unless said cargo
is covered and secured in such a manner as to prevent depositing of
litter on public and private property.
(b) The duty and responsibility imposed by subsection
(a) of this section shall be applicable alike to the owner of the truck or other vehicle and to the operator thereof.
(c) In the prosecution charging a violation of subsection
(a) of this section, lack of adequate covering and securing shall in itself constitute proof a violation has been committed.
(Ordinance 88-04-12-3, art. 2, sec.
2, adopted 4/12/88)
(a) Any owner or occupant of an establishment or institution at which
litter is attendant to the packing and unpacking and loading and unloading
of materials at exterior locations shall provide suitable containers
there for the disposal and storage of such litter and shall make appropriate
arrangements for the collection thereof.
(b) Further, it shall be the duty of the owner or occupant to remove
at the end of each day any litter that has not been containerized
at these locations.
(Ordinance 88-04-12-3, art. 2, sec.
3, adopted 4/12/88)
The building code, as amended, provides for proper disposition
of litter at construction/demolition projects.
(Ordinance 88-04-12-3, art. 2, sec.
4, adopted 4/12/88)
(a) It shall be the duty of the owner, agent, occupant or lessee to keep
exterior private property free of litter. This requirement applies
not only to removal of loose litter, but to materials that already
are, or become, trapped at such locations as fence and wall bases,
grassy and planted areas, borders, embankments and other lodging points.
(b) Owners, agents, occupants or lessees whose properties face on city
rights-of-way shall be responsible for keeping such rights-of-way
free of litter.
(c) It shall be unlawful to sweep or rake litter, debris, or grass clippings
into streets or other rights-of-way. Such sweepings must be picked
up and put into household or commercial solid waste containers.
(d) It shall be unlawful to maintain a nuisance on improved private property
consisting of any growth of weeds, grass, brush, or other rank vegetation,
whether such growth is dead or living, which is neglected, disregarded,
or not cut, mowed, or otherwise removed or which has attained a height
of nine (9) inches or more.
(e) It shall be unlawful to maintain or permit a nuisance on unimproved
private property consisting of brush, dead trees, or other rank vegetation.
When requested to do so by the city due to health, safety, or fire
hazards, an owner of an unimproved private property shall mow or otherwise
clean up the property to remove the hazard.
(f) It shall be the duty of every nonresident owner or lessee of a vacant lot or other vacant property to appoint a resident agent who shall have responsibility for keeping that lot or other property free of litter or the nuisance described in subsection
(d) and/or
(e) of this section.
(1) Any department of the city which receives a complaint regarding a violation of subsection
(a),
(b),
(c),
(d) or
(e) of this section on any property within the city shall forward the complaint to the city assistant secretary, where it shall receive a case number and be entered into a notice form; thereafter, a visual inspection shall be made of the property in question.
(2) If, upon inspection, it is determined that a violation of this section
exists, an authorized employee of the city shall serve or cause to
be served a written notice upon the owner or occupant of any premises
where such a violation exists and demand the abatement of such within
ten (10) days. If the owner’s or occupant’s address is
unknown or personal service may not be effected, notice may be by
publication, if such notice is published two times within a 10-day
period in a newspaper of general circulation in the city.
(3) In addition to the foregoing, the city may, by appropriate action,
seek injunctive relief, and may petition a court of competent jurisdiction
to enjoin or order the abatement of any violation of this article.
(4) If the person served with notice under this section fails or refuses
to abate same within ten (10) days’ notice in writing, the city
may proceed to abate same, keeping an account of the expense of the
abatement, and such expense shall be charged and paid by such owner
or occupant. The city may collect such expense from an occupant or
tenant as well as from the owner, but may not collect more than the
expense it incurs.
(5) The mayor of the city shall make a certified statement of the expense
incurred by, and reimbursable to, the city in abating the litter or
in mowing the growth described under this section, including the cost
of searching the property records as such search is required. Said
statement shall be sent to the property owner and/or occupant by the
city.
(6) The expenses of abating a nuisance, plus the applicable interest,
shall be a lien upon the premises pursuant to Texas Health and Safety
Code, chapter 431, as amended. Whenever a statement for such charge
remains unpaid for sixty (60) days after it has been rendered, the
city may file with the real property records of the county a statement
by the mayor of the city of the lien claim. The statement, which shall
be prima facie proof of the amount expended in any such work or improvements,
shall contain a legal description of the property, the expenses and
costs incurred and the date the nuisance was abated, and a notice
that the city claims a lien for this amount. Notice of such lien claim
shall be mailed to the owner if his address is known; however, the
failure of the owner to receive notice shall not affect the right
to foreclose the lien.
(7) For any such expenditures and interest, the city may institute a
suit and foreclose the lien.
(Ordinance 88-04-12-3, art. 2, sec.
8, adopted 4/12/88; Ordinance
98-03-16-1 adopted 3/16/98)
It shall be unlawful to dump refuse, garbage, rubbish, junk,
or any other material, including but not limited to cement or any
building material, on or near city streets, private property, parks,
parking lots, or commercial or public buildings or on an adjoining
highway and right-of-way; provided, however, that a reasonable amount
of refuse or garbage may be deposited on private property by the owner
or resident thereof for soil composting purposes, so long as such
is done in a manner that prevents the deposit from being blown by
the wind or strewn or scattered by animals.
(Ordinance 88-04-12-3, art. 2, sec.
9, adopted 4/12/88)