For the purposes of this article, the following definitions
shall apply:
A motor vehicle that is inoperable, and is more than five years
old and left unattended on public property for a period of more than
48 hours;
A motor vehicle that has remained illegally on public property
for a period of more than 48 hours;
A motor vehicle that has remained on private property without
the consent of the owner or person in control of the property for
more than 48 hours; or
A motor vehicle left unattended on a right-of-way of a designated
county, state or federal highway within this state for more than 48
hours or for more than 24 hours on a turnpike project constructed
and maintained by the state turnpike authority.
A passenger car or truck that is at least 25 years old.
The owner of one or more antique or special interest vehicles
who collects, purchases, acquires, trades or disposes of special interest
or antique vehicles or parts of them for personal use in order to
restore, preserve, and maintain an antique or special interest vehicle
for historic interests.
For self-propelled vehicles designed to be operated upon the
public streets and for which a valid state motor vehicle inspection
certificate is required to legally do so, dismantled or partially
dismantled means dismantled to the degree that said vehicle is not
capable of passing a state motor vehicle inspection;
For self-propelled vehicles not subject to state motor vehicle
inspection, including off-road vehicles designed and intended to be
operated in places other than on public streets, including but not
limited to race cars, dirt track vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, and
golf carts, dismantled or partially dismantled means dismantled to
the degree that said vehicle is not usable for the vehicle’s
designed and intended purpose.
A vehicle that cannot be started, driven, operated, steered,
or stopped under its own power or without causing damage to the vehicle.
Any vehicle that is self-propelled and:
Every vehicle which is self-propelled.
Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind.
A motor vehicle of any age that has not been altered or modified
from original manufacturer specifications and, because of its historic
interest, is being preserved by a hobbyist.
Every mechanical device, in, upon or by which any person
or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway,
including motor vehicles, commercial motor vehicles, truck trailers,
and semitrailers, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively
upon stationary rails or tracks.
For self-propelled vehicles designed to be operated upon the
public streets and for which valid state motor vehicle inspection
certificate is required to legally do so, wrecked means not capable
of passing a state motor vehicle inspection due to damage that is
consistent with a motor vehicle accident, incomplete repair, salvage
or restoration including, but not limited to, a missing or broken
engine, transmission, windshield, window, tire, wheel or major mechanical
component.
For self-propelled vehicles not subject to state motor vehicle
inspection, including self-propelled off-road vehicles designed and
intended to be operated in places other than on public streets, including
but not limited to race cars, dirt track vehicles, all-terrain vehicles,
and golf carts, wrecked means not usable for the vehicle’s designed
and intended purpose.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10; Ordinance 557-2012 adopted 11/15/12)
(a)
Custody.
The police department may take into custody
an abandoned motor vehicle found on public or private property.
(b)
Violation.
It shall be unlawful for any person to cause
a vehicle to become an abandoned vehicle.
(c)
Procedures.
If an abandoned vehicle is taken into custody,
the police department shall follow the procedures set forth in chapter
683, subchapter B, Abandoned Motor Vehicles: Seizure and Auction,
Texas Transportation Code.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
A junked vehicle including a part of a junked vehicle that is
located in a place where it is visible at any time of the year from
a public place or public right-of-way is detrimental to the safety
and welfare of the general public, tends to reduce the value of private
property, invites vandalism, creates fire hazards, constitutes an
attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of
minors, and is detrimental to the economic welfare of the city by
producing urban blight adverse to the maintenance and continuing development
of the city, and is a public nuisance.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
Any person who shall fail to abide by the provisions of this
article or who shall prevent the entry upon his property for the purpose
of removing junked vehicles or abating the nuisances set forth in
such codes and ordinances, or who shall permit his property to be
used for junked vehicles, or who shall refuse to abate the public
nuisances declared herein, or who shall prevent the entry upon his
property for the purposes stated herein by the parties authorized
with the enforcement of this article, shall be in violation of this
division and, after due hearing in the municipal court, shall be fined
not less than $50.00 and not more than $200.00 for each violation.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
The provisions of this article shall not apply to:
(1)
A
vehicle or vehicle part that is completely enclosed within a building
in a lawful manner where it is not visible from the street or other
public or private property;
(2)
A
vehicle or vehicle part that is stored or parked in a lawful manner
on private property in connection with the business of a licensed
vehicle dealer or junkyard, if the vehicle or vehicle part and outdoor
storage area are maintained in a manner so that they do not constitute
a health hazard and are screened from ordinary public view by means
of a fence, rapidly growing trees, shrubbery or other appropriate
means; or
(3)
An
unlicensed, operable or inoperable antique or special interest vehicle
stored on private property, if the vehicle or vehicle part and outdoor
storage area are maintained in a manner so that they do not constitute
a health hazard and are screened from ordinary public view by means
of a fence, rapidly growing trees, shrubbery or other appropriate
means.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
(a)
Enforcement without notice.
Notwithstanding the notice requirements contained in section 8.05.007 for abatement of nuisance, whenever a junked vehicle is found to exist within the city in violation of section 8.05.004 of this code, the city may, without notice, pursue the filing of an immediate criminal complaint against the owner of the vehicle or the person responsible for the violation.
(b)
Enforcement with notice.
If the city notifies the occupant of private property or public property or a premises adjacent to the public right-of-way in the city to remove a junked vehicle from the property as provided in section 8.05.007, and if the owner or occupant fails to either remove the vehicle or request a hearing with the required ten-day period, the city may pursue the filing of a criminal complaint against the owner or occupant in the city municipal court for violation of section 8.05.004 of this code.
(c)
Authority of municipal court.
Whenever a person is convicted in the city municipal court of maintaining a junked vehicle constituting a public nuisance in violation of section 8.05.004 of this code, the court shall, in connection with its guilty finding, if notice provisions contained in section 8.05.007 have been complied with, enter an order directing the guilty party to abate the public nuisance which was the subject of the criminal complaint. Such order shall require the abatement of the public nuisance within a specified period of time, not to exceed sixty (60) days, and shall further provide that, if abatement is not accomplished within such time period, the city is authorized and directed to abate the nuisance and assess the reasonable costs of abatement against the guilty party. Any order so entered shall take effect immediately upon conviction becoming final, and is in addition to any fine assessed.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
(a)
Persons to notify.
Prior to any official action being
taken to abate or remove a junked vehicle constituting a public nuisance,
from private property, public property, or public right-of-wayminor’s
residence or abutting the residence of, not less than ten (10) day’s
notice shall be given, except as hereinafter provided, to the following
parties:
(b)
Contents of notice.
The notice shall be either personally
delivered, mailed by certified mail with a five-day return requested,
or delivered by the United States Postal Service with signature confirmation
service. The notice shall state the following:
(1)
The nature of the public nuisance;
(2)
That it must be removed and abated within ten (10) days after the
date the notice was mailed or personally delivered;
(3)
The addressee is entitled to a public hearing before the hearing
officer, if requested, in writing prior to the expiration of the ten-day
period, and that the public hearing, if requested, must be held prior
to the removal of the vehicle or vehicle part by the city;
(4)
That the persons entitled to notice shall be entitled to speak at
the public hearing, either by making a request prior to the time of
the hearing or by making a request at the time of the hearing;
(5)
In the event that no request for hearing is received before the expiration
of the ten-day period, or the persons entitled to notice fail to attend
a requested hearing, it shall be conclusively presumed the vehicle
is a junked vehicle as defined under state law and this article; and
(6)
That failure to abate the nuisance, failure to request a public hearing,
or failure to attend a public hearing that has been requested constitutes
a waiver by the owner and lienholders of all right, title and interest
in the vehicle and their consent to disposal of the junked vehicle
under the terms of the Texas Transportation Code concerning the disposal
of junked vehicles.
(c)
Returned notice.
If any notice is returned undelivered
by the United States Post Office, official action to abate the nuisance
shall be continued to a date not less than eleven days after the date
of the return of the notice. If the post office address of the last
known registered owner of the motor vehicle is unknown, notice to
the last known registered owner may be placed on the motor vehicle,
or, if the last known registered owner is physically located, notice
may be hand delivered. If a notice is returned unclaimed or refused,
the validity of the notice is not affected and the notice is considered
delivered.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
(a)
Hearing officer.
The municipal judge shall be the hearing
officer for purposes of this article, although the city council shall
have the right to appoint an alternate hearing officer to conduct
hearings under the provisions of this article. A public hearing may
be requested. A request for a public hearing shall be in writing and
shall be addressed to the court clerk of the municipal court of the
city. If a hearing is requested, the court clerk shall notify the
owner or occupant of a date and a time when the owner or occupant
may appear before the hearing officer for a hearing to determine whether
a vehicle is a junked vehicle.
(b)
Testimony.
At the public hearing, the hearing officer
shall hear and consider all relevant evidence, objections or protests
and shall receive testimony from owners, witnesses, city personnel,
and interested persons relative to the alleged public nuisance. The
hearing may be continued from time to time.
(c)
Presumption.
At the hearing the junked motor vehicle
is presumed, unless demonstrated otherwise by the owner, to be inoperable.
(d)
Determination.
Following a requested public hearing, the hearing officer shall consider all evidence and determine whether the vehicle, or any part thereof, constitutes a public nuisance as alleged. If the hearing officer finds that a public nuisance does exist and that there is sufficient cause to abate the nuisance, and that the notice requirements provided in section 8.05.007 have been met, the hearing officer shall make a written order setting forth the findings and ordering that the nuisance be removed and that the vehicle be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of chapter 683, subchapter E of the Texas Transportation Code. The order shall include a description of the vehicle, a correct vehicle identification number and a license plate number, if such information is available at the site of the vehicle, and state that the vehicle shall be disposed of in accordance with chapter 683 of the Texas Transportation Code. In the event that no request for hearing is received before the expiration of the ten-day period, or the persons entitled to notice fail to attend a requested hearing, it shall be conclusively presumed the vehicle is a junked vehicle as defined under state law and this article and the hearing officer shall sign an order to remove and dispose of the vehicle.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
(a)
Removal.
In the event the hearing officer orders the
abatement of the nuisance, the city or any authorized person may abate
such public nuisance by removal and disposal of the junked vehicle.
(b)
Reconstruction of vehicle.
After any junked vehicle
has been removed under authority of this article, it shall not be
reconstructed or made operable again.
(c)
Disposal.
Any junked vehicle taken into custody by the
city or any authorized person pursuant to this article, shall be disposed
of in accordance with the applicable provisions of section 683.078,
Texas Transportation Code.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
Not later than the fifth (5th) day after the date of removal
of a junked vehicle pursuant to this article, notice must be given
to the state department of transportation. The notice must identify
the vehicle.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
(a)
Employees.
This article shall be administered by regularly
salaried, full-time employees of the city as designated by the city
council, except that the removal of a vehicle from property may be
performed by any authorized person.
(b)
Entry onto property.
A person authorized by the city
to administer the procedures of this article may enter private property
for the purposes specified in this article to examine a vehicle, obtain
information as to the identity of the vehicle, and remove or cause
the removal of a vehicle that constitutes a nuisance. The city municipal
court may issue orders necessary to enforce the procedures of this
article.
(c)
Relocation of junked vehicle.
After the city has sent notices in accordance with section 8.05.007, the relocation of a junked vehicle, that is a public nuisance, to another location in the city, has no effect on the proceeding if the junked vehicle constitutes a public nuisance at the new location.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
This article does not affect any ordinance or law authorizing
the immediate removal as an obstruction to traffic of a vehicle left
on public property.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
Any person, firm or corporation who violates, disobeys, omits, neglects or refuses to comply with or who resists the enforcement of any of the provisions of this article shall be fined as provided in section 1.01.009 for each offense, except as provided by section 8.05.004. Each day that a violation is permitted to exist shall constitute a separate offense.
(Ordinance 513-2010 adopted 10/21/10)
