[Adopted 12-15-2021]
As used in this article the following terms shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them, unless the context clearly indicates
a different meaning:
Mechanical equipment, household furniture, containers and
similar items that may be detrimental to the well-being of a community
when they are left in public view for an extended period or are allowed
to accumulate.
All trash, garbage, refuse, litter, waste, animal and vegetable
matter, and other debris.
Any person holding title to any lot or land in the county;
a lessee, tenant and principal occupant of any land or lot in the
county, or an agent of a person holding title to such land or lot,
having care, custody, control or management of the land or lot; and
fiduciaries holding title to or having the care, custody, control
or management of land or lots in the county for others.
Grass, weeds, poison ivy, poison oak, bushes or any other
foreign vegetative growth, other than ornamental shrubbery, flowers,
garden vegetables, trees and native woodlands, and "running bamboo,"
which means any bamboo that is characterized by aggressive spreading
behavior, including species in the genus Phyllostachys.
The owners of all vacant or occupied developed or undeveloped
property within the boundaries of platted residential subdivisions
and other areas zoned for residential, business, commercial or industrial
use in the county shall cut and remove weeds from such property and
maintain such growth to 12 inches or less at all times. This section
shall not be applicable to land zoned for or in active farming operation.
It shall be unlawful for any person to store, accumulate or
dump any garbage, clutter or other waste material or substance in
such quantities or in such a manner or for such a period of time as
to constitute a nuisance or as to be potentially injurious to the
health, safety or property of the public, or to allow such storage,
accumulation or dumping on any premises, whether the person is the
owner or not. This section shall not be applicable to land zoned for
or in active farming operation.
When the county has determined from a complaint, report, inspection
or otherwise of a violation of this article, the county shall notify
the owner of the property upon which the violation exists to correct
the violation complained of within one week of the receipt of the
notice by the owner. Such notice shall be in writing, shall be given
by certified mail with return receipt required to the last known address
of the owner, and shall be complied with by such owner.
If the violation is not corrected within the required time,
the county shall, upon a determination that a condition exists that
might endanger the health of other residents of the county, cause
the removal of the garbage or cutting of weeds and the costs and expenses
incurred shall be assessed upon the owner of such property. The assessment
shall be collected by the county as taxes and levies are collected.
Every charge authorized by this article with which the owner of any
property shall have been assessed and which remains unpaid shall constitute
a lien against such property.
If the owner of any property which is the site of a violation
of this article is unknown or cannot be found, the notice referred
to above shall be dispensed with, and the county shall proceed with
correction of the violation and imposition of a lien.
In addition to the foregoing procedure, the following penalties
are set for violations of this article:
A.
Any person who violates any provision of this article and any person who fails to comply with a notice as provided in this article shall be subject to a civil penalty, not to exceed $50 for the first violation, or violations arising from the same set of operative facts. The civil penalty for subsequent violations shall not exceed $200. Each business day during which the same violation is found to have existed shall constitute a separate offense. In no event shall a series of specified violations arising from the same set of operative facts result in civil penalties that exceed a total of $3,000 in a twelve-month period. Except as provided in Subsection B, civil penalties shall be in lieu of criminal penalties.
B.
In the event three civil penalties have previously been imposed on
the same defendant for the same or similar violation, not arising
from the same set of operative facts, within a twenty-four-month period,
a subsequent violation shall be a Class 3 misdemeanor. Classifying
such subsequent violations as criminal offenses shall preclude the
imposition of civil penalties for the same violation.
State law reference(s) — Authority for
above section, Code of Virginia, § 15.2-901.
