No person shall erect, contrive, cause, continue, maintain or permit to exist any public nuisance within the City.
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Neillsville as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted as Title 9, Ch. 6, of the 1985 Code]
A thing, act, occupation, condition or use of property which shall continue for such length of time as to:
Substantially annoy, injure or endanger the comfort, health, repose or safety of the public;
In any way render the public insecure in life or the use of property;
Greatly offend the public morals or decency;
Unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct or tend to obstruct or render dangerous for passage any street, alley, highway, navigable body of water or other public way or the use of public property.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby specifically declared to be public health nuisances, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other health nuisances coming within the definition of § 313-2:
A.
Adulterated food. All decayed, harmfully adulterated or unwholesome food or drink sold or offered for sale to the public.
B.
Unburied carcasses. Carcasses of animals, birds or fowl not intended for human consumption or foods which are not buried or otherwise disposed of in a sanitary manner within 24 hours after death.
C.
Breeding places for vermin, etc. Accumulations of decayed animal or vegetable matter, trash, rubbish, rotting lumber, bedding, packing material, scrap metal or any material whatsoever in which flies, mosquitoes, disease-carrying insects, rats or other vermin may breed.
D.
Stagnant water. All stagnant water in which mosquitoes, flies or other insects can multiply.
E.
Privy vaults and garbage cans. Privy vaults and garbage cans which are not fly-tight.
F.
Noxious weeds. All noxious weeds and other rank growth of vegetation. All weeds and grass shall be kept cut to a height of not to exceed one foot, except residential lawn grass must not exceed eight inches in height.
G.
Water pollution. The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal or other body of water by sewage, creamery or industrial wastes or other substances.
H.
Noxious odors, etc. Any use of property, substances or things within the City emitting or causing any foul, offensive, noisome, nauseous, noxious or disagreeable odors, gases, effluvia or stenches extremely repulsive to the physical senses of ordinary persons which annoy, discomfort, injure or inconvenience the health of any appreciable number of persons within the City.
I.
Street pollution. Any use of property which shall cause any nauseous or unwholesome liquid or substance to flow into or upon any street, gutter, alley, sidewalk or public place within the City.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby specifically declared to be public nuisances offending public morals and decency, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances offending public morals and decency coming within the definition of § 313-2:
A.
Disorderly houses. All disorderly houses, bawdy houses, houses of ill fame, gambling houses and buildings or structures kept or resorted to for the purpose of prostitution, promiscuous sexual intercourse or gambling.
B.
Gambling devices. All gambling devices and slot machines.
C.
Unlicensed sale of liquor and beer. All places where intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverages are sold, possessed, stored, brewed, bottled, manufactured or rectified without a permit or license as provided for by the ordinances of the City.
D.
Continuous violation of City ordinances. Any place or premises within the City where City ordinances or state laws relating to public health, safety, peace, morals or welfare are openly, continuously, repeatedly and intentionally violated.
E.
Illegal drinking. Any place or premises resorted to for the purpose of drinking intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverages in violation of the laws of the State of Wisconsin or ordinances of the City.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby declared to be public nuisances affecting peace and safety, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances affecting public peace or safety coming within the definition of § 313-2:
A.
Signs, billboards, etc. All signs and billboards, awnings and other similar structures over or near streets, sidewalks, public grounds or places frequented by the public, so situated or constructed as to endanger the public safety.
B.
Illegal buildings. All buildings erected, repaired or altered in violation of the provisions of the ordinances of the City relating to materials and manner of construction of buildings and structures within the City.
C.
Unauthorized traffic signs. All unauthorized signs, signals, markings or devices placed or maintained upon or in view of any public highway or railway crossing which purport to be or may be mistaken as an official traffic control device, railroad sign or signal or which because of its color, location, brilliance or manner of operation interferes with the effectiveness of any such device, sign or signal.
D.
Obstruction of intersections. All trees, hedges, billboards or other obstructions which prevent persons driving vehicles on public streets, alleys or highways from obtaining a clear view of traffic when approaching an intersection or pedestrian crosswalk.
E.
Tree limbs. All limbs of trees which project over any public sidewalk, street or other public place and present a safety hazard.
F.
Dangerous trees. All trees which are a menace to public safety or are the cause of substantial annoyance to the general public.
G.
Fireworks. All use or display of fireworks except as provided by the laws of the State of Wisconsin and ordinances of the City.
H.
Dilapidated buildings. All buildings or structures so old, dilapidated or out of repair as to be dangerous, unsafe, unsanitary or otherwise unfit for human use.
I.
Wires over streets. All wires over streets, alleys, or public grounds which are strung less than 15 feet above the surface thereof.
J.
Noisy animals or fowl. The keeping or harboring of any animal or fowl which by frequent or habitual howling, yelping, barking, crowing or making of other noises shall greatly annoy or disturb a neighborhood or any considerable number of persons within the City.
K.
Obstructions of streets; excavations. All obstructions of streets, alleys, sidewalks or crosswalks and all excavations in or under the same, except as permitted by the ordinances of the City or which, although made in accordance with such ordinances, are kept or maintained for an unreasonable or illegal length of time after the purpose thereof has been accomplished, or do not conform to the permit.
A.
Enforcement. The Chief of Police, the Chief of the Fire Department, the Building Inspector and Health Officer shall enforce those provisions of this article that come within the jurisdiction of their offices, and they shall make periodic inspections and inspections upon complaint to insure that such provisions are not violated. No action shall be taken under this section to abate a public nuisance unless the officer shall have inspected or caused to be inspected the premises where the nuisance is alleged to exist and has satisfied himself/herself that a nuisance does in fact exist.
B.
Summary abatement. If the inspecting officer shall determine that a public nuisance exists within the City and that there is great and immediate danger to the public health, safety, peace, morals or decency, the Mayor may direct the proper officer to cause the same to be abated and charge the cost thereof to the owner, occupant or person causing, permitting or maintaining the nuisance, as the case may be.
C.
Abatement after notice. If the inspecting officer shall determine that a public nuisance exists on private premises but that the nature of such nuisance is not such as to threaten great and immediate danger to the public health, safety, peace, morals or decency, he/she shall serve notice on the person causing or maintaining the nuisance to remove the same within 10 days. If such nuisance is not removed within such 10 days, the proper officer shall cause the nuisance to be removed as provided in Subsection B.
D.
Other methods not excluded. Nothing in this article shall be construed as prohibiting the abatement of public nuisances by the City or its officials in accordance with the laws of the State of Wisconsin.
In addition to any other penalty imposed by this article for the erection, contrivance, creation, continuance or maintenance of a public nuisance, the cost of abating a public nuisance by the City shall be collected as a debt from the owner, occupant or person causing, permitting or maintaining the nuisance, and if notice to abate the nuisance has been given to the owner, such cost shall be assessed against the real estate as a special charge.
[Added 6-25-2024 by Ord. No. 1079]
A.
Findings.
(1)
The Neillsville Common Council finds that certain premises, and their owners, within the City require and receive a disproportionate amount of Police, Fire, and City Public Works Department services, place an undue and inappropriate burden on City taxpayers, and constitute public nuisances. Nuisance activity contributes to the general decay of an affected neighborhood and negatively impacts law-abiding residents in these neighborhoods, as well as the economic values of all properties in the vicinity of this activity. Often this disproportionate devotion of City resources is due to a property owner's own actions or failure of the property owner to accept and exercise sufficient responsibility for and over the actions of occupants, guests, agents, or employees that reside in or frequent the premises. This section is enacted to encourage property owners to recognize their responsibility to ensure that activities occurring on their premises as well as their own behavior conform to the law and do not unduly burden the City's Police, Fire, and Public Works Department and to provide a mechanism for the City to take action against property owners who chronically, routinely, actively, consistently, or often fail to ensure their premises and their own behavior do not require a disproportionate devotion of City resources. Another purpose of this section is to discourage the making of illegitimate and/or unnecessary reports, complaints, and/or concerns that are outside the scope and authority of the City, thus taking up valuable time and resources. This section is not intended to discourage crime victims or a person in need, or a reasonable and legitimate belief of need, of emergency services from requesting them.
(2)
Notwithstanding other provisions of the City of Neillsville Municipal Code in regard to public nuisance prohibitions, penalties and enforcement, this section establishes additional enforcement authority for the City of Neillsville as it relates to "chronic nuisance premises" as defined herein.
B.
No property owner shall maintain a chronic nuisance premises. "Chronic nuisance premises" means a premises that meets any of the following criteria:
(1)
Is a premises which has nuisance activity occurring on the premises three times on separate days during a six-month period and resulting in enforcement action;
(2)
Is a premises that has generated complaints to the Police, Fire, and/or City Public Works Department as a result of a nuisance activity or has resulted in a City enforcement action three or more times within a six-month period; or
C. CHRONIC NUISANCE LANDLORD ENFORCEMENT ACTION FIRE CHIEF NUISANCE ACTIVITY NUISANCE ACTIVITY(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) OWNER PREMISES POLICE CHIEF PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
Definitions. The following terms shall be defined as follows in this section.
Any owner of a residential unit(s) available for lease or rent within the City that has had three premises or 10% of their available premises for lease or rent, whichever is less, designated as a chronic nuisance premises within a twelve-month period, shall be deemed a chronic nuisance landlord and shall be subject to the additional provisions of Subsection E and the abatement provisions of Subsection F.
Arrest, the issuance of a citation, the issuance of a summons and complaint, the issuance of a written warning, or notice of violation from the Police, Fire, and/or City Public Works Department.
The Chief of Fire or his/her designee.
Does not include legitimate activities, behaviors or conduct that result in a call for assistance made by the owner or occupant requesting law enforcement services including, but not limited to any of the following:
Means any of the following activities, behaviors, or conduct occurring on or from a premises:
An act of harassment, as defined in Wis. Stats., § 947.013.
Disorderly conduct, as defined in Wis. Stats., § 947.01.
Battery, substantial battery, or aggravated battery, as defined in Wis. Stats., § 940.19.
Lewd and lascivious behavior, as defined in Wis. Stats., § 944.20.
Prostitution, as defined in Wis. Stats., § 944.30.
Theft, as defined in Wis. Stats., § 943.20.
Receiving stolen property, as defined in Wis. Stats., § 943.34.
Arson, as defined in Wis. Stats., § 943.02.
Possession, manufacture, or delivery of controlled substance or related offenses, as defined in Wis. Stats., Ch. 961.
Gambling, as defined in Wis. Stats., § 945.02.
Weapons violations, as defined in Chapter 325, State Statutes Adopted, of the Neillsville Municipal Code.
Noise violations, as defined in Chapter 308, Noise, of the Neillsville Municipal Code.
Illegitimate and/or unnecessary reports, complaints, concerns that are outside the scope and authority of the City.
Possession or consumption of alcohol by underage person as defined in Wis. Stats., § 125.07(4)(b).
The owner of the premises and his/her agent.
An individual dwelling unit or an individual business premises and associated common areas.
The Chief of Police or his/her designee.
The Public Works Director of the City Public Works Department or his/her designee.
D.
Notice and designation of chronic nuisance premises. Whenever the Police Chief, Fire Chief, or Public Works Director finds a premises meets the definition of a chronic nuisance premises, such official shall notify the owner of the premises in writing that the premises is declared a chronic nuisance premises. In reaching this determination, the police shall not count nuisance activities that were reported by the owner of the premises. The notice shall contain the street address or legal description sufficient to identify the premises, a description of the nuisance activities that have occurred at or were initiated from the premises, a statement indicating that the cost of future enforcement may be assessed as a special charge against the premises, and a notice as to the appeal rights of the owner. The notice shall be delivered by personal service on the owner, agent of the owner, occupant or other person causing, maintaining or permitting the nuisance at such person(s) last-known address. If this attempt is unsuccessful or impractical, the officer shall post a copy of the notice in a conspicuous place in or about the building where the nuisance exists and send notice by first class mail to the last-known address of the owner or agent of the owner.
E.
Notice and designation of chronic nuisance landlord. Whenever the Police Chief, Fire Chief, or Public Works Director finds an owner meets the definition of a chronic nuisance landlord, such official shall notify the owner in writing that the owner is declared a chronic nuisance landlord. The notice shall contain the street addresses or legal descriptions sufficient to identify the premises forming the basis for the designation, and the other notice requirements set forth in Subsection D. The notice shall further provide a statement that the owner shall, within 10 days of receipt of the notice, provide the Police Chief, Fire Chief, or Public Works Director in writing, a course of action that will be taken to abate the nuisance activities. The owner shall also be notified that failure to abate the activities shall result in the owner's designation of chronic nuisance landlord being posted on the City's website.
F.
Chronic nuisance landlord abatement. If the owner of residential units available for lease or rent responds to the notice in Subsection E within 10 days of the receipt of notice or posting and mailing of the notice with a nuisance abatement proposal for all units designated as chronic nuisance premises, the Police Chief, Fire Chief, or Public Works Director or his/her designee may accept, reject, or work with the owner to modify the proposal in his/her discretion and upon approval of the plan, remove the designation of chronic nuisance premises. The designated chronic nuisance landlord's nuisance abatement proposal shall include steps that shall be undertaken to mitigate chronic nuisances, which may include, but are not limited to, landlord tenant screening, tenant education, tenant eviction procedures, and other preventative practices to improve the residential unit(s). The Police Chief, Fire Chief, or Public Works Director shall provide written notice to the chronic nuisance landlord of the acceptance or rejection of the nuisance abatement proposal. If the owner causes the number of chronic nuisance premises to be reduced below the chronic nuisance landlord threshold of three units or more than 10% of the units available for lease or rent, whichever, is less, the City shall remove the designation of chronic nuisance landlord.
G.
Additional nuisance activity. Whenever the Police Chief, Fire Chief, or Public Works Director determines that additional nuisance activity has occurred at a premises for which notice has been issued pursuant to Subsections D or E of this section, that this nuisance activity has occurred not less than 15 days after notice has been issued nor more than 180 days after the last enforcement action, and that reasonable efforts have not been made to abate the nuisance activity, the Police Chief, Fire Chief, or Public Works Director may calculate the cost of police or other staff response and enforcement for this and any subsequent nuisance activities and cause such charges and administrative costs to be assessed and collected as a special charge.
H.
Appeal. The owner of any premises determined to be a chronic nuisance premises or designated to be a chronic nuisance landlord under this section by the Police Chief, Fire Chief, or Public Works Director pursuant to Subsections D or E may appeal the determination, or the rejection of the owner's abatement plan submitted under Subsection F, to the Common Council within 30 days of the date of notice issued pursuant to Subsections D, E or F by providing written notice to the City Clerk. The Common Council shall set a hearing on such appeal and provide written notice of the hearing to the owner. The Common Council shall hear any and all evidence it deems relevant and shall affirm or reverse the determination of the Police Chief, Fire Chief, or Public Works Director. Wis. Stats., Ch. 68 shall not apply to such an appeal or hearing.
I.
Citation(s). Citations may be issued by the City of Neillsville Police Department for each enforcement action for nuisance activity occurring after the premises has been declared a chronic nuisance premises. A citation shall be not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 for each enforcement action. Upon default of payment, the premises' owner may be imprisoned in the county jail for a period of not more than 90 days.
[Adopted as Secs. 6-1-7 and 6-1-8 of the 1985 Code]
A.
The City Clerk-Treasurer shall annually on or before May 15 publish as required by state law a notice that every person is required by law to destroy all noxious weeds on lands in the City of Neillsville which he/she owns, occupies or controls.
B.
If the owner or occupant shall neglect to destroy any weeds as required by such notice, then the Weed Commissioner of the City of Neillsville shall give five days' written notice by mail to the owner or occupant of any lands upon which the weeds shall be growing to the effect that the said Weed Commissioner after the expiration of the five-day period will proceed to destroy or cause to be destroyed all such weeds growing upon said lands and that the cost thereof will be assessed as a tax upon the lands upon which such weeds are located under the provisions of § 66.0407, Wis. Stats. In case the owner or occupant shall further neglect to comply with such five-day notice, then the Weed Commissioner shall destroy such weeds or cause them to be destroyed in the manner deemed to be the most economical method, and the expense thereof, including the cost of billing and other necessary administrative expenses, shall be charged against such lots and be collected as a special tax thereon.
[Amended 1-12-1993 by Ord. No. 908; 7-25-1995 by Ord. No. 930; 5-22-2012 by Ord. No. 1035]
A.
Purpose. This section is adopted due to the unique nature of the problems associated with lawns, grasses and weeds being allowed to grow to excessive length in the City of Neillsville.
B.
Public nuisance declared. The Common Council finds that lawns on residential lots or parcels of land which exceed eight inches in length adversely affect the public health and safety of the public in that they tend to emit pollen and other discomforting bits of plants, constitute a fire hazard and a safety hazard in that debris can be hidden in the grass, interferes with the public convenience and adversely affects property values of other land within the City. For that reason, any lawn on a residential lot or other parcel of land which exceeds eight inches in length is hereby declared to be a public nuisance.
C.
Nuisances prohibited. No person, firm or corporation shall permit any public nuisance as defined in Subsection B above to remain on any premises owned or controlled by him/her within the City of Neillsville.
D.
Inspection. The Weed Commissioner or his/her designee shall inspect or cause to be inspected all premises and places within the City to determine whether any public nuisance as defined in Subsection B above exists.
E.
Abatement of nuisance. If the inspecting officer shall determine with reasonable certainty that any public nuisance as defined in Subsection B above exists, he/she shall immediately notify the owner and/or occupant of the land that if the situation is not corrected within five days the City will do the work and charge the same at the rate adopted by the Common Council. Notice under this section shall be by regular mail to the owner and/or occupant at the address on file at the City Clerk's office as well as posting on the property.
F.
Assessment of costs of abatement. The entire cost of abating any public nuisance as defined in Subsection B above shall be chargeable to and assessed against the parcel or lot affected. The cost or rate assessed for the abatement shall be in an amount to be set from time to time by the Common Council.