[Ord. No. 696, § 1, 11-16-1999;[1] Ord. No. 1017, 5-17-2016; Ord. No. 1185, 4-15-2025]
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
ABANDONED MOTOR VEHICLE
Any unattended motor vehicle removed or subject to removal from public or private property, whether or not operational, including damaged or disabled vehicles. Motor vehicles are anything powered by gasoline, diesel, electric or any type of fuel or propulsion.
DAMAGED OR DISABLED VEHICLE
Any vehicle which is not registered or is improperly registered with the state, or which has been inoperable for more than 48 hours or is in such a state of repair as to be inoperable. This does not include such vehicle when such vehicle is on the premises of a duly licensed automobile repair or sales business, or in a duly licensed automobile junking yard.
JUNK
Any old iron, steel, brass, copper, tin, lead or other base metals; old cordage, ropes, rags, fibers; old rubber; old bottles or other glass; bones; wastepaper and other waste or discarded material which might be prepared to be used again in some form; any or all of the foregoing; and motor vehicles, no longer used as such, to be used for scrap metal or stripping of parts; interior home furnishings, dilapidated or broken lawn furniture or fixtures, cut or fallen trees or shrubs.
OWNER
The owner, occupant, corporation, firm, lessee, mortgagee, agent, and all other persons having an interest in the building, structure, or property where the nuisance is located; or the owner as shown by the land records of the Recorder of Deeds for the appropriate county that such building, structure, or property where the nuisance is located; or if the nuisance is a junked vehicle, the owner shall also include the person(s) registered with the Missouri Department of Revenue as the owner(s), unless the City of Butler of their duly authorized owner, in which case such putative owner shall be considered the owner in addition to the registered owner.
PROPERTY
Any land owned by the City or located within the City limits, not including streets and highways.
RIGHT-OF-WAY
The entire width of land between the boundary lines of a public road or state highway, including any roadway.
ROADWAY or HIGHWAY
The entire area between the boundary lines of every publicly maintained way when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
TOWING COMPANY
Any person or entity which tows, removes or stores abandoned, damaged or disabled property.
VEHICLES
Any machines propelled by power other than human power designed to travel along the ground, in water or in the air by use of wheels, treads, runners, slides, wings or otherwise, including, but not limited to, automobiles, trucks, trailers, motorcycles, buggies, wagons, airplanes, helicopters, boats or any part thereof.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 16, which pertained to similar subject matter and derived from Ord. No. 656, adopted 9-2-1997.
[Ord. No. 696, § 1, 11-16-1999; Ord. No. 1017, 5-17-2016]
The provisions contained herein for abatement of nuisances shall not be exclusive and the City may pursue any additional remedies it may have as provided by law. Any person violating this chapter shall upon conviction be punished as provided in Section 1-7.
[Ord. No. 696, § 1, 11-16-1999; Ord. No. 1017, 5-17-2016; Ord. No. 1023, 11-1-2016; Ord. No. 1185, 4-15-2025]
(a) 
For the purposes of this chapter, the term "nuisance" is defined, when not otherwise defined, as an unlawful act, or omitting to perform a duty, or suffering or permitting any condition or thing to be or exist, which act, omission, condition, or thing either:
(1) 
Injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others; or
(2) 
Offends decency; or
(3) 
Is offensive to the senses; or
(4) 
Unlawfully interferes with, obstructs or tends to obstruct or renders dangerous for passage any public or private street, highway, sidewalk, stream, ditch or drainage; or
(5) 
In any way renders other persons insecure in life or the use of property; or
(6) 
Essentially interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property, or tends to depreciate the value of the property of others; or
(7) 
Any property which is in violation of this chapter.
(b) 
Illusive Enumeration. The maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remain on any public or private property of any of the following items, conditions or actions are hereby declared to be and constitute a nuisance; provided, however, this enumeration shall not be deemed or construed to be conclusive, limiting or restrictive:
(1) 
Weed cuttings.
(2) 
Cut and fallen trees and shrubs.
(3) 
Lumber not piled or stacked 12 inches off the ground.
(4) 
Weeds, high grass, and other vegetation growing outside or extending beyond the boundaries of any lot or property to a length greater than seven inches or encroach upon any sidewalk more than four inches. Boundaries are defined as: all real property including but not limited to ditches, and gullies that are the responsibility of property owners and/or tenants of said property that require regular mowing and maintenance.
(5) 
Accumulation of rubbish, trash, refuse, junk and other abandoned materials, metals, lumber or other things located on any property, street or highway, which represents a public safety hazard or harbors tall grass, weeds or other vegetation, or creates a fire hazard or affords a breeding place or meeting place for mosquitoes, flies, rodents, rats or other vermin, or any abandoned property, part thereof, or junk allowed to remain unmoved on any street or highway for 48 hours.
(6) 
Any condition which provides harborage for rats, mice, snakes, and other vermin.
(7) 
Any building or other structure which is in such a dilapidated condition that is unfit for human habitation, or kept in such an unsanitary condition that it is a menace to the health of people residing in the vicinity thereof, or presents a more than ordinarily dangerous fire hazard in the vicinity where it is located. For abatement and code enforcement of such, please refer to the City's Dangerous Building Code in § 16-33.
(8) 
All unnecessary or unauthorized noises and annoying vibrations, including animal noises.
(9) 
All disagreeable obnoxious odors and stenches, as well as the conditions, substances or other causes which give rise to the emission or generation of such odors and stenches.
(10) 
The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal or body of water by sewage, dead animals, creamery, industrial wastes or other substances.
(11) 
Any act done or committed, or suffered to be done or committed by any person or any substance or thing kept, maintained, placed or found in or upon any public or private place within the City which is injurious, dangerous, annoying, unsafe or offensive to the public.
(12) 
Any pursuit followed or act done or commission failed to be done by any person which is injurious, dangerous, annoying, unsafe or offensive to the public.
(13) 
Any building, bridge, structure or other place or location where any activity which is in violation of local, state, or federal law is conducted, performed, or maintained.
(14) 
Any slaughterhouse, stockyard or stable, cattle yard, hog, sheep, cow or dog pen, which is offensive, injurious, obnoxious, unsafe or annoying to the public.
(15) 
Any pond or pool of stagnant water or any foul or dirty water, or liquid discharged through any drain pipe or spout or thrown into or upon the street, alley, thoroughfare or lot which is injurious, dangerous, offensive, unhealthy or unsafe to the public.
(16) 
Any obstruction caused or permitted on any street, sidewalk, public or private alley, which is injurious, dangerous, offensive, inconvenient, unsafe or unhealthy to the public.
(17) 
Any junk, stone, rock, dirt, ashes, cinders, raw sewage, filth, excrement, sawdust, shavings or cans, brush, logs, paper, trash, rubbish, manure, refuse, water, decayed fruits or vegetables, rags, salvage material, iron or scrap metal, all animal matter, all leaves, yard waste, compost materials, or plant trimmings of any type, all dead animals or any other offensive or disagreeable substance or things thrown or deposited by anyone in or upon any street, sidewalk, street park, public square, public enclosure, property, vacant or occupied, or pond or pool of water.
(18) 
The placing or storage of any green or salted hides which cause an odor, which is injurious, dangerous, obnoxious, offensive, unhealthy or unsafe to the public.
(19) 
Any animal or vegetable matter or other substance liable to become putrid, offensive or unhealthy, which is injurious, dangerous, unhealthy, unsafe or offensive to the public.
(20) 
Any cellar, vault, private drain, pool, privy, sewer, cistern, well, sink or container which may be sufficiently tightly closed to cause suffocation or which is not covered or protected so as to prevent humans and animals from falling into the same, which is injurious, dangerous, unsafe or offensive to the public health.
(21) 
Any tenement, boardinghouse or lodging house in the City leased, let, rented or occupied by any person for dwelling which is not sufficiently lighted, ventilated, heated or provided with water, or kept in a clean and sanitary condition, which is dangerous, injurious, obnoxious, offensive or unsafe to the public.
(22) 
Any house or building or tank within the City used for the special or exclusive storage of powders or dynamite, with a glycerin, coal oil or other explosive substance, detrimental to the public health, or endangering human life, or any house, building or store, wherein small quantities of such explosives are kept, exposed or insecure, or kept in any manner so as to endanger the public.
(23) 
Any radio, television set or musical instrument or device operated in such manner or at such hours which are injurious, inconvenient, obnoxious, offensive or annoying to the public or persons living or doing business nearby.
(24) 
The maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remaining on any public or private property, of furniture, bedding, refrigerators, freezers, heating stoves, kitchen ranges, laundry and dish washing equipment, air conditioning units, or any other such appliances, articles or equipment designed for use inside a dwelling unit, if stored, placed or set upon the ground on any open porch, in any attached carport, in any free standing carport, or in any garage or shed that is without doors to conceal such articles.
(25) 
Tree limbs and branches which overhang any public sidewalk or public street of such height above the sidewalk or street as shall impede and interfere with the use of said sidewalk by any person, or impede and interfere with the use of said street by a pedestrian or the operator of any motor vehicle, or shall endanger the safety of any person using any public sidewalk, or endanger the safety of any pedestrian or occupant of any motor vehicle traveling upon any public street.
[Ord. No. 696, § 1, 11-16-1999; Ord. No. 876, § 1 (Exh. A), 11-4-2008; Ord. No. 1008, 10-20-2015; Ord. No. 1017, 5-17-2016; Ord. No. 1026, 1-3-2017; Ord. No. 1185, 4-15-2025]
(a) 
It is unlawful for any owner, lessee or occupant or any agent, representative or employee of such owner, lessee or occupant having control of any occupied lot or land or any part thereof in the City to permit, cause, keep, maintain or do any nuisance as defined in § 16.3 above or contribute to the same as defined by the provisions of this chapter or any other section of the City Code, or cause or permit to be committed, caused, kept, maintained or done or contribute to the committing, causing, keeping, or maintaining of any such nuisance within the City limits or within one-half-mile of the City limits.
(b) 
Each day that a violation of this section continues shall be deemed a separate offense.
(c) 
If the tenant of a property or the owner of an unoccupied property is found guilty or pleads guilty to the violation set forth in this section within a twelve-month period beginning with the first violation: the maximum allowable fine is $200 for the first offense, $250 for the second offense, $350 for the third offense, and $450 for the fourth and subsequent offenses.
[Ord. No. 696, § 1, 11-16-1999; Ord. No. 1017, 5-17-2016]
It shall be the duty of the City Administrator or his duly appointed representatives to investigate reports that a nuisance may exist and to carry out the procedures provided herein for the abatement of nuisances found to exist.
[Ord. No. 696, § 1, 11-16-1999; Ord. No. 1017, 5-17-2016]
The City Administrator or his duly appointed representatives may enter upon private property for inspection, investigation or for the purpose of abating any nuisance in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
[Ord. No. 1157, 12-20-2022]
Any medical marijuana facility or comprehensive marijuana facility authorized by Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution which generates marijuana smoke or odor that is capable of being detected by a person of ordinary senses (including, but not limited to, any police officer) beyond the property line of the facility is hereby declared to be a nuisance. In addition to any other remedy provided for the abatement of nuisances, the City may revoke the business license of any such facility for violation of this section after notice and the opportunity for a hearing.