[1]
Editor's Note: For statutory provisions on private nuisance actions, see Chapter 7.48 RCW; for provisions on public nuisances, see Chapter 9.66 RCW.
The city council of the city finds that unkempt, unsafe, unsanitary and otherwise improperly maintained properties within the city limits of West Richland pose hazards to the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens, and also adversely affect the value, utility and habitability of property within the city as a whole, and cause substantial damage to nearby property, and adversely affect the economic well-being of the city. This chapter is an exercise of the city's police powers and conveys to the city administration all proper powers to abate nuisances as they are described herein or are found to exist, and to charge the cost of their abatement to those responsible, and the owners and occupants of this property upon which the nuisance exists, and to those properties themselves. This chapter is to be liberally construed to effect that purpose.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)
A. 
Person Defined.
For the purposes of this chapter, the word "person," wherever used in this chapter, means and includes natural persons of either sex, firms, co-partnerships and corporations, and all associations of natural persons, whether acting by themselves or by a servant or employee.
B. 
Housing Unit Defined.
"Housing unit" means a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of rooms or a single room that is occupied as separate living quarters, in which the occupants live and eat or a single room that is occupied as separate living quarters, in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building, and which have direct access from the outside of the building through a common hall.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013; Ord. 3-16 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)
A "nuisance" consists of doing 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:
A. 
Annoys, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others; or
B. 
Offends public decency; or
C. 
Is offensive to the senses; or
D. 
Unlawfully interferes with, obstructs or tends to obstruct or renders dangerous for passage any stream, public park, parkway, square, street, highway, sidewalk or other public area in the city; or
E. 
In any way renders other persons insecure in life or the use of property; or
F. 
Obstructs the free use of property so as to essentially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property; or
G. 
Is certified to be a nuisance vehicle by meeting at least three of the following requirements:
1. 
Is three years old or older;
2. 
Is extensively damaged, such damage including but not limited to any of the following: a broken window or windshield, or missing wheels, tires, motor, or transmission;
3. 
Is apparently inoperable;
4. 
Has an approximate fair market value equal only to the approximate value of the scrap in it;
5. 
No license plates and/or expired vehicle registration.
H. 
"Marijuana nuisance" means the production or processing of marijuana or marijuana-infused products, or the storage or growing of marijuana plants where any portion of such activity can be readily seen by normal unaided vision or readily smelled from a public place or the private property of another "housing unit" as defined in WRMC 8.16.010.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 3-00 § 1, 2000; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013; Ord. 3-16 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)
The following specific acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are declared to be debris and public nuisances:
The erecting, maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remain in or upon any public or private yard, lot, building, structure or premises, or in or upon any sidewalk, street, avenue, alley, park, parkway or other public or private place in the city, and/or any one or more of the following disordered, disturbing, unsanitary, fly- and/or mosquito-producing, rat-harboring, disease-causing, fire hazard places, conditions or things, specifically:
A. 
Trees, plants, grasses, weeds, shrubs, bushes or vegetation or part thereof:
1. 
Which overhang any sidewalk, alley or street; or
2. 
Which are growing in such a manner as to obstruct or impair the free, safe or full use of a sidewalk, alley or street by the public; or
3. 
Which includes poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac, Russian Thistle, Canadian Thistle, Rush Skeletonweed, Dalmatian Toadflax, Diffuse Knapweed, Scotch Thistle, Yellow Starthistle, Jointed Goatgrass and Kochia, or other noxious weeds, whether alive, growing or otherwise, provided nothing herein shall prevent the temporary retention of such weeds in approved, covered receptacles; or
4. 
Which is growing or which has died and which has become a fire hazard, or which is potentially injurious or detrimental to the public health or safety or welfare, or where such vegetation reaches a height in excess of six inches within an area of 100 feet of any existing building; provided, however, that vegetation on a single parcel of property of two and four-tenths acres or more is not a public nuisance if the parcel is surrounded by a 20-foot fire break where the parcel adjoins developed property (five feet where it adjoins an improved public right-of-way) or where the vegetation is on an unimproved public right-of-way.
B. 
Debris.
1. 
Any putrid, unsound or unwholesome bones, meat, hides, skin or the whole or any part of any dead animal, fish or fowl, other than in receptacles or areas as designated in Chapter 8.04 WRMC;
2. 
Filthy, littered or trash-covered cellars, house yards, barnyards, stable yards, factory yards, vacant areas in rear of stores, vacant lots, houses, buildings, alleyways or premises; or placing, dropping, disposing, throwing away or otherwise discarding litter, garbage, refuse, cans, bottles, paper or paper material, metal, organic or inorganic material upon property other than in receptacles or areas as designated in Chapter 8.04 WRMC;
3. 
Liquid household waste, human excreta, garbage, butcher's trimmings and offal, parts of fish or any waste vegetable or animal matter in any quantity; provided, nothing herein contained shall prevent the temporary retention of waste in receptacles in the manner approved by the health officer of the city, nor the dumping of nonputrifying waste in a place and manner approved by the health officer;
4. 
Tin cans, bottles, glass, ashes, small pieces of scrap iron, wire, metal articles, bric-a-brac, broken stone or cement, broken crockery, broken glass, broken plaster, automobile bodies and/or parts and all such trash or abandoned material, unless the same be kept in covered bins, or galvanized iron receptacles;
5. 
Trash, litter, rags, accumulations of empty barrels, boxes, cans, crates, packing cases, mattresses, bedding, excelsior, packing hay, straw or other packing material, and lumber, scrap iron, tin and other metal not neatly piled;
6. 
Hazardous, abandoned, or discarded appliances and furniture, parts thereof, cardboard, paper, accumulation of old wood, tires, litter, combustible or flammable waste and rubbish, building materials or similar articles and materials, and also includes all trash and debris other than that which has been collected to await arrival of the city's garbage collector.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 21-12 § 1, 2012; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)
The following specific acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are declared to be public nuisances:
The erecting, maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remain in or upon any public or private yard, lot, building, structure or premises, or in or upon any sidewalk, street, avenue, alley, park, parkway or other public or private place in the city, and/or any one or more of the following disordered, disturbing, unsanitary, fly- and/or mosquito-producing, rat-harboring, disease-causing, fire hazard places, conditions or things, specifically:
A. 
The keeping of rabbits, chickens, pigeons, ducks, geese, peacocks, goats, pigs, bees, mules, horses, mink, dogs, cats, ferrets, or any other animal or fowl within the city limits of the city which are such in nature to create offensive smells, noises or other conditions offensive to the public, or which are kept contrary to city zoning laws;
B. 
Pits, basins, holes, privies, vaults, cesspools, dumps or like places or excavations, which are not securely protected from flies or rats, or which are foul or malodorous, or which are unguarded and dangerous to life, or which have been abandoned, or which are no longer used for the purpose for which they were constructed or which are maintained contrary to law;
C. 
Any building, billboard, fence, excavation, or other structure, or any abandoned or partially destroyed building, fence, excavation or structure, or any building, fence, excavation or structure commenced and left unfinished which is damaged or decayed or which is sagging, leaning, falling down or is otherwise dilapidated and creates an unsafe condition;
D. 
All places used or maintained as junkyards or dumping grounds or for the wrecking or disassembling of automobiles, trucks, tractors or machinery of any kind, or for the storing or leaving of worn out, wrecked or abandoned automobiles, trucks, tractors or machinery of any kind, or of any of the parts thereof, or for the storing or leaving of any machinery or equipment used by contractors or builders or by other persons, which places are kept or maintained so as to essentially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property of others;
E. 
The act of slaughtering or butchering of any animal or fowl unless such act is performed outside the view of the general public;
F. 
Erecting, maintaining, using, placing or permitting to be used any electric fence within the city limits, except in accordance with the provisions of WRMC 17.54.045;
G. 
The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal, river or body of water, by untreated sewage, creamery or industrial waste or any other substance;
H. 
All use or display of fireworks, except in accordance with the provisions of the International Fire Code as adopted by the city;
I. 
Erecting, maintaining, using, placing, leaving or permitting to be used or remain in place within three feet of any public sidewalk, a barbed wire fence;
J. 
Storing a nuisance vehicle, or nuisance vehicles, or any part thereof, on private property unless:
1. 
The nuisance vehicle(s) or part thereof is (are) completely enclosed within a building in a lawful manner, where it is not visible from a public street or private property; or
2. 
The nuisance vehicle(s) or part thereof is (are) stored or parked within an area enclosed by a sight-obscuring barrier or fence;
K. 
Maintaining a marijuana nuisance as defined in WRMC 8.16.020, Nuisance defined.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 4-91 § 2, 1991; Ord. 3-00 § 2, 2000; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013; Ord. 3-16 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)
It is unlawful for any person to erect, contrive, cause, continue or maintain or permit to continue a nuisance as herein defined or prohibited, or to willfully omit or refuse to perform any legal duty relating to the removal of such nuisance.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)
Every agent or owner of any unoccupied building in the city shall keep the same securely closed at all times against persons who may enter and commit a nuisance therein.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)
Every successive owner of property who neglects to abate a continuing nuisance upon or in the use of such property caused by a former owner is liable therefor in the same manner as the owner who created it.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)
A. 
Every person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter, with the exception of WRMC 8.16.030 (Specific nuisances – Vegetation and debris) and 8.16.035(K) (Specific nuisances), has committed a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof may be sentenced to up to 90 days in jail and/or fined up to $1,000. Any person who violates any of the provisions of WRMC 8.16.030 or 8.16.035(K) has committed an infraction and upon conviction thereof may be fined up to the following:
First offense up to $250.00;
Second offense up to $500.00;
Third offense constitutes a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof may be sentenced to 90 days in jail and/or fined up to $1,000.
B. 
Any person not being the owner or occupant of such property, who places, or causes to be placed, rubbish or debris or other material upon any real property in the city in violation of the provisions of this chapter, with the exception of WRMC 8.16.030 (Specific nuisances – Vegetation and debris), shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof may be sentenced up to 90 days in jail and/or fined up to $1,000. Any person who violates any of the provisions of WRMC 8.16.030 has committed an infraction and upon conviction thereof may be fined up to the following:
First offense up to $250.00;
Second offense up to $500.00;
Third offense constitutes a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof may be sentenced to 90 days in jail and/or fined up to $1,000.
The placing or causing to be placed of each article of rubbish or debris or material shall constitute a separate crime under this chapter.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013; Ord. 3-16 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)
A. 
It is the duty of every owner, agent, lessee or other person occupying or having charge of or control over any property within the city to remove and eliminate those nuisances described in WRMC 8.16.030.
B. 
Whenever a nuisance exists as defined in WRMC 8.16.030, the chief of police or his designee shall cause written notice to be delivered to the owner of said property. The notice shall:
1. 
Describe the property involved;
2. 
Describe the condition which exists which must be abated;
3. 
State that the city council will consider adopting a resolution requiring the property owner, in addition to the penalties described by WRMC 8.16.080, to abate the nuisance at his cost and expense and within a time specified in the resolution, and if the abatement of the nuisance is not made by the owner within the time specified, the city may abate the same as provided in this chapter and charge the costs of abatement against the owner of the property and file a lien against the property for such costs if the owner fails to pay the same;
4. 
State the date, time and place the city council is to consider the resolution;
5. 
Be served on the owner at least five days prior to the date the city council is to consider the resolution, and serve by mailing a copy thereof by regular first class mail, postage prepaid and by certified mail, return receipt requested to the owner of record at his last known address as shown by the records in the office of the Benton County treasurer, and by posting an additional copy thereof on the bulletin board at the West Richland City Hall. As an alternative to mailing, the owner may be personally served with the notice.
C. 
The city council, after notice as provided in subsection B of this section, may initiate by resolution abatement proceedings requiring the owner to abate the nuisance. The resolution shall:
1. 
Describe the property involved;
2. 
Describe the condition which exists which must be abated;
3. 
Require the owner to abate or remove such condition and provide that if such removal or abatement of the condition is not made by the owner to the satisfaction of the chief of police or his designee on a date specified in the resolution, which shall not be less than 20 days from the date the resolution is adopted, the city will cause the removal or abatement of the nuisance and the cost of removal or abatement to the city shall become a charge against the owner of the property and a lien against the property;
4. 
Provide that in the event the removal or abatement of the nuisance condition is not made by the owner or occupant before the time specified therein, the city shall, under the direction of the chief of police, provide for and remove or abate such nuisance with the work done by city force or under contract;
5. 
Provide that the city shall maintain accurate records of all costs associated with said removal and abatement and that if city personnel and equipment are used in the abatement and removal work, the work shall be charged to the owner at a rate as set by city council in the master fee schedule for the use of city equipment and one equipment operator, and at a rate as set by city council in the master fee schedule for each city employee working without equipment;
6. 
Provide that the costs to the city for such work shall be and become a charge to the owner of the property and a lien against the property.
D. 
Notice of the lien herein authorized shall, as nearly as practical, be in substantially the same form, filed with the same officer within the same time and manner, and enforced and foreclosed on as provided for liens for labor and materials.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013; Ord. 11-14 § 2 (Att. B), 2014)
Whenever any nuisance exists as defined in this chapter, the city may in addition to procedures hereinabove set forth pursue in the superior court of Benton County a suit in equity to enjoin and abate the same in the manner provided by law.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)
Whenever any condition or use of the property causes or constitutes or reasonably appears to cause or constitute an imminent or immediate danger to the health or safety of the public or a significant portion thereof, the enforcement officer shall have the authority to summarily and without notice abate the same. The expenses of such abatement shall become a civil debt against the owner or other responsible person and shall be collected as provided in WRMC 8.16.090.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)
It is the duty of the chief of police or his designee to enforce the provisions of this chapter, and it is his duty to make the proper citations for the prosecution of any person or persons violating this chapter. The chief of police is further authorized and directed to bill the property owner or occupant for the cost to the city for removal of any material as provided in this chapter.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)
The provisions of this chapter shall be cumulative and in addition to the provisions of any now existing or hereafter enacted ordinances of this city.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)
The provisions of this chapter are declared to be severable and if any section, sentence, clause, or phrase of this chapter shall for any reason be held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining sections, sentences, clauses or phrases of this chapter, and they shall remain in effect, it being a legislative intent that this chapter shall stand notwithstanding the invalidity of any part thereof.
(Ord. 12-87 § 1, 1987; Ord. 40-13 § 1 (Att. A), 2013)