No person, firm, corporation or association
who or which is the owner of a building in the Incorporated Village
of Bellerose shall cause, suffer, allow or permit the said building
to become dangerous or unsafe to the public. In the event that any
building now is or hereafter becomes dangerous or unsafe to the public,
from any cause whatsoever, the said owner or occupant shall repair
or remove the said building. In the event of the failure of the owner
of any such building to repair or remove the same, the Building Inspector
of the Incorporated Village of Bellerose shall make a complete inspection
and report on the condition of the said building to the Board of Trustees
of said Village. Notice shall thereafter be served on the owner or
some one of the owners, executors, legal representatives, agents,
lessees or any other person having a vested or contingent interest
in the said building. The said notice shall contain a description
of the premises, a statement of the particulars in which the building
or structure is unsafe or dangerous and an order requiring the said
building or structure to be made safe and secure or removed. The said
notice shall also provide for the time within which the person served
with the said notice shall commence and complete the securing or removal
of the building or structure. In the event of the neglect or refusal
of the person so served with the said notice to comply with same,
a survey of the premises shall be made by an inspector and architect
to be named by the Board of Trustees of said Village and a particular
builder, engineer or architect appointed by the person notified as
above, and, in the event of the refusal or neglect of the person so
notified to appoint such surveyor, the two surveyors named shall make
the survey and report. The notice shall further provide that in the
event that the building or other structure shall be reported dangerous
or unsafe under such survey, an application will be made at a Special
Term of the Supreme Court, Nassau County, for an order determining
the building or other structure to be a public nuisance and directing
that it shall be repaired and secured or taken down and removed.
A signed copy of the report of surveys shall
be posted on the building, and the surveyors appointed by the Board
of Trustees shall be compensated by the Village.
All costs and expenses incurred by the Village
in connection with any and all of the above proceedings to remove
or secure, including the cost of actually removing the said building
or structure or securing the same, shall be assessed against the land
on which the building or structure is located.
If such owner or person served by mail as hereinbefore
provided shall fail to pay the costs and expenses incurred by the
Village, within 10 days after being notified of the costs thereof
by registered mail, the Village Clerk shall file, immediately preceding
the time for making the annual assessment roll, a certificate of such
actual cost and expense with a statement as to the property upon which
such cost and expense were incurred and the buildings or other obstructions
removed, as the case may be, with the Assessor of the Village, who
shall, in the preparation of the next assessment roll of general Village
taxes, assess such amount upon such property, and the same shall be
levied, collected and enforced in the same manner, by the same proceedings,
at the same time, under the same penalties and having the same lien
upon the property assessed as the general Village tax and as a part
thereof.
In cases of great emergency, where the delay
of proceedings, as hereinbefore provided, would result in probable
loss of life or property, the Mayor shall have the power to direct
the Building Inspector to proceed at once to take such action as is
needed to guard the safety of persons and property.