This chapter shall be known as the "Property
Maintenance Code Residential and Nonresidential of the Borough of
Cresskill" and may be referred to in this chapter as the "Property
Maintenance Code Residential and Nonresidential" or as "this code."
[Amended 4-18-2018 by Ord. No. 18-08-1520]
A. The purposes
of this chapter are:
(1) To provide for the public health, safety and welfare.
(2) To avoid, prevent and eliminate the maintenance or
creation of hazards to the public health or safety.
(3) To avoid, prevent and eliminate conditions which,
if permitted to exist or continue, will depreciate or tend to adversely
impact adjacent or surrounding properties.
(4) To prevent the creation, continuation, extension or
aggravation of blight and public nuisance.
(5) To preserve property values in the Borough.
(6) To prevent the physical deterioration or progressive
downgrading of the quality of housing facilities in the Borough.
(7) To maintain the value and economic health of the commercial
and residential properties and businesses that serve and operate in
the Borough.
(8) To prevent and eliminate physical conditions in or
on property which constitute nuisances and thereby are dangerous or
hazardous to the life, health or safety of persons on or near the
premises which such conditions exist.
(9) To establish minimum standards governing the maintenance
and condition of land, buildings, structures and premises in the Borough
of Cresskill.
(10) To fix responsibilities and duties thereof upon owners,
lessees, operators and occupants of property.
(11) To provide for administration and enforcement.
(12) To fix penalties for the violation of this code.
B. Any requirements or regulations not specifically discussed herein shall be referred to the 2015 International Property Maintenance Code and shall be enforced by the Borough of Cresskill as an extension of Chapter
202.
For the specific purposes of this code, the
following terms, whenever used herein or referred to in this code,
shall have the respective meanings assigned to them hereunder, unless
a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
EXTERIOR OF PREMISES
Those portions of a building or structure which are exposed
to public view or are visible from adjoining or adjacent lots, including
all outside surfaces and appurtenances thereto, and the open land
space of any premises outside of any building or structure erected
thereon.
NUISANCE
A.
Any public or private condition that the Cresskill
Construction Official, Health, Fire or Police Departments find to
be a nuisance under the statues, laws and regulation of the State
of New Jersey, its governmental agencies or this chapter.
B.
Any physical condition existing in or on the
exterior of premises which is potentially dangerous, detrimental or
hazardous to the life, health or safety of persons on, near or passing
within the proximity of the premises where said condition exists.
OCCUPANT
Any person residing, living or sleeping in or on the premises
or having actual possession, use or occupancy of a dwelling premises
or any person or entity in possession of or using any premises, or
part thereof, whether or not the owner thereof and regardless of the
duration of time of such possession, use or occupancy.
OPERATOR
Any person, persons or entity, not the owner, who has charge,
care or control of a dwelling or premises, or a part thereof, with
or without the knowledge, consent or authority of the owner.
OWNER
Any person, persons or entity who shall have legal title
in any form whatsoever to any premises or part thereof, with or without
accompanying actual possession thereof, or who shall have charge,
care or control of any lot, premises, building, structure or part
thereof, as owner or agent of the owner, or as a fiduciary, trustee,
receiver, guardian, lessee or mortgagee in possession, regardless
of how such possession was obtained. Any person, group of persons
or entity who is a lessee, sublessee or assignee of a lessee of any
part or all of any building, structure or land shall be deemed to
be a co-owner with the lessor for the purposes of this chapter and
shall have responsibility over the portion of the premises so sublet,
leased or assigned.
PREMISES
A lot, plot or parcel of land, right-of-way or multiples
thereof, including the buildings or structures thereon.
REFUSE or RUBBISH
All discarded, useless, unusable, unused or worthless solid
waste matter or materials, combustible or noncombustible, including
but not limited to garbage, trash, ashes, paper, paper goods and products,
wrappings, cans, bottles, containers, yard clippings, garden waste,
debris, junk, glass, boxes, crockery, wood, mineral matter, plastic,
rubber, leather, furniture, household goods, appliances, bedding,
scrap lumber, scrap metal, construction material, inoperable machinery
or parts thereof, garden or farming implements and supplies, dead
or rotting vegetation, tires, abandoned, inoperative or unusable automobiles
and vehicles and solid commercial or industrial waste.
STRUCTURE
A combination of materials which forms a construction, such
as buildings, platforms, sheds, swimming pools, tennis courts of all
types and fences, whether above, below or at ground level.
In any case where the provisions of this code
impose a higher or stricter standard than set forth in any other ordinance
or regulation of the Borough of Cresskill or under the laws or regulations
of the State of New Jersey or any of its agencies, then the standards
as set forth herein shall prevail; but if the provisions of this code
impose a lower or lesser standard then any other regulation or ordinance
of the Borough of Cresskill or of the laws and regulations of the
State of New Jersey or any of its agencies, then the higher standard
contained in any such other ordinance, regulation or law shall prevail.
Compliance with this code shall not constitute
a defense against any violation of any other ordinance of the Borough
of Cresskill applicable to any structure or premises, nor shall any
one act of compliance constitute a defense against any subsequent
or other violation of this code.
Owners, operators and occupants shall have all
the duties, obligations and responsibilities prescribed in this code,
and no such person or entity shall be relieved of any duty, obligation
or responsibility hereunder nor be entitled to assert as a defense
against any charge made against him or them for violation of this
code the fact that another owner, operator or occupant or any other
third person or entity is also responsible therefor and in violation
hereof.
Nothing in this code shall be deemed to abolish
or impair existing remedies of the municipality or its officers or
agencies relating to the removal or demolition of any buildings or
structures which are deemed to be dangerous, unsafe or unsanitary.
The exterior of premises shall be kept free
of the following matter, materials or conditions.
A. A. Refuse and rubbish, as hereinabove defined.
[Amended 9-1-2010 by Ord.
No. 10-17-1396]
B. B. The garbage and rubbish to be collected at the
curb shall not be placed there earlier than 6:00 p.m. on the day previous
to the day established for pickup. Such receptacles shall be removed
from the curb no later than 9:00 p.m. on the day of pickup.
[Amended 9-1-2010 by Ord.
No. 10-17-1396]
C. Abandoned, uncovered or structurally unsound wells,
shafts, towers, exterior cell openings, basement hatchways, foundation
or excavations.
D. Abandoned iceboxes, refrigerators, boilers, hot-water
heaters, televisions sets and other similar major appliances.
E. Structurally unsafe or unsound buildings, structures
or fences.
F. Rodents, vermin, pest infestations or rodent harborages.
H. Stagnant surface or ground water accumulations which
create or are likely to create mosquito or other insect breeding areas.
I. Nuisances, as hereinabove defined.
J. Vehicles or parts thereof, including boats and trailers,
motorized or not, licensed or unlicensed, registered or unregistered,
which vehicles or parts thereof are or have been junked, abandoned
or dismantled or are in a state of visible disrepair.
It shall also be the duty and responsibility
of owners, occupants or operators to assure that all premises are
properly identifiable with a street number as assigned by the appropriate
official of the Borough of Cresskill, which number shall be clearly
visible from the street at all times.
The Construction Official of the Borough of
Cresskill is hereby designated as the officer charged with enforcement
of this chapter and is hereinafter referred to as "Building Inspector."
Any person or entity who or which shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter or any notice or order promulgated hereunder shall, after a summons is issued under the terms hereof, upon conviction, be punishable as provided in the general penalty provisions of the Cresskill Borough Code, Chapter
1, Article
II, §
1-15.
All terms and words used in this chapter shall
be deemed and construed to include any other number, singular or plural,
and any other gender, masculine, feminine or neuter, as the context
or sense of any paragraph or clause herein may require.