This chapter shall be known and cited as the
"Unsafe Building Ordinance."
Either upon his own motion or upon direction
from a Town officer or upon the filing of a complaint, the Building
Inspector is directed to investigate, inspect and report in regard
to any building or buildings in the Town of Pound Ridge to determine
whether the same is or are dangerous or unsafe to the public and to
report his findings thereon to the Town Board and he is hereby designated
and appointed the official to perform such function.
If the Town Board shall find from such report
that there is ground to believe that such building or buildings is
or are dangerous or unsafe to the public, the Town Board shall direct
the Building Inspector to serve a notice on the owner of such building
or buildings, or some one of the owner's executors, legal representatives,
agents, lessees or any other person having a vested or contingent
interest in the same, either personally or by registered mail addressed
to the last known address, if any, of the owner or some one of the
owner's executors, legal representatives, agents, lessees or other
person having a vested or contingent interest in the same as shown
by the records of the Receiver of Taxes and/or in the office of the
County Clerk, Division of Land Records, and if such service be made
by registered mail, a copy of such notice is to be posted on the premises.
Said notice shall be substantially in the following form:
NOTICE TO OWNER
OF
UNSAFE BUILDING
|
To _______________, owner of, or
a person having an interest in the building or buildings, hereinafter
mentioned.
|
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Town
Board of the Town of Pound Ridge, Westchester County, New York, has
determined that the building or buildings hereinafter mentioned alleged
to be owned by you is or are in a condition unsafe and dangerous to
the public and has directed that you repair or remove the same as
hereinafter stated and take further notice,
|
1.
|
That a description of the building or buildings
to be found to be unsafe and dangerous is _____________________________
|
2.
|
That particulars in which said building or buildings
is or are unsafe and dangerous are ____________________________
|
3.
|
Pursuant to the Unsafe Building Ordinance of
the Town of Pound Ridge, you are hereby ordered and directed either
to remove said building or put the same in a good state of repair;
that you commence such removal or repair within five days after the
service of this notice; and that you thereafter diligently continue
with such removal or repair to the end that the same be completed
within _______ days after the service of this notice.
|
4.
|
In the event of your neglect or refusal to comply
with the foregoing, a survey of the premises shall be made by ________,
and ________, respectively appointed as inspector and architect of
the Town Board of the Town of Pound Ridge and by a practical builder,
engineer or architect to be appointed by you and that in the event
of your failure to appoint such person or in the event of failure
of the person appointed by you to act, the survey shall be made by
the persons first named: that the practical builder, engineer or architect
to act for you shall be designated by you within _____ days after
the receipt of this notice and you shall within such time notify the
undersigned Building Inspector of the name of the person so appointed
and he shall be expected at all times to cooperate with the inspector
and architect named by the Town Board as aforesaid.
|
5.
|
The inspector and architect named as aforesaid
and the builder, engineer and architect named by you, if named and
acting, shall, upon completion of such survey, report in writing to
the Building Inspector, and in the event that such building is reported
unsafe and dangerous by such persons or a majority of them, an application
will be made at a special term of the Supreme Court at a time and
place later to be determined in the judicial district in which the
property is located or at such adjourned date and place as may be
set by the court, for an order determining that said building is a
public nuisance and directing that it be repaired or secured or taken
down or removed as the court may determine.
|
6.
|
That all costs and expense incurred by the Town
in connection with the proceedings to remove or secure said building,
including the compensation of the survey and the cost of repair or
removal of said building or buildings, shall be assessed against the
land on which the same stands.
|
As to all of which you are given
notice this ______ day of _____, 20___.
|
|
Building Inspector
|
|
TOWN OF POUND RIDGE
WESTCHESTER COUNTY,
NEW YORK
|
In the event of the neglect or refusal of the
person served with the notice to comply with the same, a survey shall
be made of the premises by an inspector and an architect to be appointed
by the Town Board and a practical builder, engineer or architect to
be appointed by the person notified as above, and in the event of
the failure or refusal of the person so notified to appoint such a
person to act in his behalf or in the event of the failure of the
person appointed by him to act, the survey shall be made by the persons
appointed as aforesaid by the Town Board: that the practical builder,
engineer or architect to act for said person so notified shall be
designed by the person so notified within 10 days after the expiration
of the time given to complete said repairs or removal by the notice
so served on him and such person so notified shall, within such time,
notify the Building Inspector of the name of the person so designated
and such person shall at all times be expected to cooperate with the
inspector and architect named by the Town Board as aforesaid.
The survey aforesaid shall be completed and
filed with the Building Inspector by the inspector and architect named
by this Board and the party named by the person served with such notice
within 10 days of the appointment of the final member of such Board
of Survey or within 10 days of the expiration of the time to name
a party to such Board by the person so served if the person so served
fails to name such a party or the party so named fails to serve. In
the event that such building or buildings are reported unsafe or dangerous
by said Board of Survey or a majority of them, an application shall
be made by the Building Inspector on behalf of the Town to the Supreme
Court in the judicial district in which the property is located for
an order determining that said building or buildings is or are a public
nuisance and directing that it or they be repaired or secured or taken
down or removed as the court may determine.
A report of the survey on said building or buildings
signed by the persons making the report and setting forth in full
their findings with respect to the building or buildings and the compensation
of such surveyors shall be posted by the Building Inspector upon said
building or buildings within five days after the filing of such report
with the Building Inspector.
Notice of the application to the Supreme Court for an order determining that said building or buildings is or are a public nuisance shall be served upon the owner or upon such other party upon whom the first notice provided for in §
44-3 of this chapter was served, either personally or by registered mail as provided in said section and shall be so served within 15 days of the filing of the survey with the Building Inspector, and if such order is duly made, a certified copy thereof shall be served on the same party, either personally or by mall as provided in §
44-3 hereof.
All costs and expenses incurred by the Town
in connection with the proceedings to remove or secure such building
or buildings, including a reasonable compensation of the surveyors
and the cost of repairing or removal shall be assessed upon the land
upon which said building or buildings stand.