[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City of Rye 4-15-1987 by L.L. No. 3-1987. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter shall be to require the clear display of house or building numbers (hereinafter "house numbers") from public streets for all properties that contain a principal building within the City of Rye in order to assist the general public or the authorities in identifying any property in case of an emergency as well as for the welfare of the general public in conducting its normal affairs.
A. 
This chapter shall apply to all properties within the City of Rye that contain a principal building thereon, whether or not said building is occupied.
B. 
Such premises shall bear and display at least one set of house numbers, which shall be assigned by the City Assessor. Buildings facing two or more public roadways shall be required to display auxiliary numbers as necessary, to pass the visibility test (as hereinafter set forth) when viewed from those points in the center line of the public roadway opposite those points where regularly used pedestrian or vehicular passageways enter the public roadway.
In order to comply with this chapter, house numbers shall be Arabic in design, shall have a minimum height of two inches and shall be mounted in a secure fashion to the building's front wall or to a porch or other fixed appurtenance in front of the building in the general vicinity of the main entryway or main path of travel which leads to the main entrance from a public or private street, or otherwise separately mounted in an approved manner upon the face of a wall or upon a post in the front yard of the premises. Auxiliary numbers shall be mounted a height between four feet and 10 feet above the adjacent grade for exterior landing directly beneath but never higher than 15 feet above the adjoining grade. They shall be sufficiently legible as to contrasting background, arrangement, spacing, size and uniformity of integers so that the numbers may be read with ease during the daylight hours by a person possessing at least 20/40 vision as he views the numbers from the center line of the facing street and at an elevation of five feet above the finished surface thereof. The numbers shall be so placed that trees, shrubs or other obstructions do not block the line of the numbers from the center of the street to any appreciable degree.
Existing numbers used on premises which essentially comply with numbers officially assigned by the City Assessor, at least to the extent that each number or numbers are in logical sequence with number or numbers assigned to properties on either side which are located on the same side of the street, shall be considered as bearing the correct number or numbers for the purposes of this chapter. Existing installations which essentially meet the requirements and/or spirit of these regulations, including numbers presently on or attached to a mailbox, may be granted approval by the City Assessor without further alteration.
The absence of house numbers or the insecure fastening or absence of any integer thereof or the use of any number out of logical sequence for the street toward which it faces or the failure of a number to meet the elevation requirement or the visibility requirements shall be considered a violation of this chapter. Failure on the part of the property owner to comply with the provisions of this chapter within the period of 15 days from the date of issuance of a notice of violation shall be sufficient cause for the City Assessor or such representative as he may choose to proceed with carrying out the provisions of this chapter and assess any costs incurred to the property owner concerned, with a minimum charge of $20 for each property in violation.
The final authority for determining and assigning the number or numbers to be used upon any particular property shall be the Assessor of the City of Rye.