No person shall erect, contrive, cause, continue, maintain or permit
to exist any public nuisance within the Village.
A public nuisance is a thing, act, occupation, condition or use of property
which continues for such length of time as to:
A. Substantially annoy, injure or endanger the comfort,
health, repose or safety of the public.
B. In any way render the public insecure in life or in the
use of property.
C. Greatly offend the public morals or decency.
D. Unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct
or tend to obstruct or render dangerous for passage any street, alley, highway,
navigable body of water or other public way or the use of public property.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are specifically declared to be public health nuisances, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other health nuisances coming within the definition of §
149-2:
A. Adulterated food. All decayed, adulterated or unwholesome
food or drink sold or offered for sale to the public.
B. Unburied carcasses. Carcasses of animals, birds or fowl
not intended for human consumption or food which are not buried or otherwise
disposed of in a sanitary manner within 24 hours after death.
C. Breeding places for insects or vermin. Accumulations
of decayed animal or vegetable matter, trash, rubbish, rotting lumber, bedding,
packing material, scrap metal or any material in which flies, mosquitoes,
disease-carrying insects, rats or other vermin can breed.
D. Stagnant water. All stagnant water in which mosquitoes,
flies or other insects can multiply.
E. Privy vaults and garbage cans. Privy vaults and garbage
cans which are not flytight.
F. Noxious weeds. All noxious weeds and other rank growth
of vegetation. All weeds and grass shall be kept cut to a height not to exceed
one foot. The Village may cause all weeds and grass to be cut and removed
and brush to be removed and the cost thereof charged to the property under
§ 66.0627, Wis. Stats.
G. Water pollution. The pollution of any public water supply,
stream, lake, canal or other body of water.
H. Noxious odors, etc.. Any use of property, substances
or things within the Village emitting or causing any foul, offensive, noisome,
noxious or disagreeable odors, gases, effluvia or stenches repulsive to the
physical senses of ordinary persons which annoy, discomfort, injure or inconvenience
the health of persons within the Village.
I. Street pollution. Any use of property which causes any
noxious or unwholesome liquid or substance to flow into or upon any street,
gutter, alley, sidewalk or public place within the Village.
J. Air pollution. The escape of smoke, soot, cinders, noxious
acids, fumes, gases, fly ash, industrial dust or other atmospheric pollutants
within the Village or within one mile therefrom in such quantities as to endanger
the health of persons of ordinary sensibilities or threaten or cause substantial
damage to property in the Village.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are specifically declared to be public nuisances offending public morals and decency, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances offending public morals and decency coming within the definition of §
149-2:
A. Disorderly houses. All disorderly houses, bawdy houses,
houses of ill fame, gambling houses and buildings or structures kept or resorted
to for the purpose of prostitution, promiscuous sexual intercourse or gambling.
B. Gambling devices. All gambling devices and slot machines.
C. Unlicensed sale of liquor and beer. All places where
intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverages are sold, possessed, stored,
brewed, bottled, manufactured or rectified without a permit or license as
provided for by the ordinances of the Village.
D. Continuous violation of Village ordinances. Any place
or premises within the Village where Village ordinances or state laws relating
to public health, safety, peace, morals or welfare are repeatedly and intentionally
violated.
E. Illegal drinking. Any place or premises resorted to for
the purpose of drinking intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverages in
violation of state laws.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are declared to be public nuisances affecting peace and safety, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances affecting public peace or safety coming within the definition of §
149-2:
A. Dangerous signs, billboards, etc. All signs, billboards,
awnings and other similar structures over or near streets, sidewalks, public
grounds or places frequented by the public, so situated or constructed as
to endanger the public safety.
B. Illegal buildings. All buildings erected, repaired or
altered in violation of Village ordinances relating to materials and manner
of construction of buildings and structures within the Village.
C. Unauthorized traffic signs. All unauthorized signs, signals,
markings or devices placed or maintained upon or in view of any public highway
or railway crossing which purport to be or may be mistaken as official traffic
control devices or railroad signs or signals or which, because of their color,
location, brilliance or manner of operation, interfere with the effectiveness
of any such device, sign or signal.
D. Obstruction of intersections. All trees, hedges, billboards
or other obstructions which prevent persons driving vehicles on public streets,
alleys or highways from obtaining a clear view of traffic when approaching
an intersection or pedestrian crosswalk.
E. Low-hanging tree limbs. All limbs of trees which project
over and less than 10 feet above any public sidewalk, street or other public
place.
F. Dangerous trees. All trees which are a menace to public
safety or are the cause of substantial annoyance to the general public.
G. Fireworks. All use or display of fireworks except as
provided by state laws and Village ordinances.
H. Dilapidated buildings. All buildings or structures so
old, dilapidated or out of repair as to be dangerous, unsafe, insanitary or
otherwise unfit for human use.
I. Low-hanging wires and cables. All wires and cables over
streets, alleys or public grounds which are strung less than 15 feet above
the surface thereof.
J. Noisy animals or fowl. The keeping or harboring of any
animal or fowl without taking sufficient measures to prevent noise, barking,
fighting or howling which would unreasonably disturb the peace and quiet of
the neighborhood. The testimony of two or more adult persons of different
households to the effect that the noise, barking, fighting or howling of an
animal or fowl identified by them has caused them great annoyance on repeated
frequent occasions shall be prima facie evidence that the person owning or
keeping the animal or fowl has failed to take the measures required hereby
and that the result thereof has been the unreasonable disturbance of the peace
and quiet of the neighborhood.
K. Obstructions of streets; excavations. All obstructions
of streets, alleys, sidewalks or crosswalks and all excavations in or under
the same, except as permitted by the ordinances of the Village, but including
those which, although made in accordance with such ordinances, are kept or
maintained for an unreasonable or illegal length of time after the purpose
thereof has been accomplished or which do not conform to the permit.
L. Unlawful assemblies. Any unauthorized or unlawful use
of property abutting on a public street, alley or sidewalk or of a public
street, alley or sidewalk which causes large crowds of people to gather, obstructing
traffic and free use of the streets or sidewalks.
M. Blighted buildings and premises. Premises existing within
the Village which are blighted because of faulty design or construction, failure
to maintain them in a proper state of repair, or improper management or due
to the accumulation thereon of junk or other unsightly debris, structurally
unsound fences, and other items which depreciate property values and jeopardize
or are detrimental to the health, safety, morals or welfare of the people
of the Village.
(1) The blighted premises contribute to conditions that are
dangerous to the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of the
people. The conditions necessitate excessive and disproportionate expenditure
of public funds for public health, public safety, crime prevention, fire protection
and other public services. The conditions cause a drain upon public revenue
and impair the efficient and economical exercise of governmental functions
in such areas.
(2) Elimination of blighted premises and prevention of blighted
premises in the future is in the best interest of the citizens and shall be
fostered and encouraged by this article. It is essential to the public interest
that this article be liberally construed to accomplish the purposes of this
subsection.
[Added 1-11-2000]
Residential signs that carry political, religious or personal messages
are permitted to be placed on private property, subject to the following conditions:
A. Signs shall be freestanding.
B. Signs shall not exceed six square feet in area and four
feet in height from the top of the sign to the ground.
C. One sign per candidate or issue per lot shall be permitted,
except that corner lots may have two signs per candidate or issue.
D. Signs shall have no electrical, mechanical, audio auxiliary
or other distracting features.
A person shall not plant or keep any trees commonly known as "cotton shedding poplars" on his premises and shall have the same destroyed. If trees are not destroyed by the property owner, the Village shall destroy the same and the cost thereof shall be assessed in the same manner as costs under §
149-7G are assessed.
In addition to any other penalty imposed by this article for the erection,
contrivance, creation, continuance or maintenance of a public nuisance, the
cost of abating a public nuisance by the Village shall be collected as a debt
from the owner, occupant or person causing, permitting or maintaining the
nuisance, and if notice to abate the nuisance has been given to the owner,
such cost shall be assessed against the real estate as a special charge.
Any person who shall violate any provision of this article, or any regulation, rule or order made hereunder, or permit or cause a public nuisance shall be subject to a penalty as provided in §
1-4 of this Municipal Code.