This chapter shall be known as the "Ordinance Providing for the Removal
or Repair of Buildings or Structures Deemed Dangerous, Unsafe or Constituting
a Fire Hazard."
The purpose of this chapter is to promote and preserve the health, welfare
and property of the residents and owners of real property located within the
Village by providing a method for the removal or repair of buildings or structures
within the limits of the Village that, from any cause, may now be or shall
hereafter become dangerous or unsafe to the public.
The Building Inspector shall enforce the provisions of this chapter.
The Building Inspector is authorized and designated to inspect any building
or structure within the limits of the Village which he has reason to believe
is or may be, from any cause, dangerous or unsafe to the public.
The Building Inspector shall file with the Board of Trustees a report
in writing as to the condition of any building or structure inspected by him
which he believes to be, from any cause, dangerous or unsafe to the public.
Such report shall specify the date of the inspection, the condition found
which the Inspector deems to be dangerous or unsafe, his opinion as to the
cause of such condition and his recommendations with reference to the correction
of such conditions. Such report shall be filed with the Board of Trustees
not less than five days from the date of such inspection.
Subsequent to the report required by §
109-5 and if the Board of Trustees shall so order, the Village Clerk shall cause a notice to be served on the owner, 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 same as shown by the records of the Receiver of Taxes and/or in the office of the Broome County Clerk, which notice shall contain the following:
A. A description of the premises.
B. A statement of the particulars in which the building
or structure is unsafe or dangerous.
C. An order requiring same to be made safe and secure or
removed.
D. The time within which the person served with such notice
shall commence and complete the securing or removal of buildings or structures,
such time to be fixed by the Board of Trustees.
E. That the premises will be surveyed in the event of the
neglect or refusal of the person served with notice to comply with the requirements
of same, said survey to be made by an official of the Village and by a practical
builder, engineer or architect as may be designated, named and appointed by
the Board of Trustees and by a practical builder, engineer or architect to
be appointed by the person notified as above, and that, in the event of the
refusal or neglect of the person so notified to appoint such surveyor within
five days of the service upon him of such notice, the two surveyors named
shall make the survey and report and that the survey provided for herein shall
be made prior to a date to be included in said notice, such date to be fixed
by the Board of Trustees, and that the survey and report shall be filed with
the Board of Trustees on a day to be fixed in said notice, which date shall
also be fixed by the Board of Trustees.
F. That in the event that the building or structure shall
be reported unsafe or dangerous under such survey, an application will be
made returnable at a special term of the Supreme Court in the judicial district
in which the property is located on a date and at a time and place to be specified
in such notice, which date shall be not less than five nor more than 10 days
from the day fixed for the filing of such report for an order determining
the building or structure to be a public nuisance and directing that it shall
be repaired and secured or taken down and removed.
In the event that the notice provided for in this chapter is served
by registered mail, then a copy thereof shall be posted on the premises on
the day of the mailing of such notice.
A signed copy of the report of survey shall be served personally or
by registered mail upon the person to whom notice to remove or abate a dangerous
or unsafe building is directed, and a signed copy thereof shall be posted
on the building or structure the day of the date of the filing of such report
or survey.
All costs and expenses incurred by the Village in connection with the
proceeding to remove or secure, including the cost of actually removing any
building or structure as provided for herein, shall be assessed against the
land on which said building or structure is located, or was located, and shall
be and become a lien on said land as of the date of such assessment. The lien
of the Village for such costs and expenses shall have priority over all other
claims except the lien of taxes and assessments, which shall constitute a
prior lien.
The remedies of the Village as herein set forth shall not be exclusive,
but the Village shall have any other and further remedies at law or otherwise
now existing or as may hereafter be provided for under the laws of the State
of New York, and any and all such remedies shall be deemed cumulative, and
the pursuit of any remedies shall not be construed as an election or the waiver
of the right to pursue any and all others.