[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of East Hampton as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 7-31-1992 by L.L. No. 18-1992 (Ch. 29 of the 1971 Code)]
[Amended 10-4-2018 by L.L. No. 15-2018]
The following terms, as used in this chapter, shall have the meanings indicated:
GARBAGE
Putrescible animal and vegetable waste resulting from either the handling, preparation, cooking or consumption of food.
HANDBILL
Any item, sample, device or material that is printed, written or copied, magazines, catalogs, flyers, circulars, pamphlets, newspapers, booklets or any other principal matter of reading, photography or publication regardless of its intention or purpose.
LITTER
Trees, brush, leaves, lawn clippings and other items resulting from the cleanup and maintenance of the grounds of private property; garbage, refuse, handbills, and rubbish, as such are defined; and all other waste materials which, if thrown or deposited as herein prohibited, tend to create a danger to public health, safety and welfare or render the streets, private grounds or public places unsightly, including household waste and construction and demolition debris.
PERSON
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation or organization of any kind.
PRIVATE PREMISES
Any dwelling, house, building or other structure designated or used, either wholly or in part, for private residential purposes, whether inhabited or continuously uninhabited or vacant, and includes any yard, grounds, walk, driveway, porch, steps or vestibule belonging or appurtenant to such dwelling house, building or other structure.
PUBLIC PLACE
Any or all streets, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys or other public ways and any and all public parks, squares, spaces, grounds and buildings.
QUASI-PUBLIC PROPERTY
Any area on or adjacent to a private premise that is visible from outside of the premises. This includes doorways, porches, decks, steps, stairs, stoops, flagging, curbstones, outdoor dining areas, parking lots, alleys and sidewalks. This area extends to the curb, curbline or road.
REFUSE
All putrescible and nonputrescible solid wastes, except body wastes, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, dead animals, abandoned automobiles, dismantled automobiles and parts thereof, scrap metal, junk, machinery and solid market and industrial wastes.
RUBBISH
Nonputrescible solid wastes, consisting of both combustible and noncombustible wastes, including but not limited to papers, wrappings, cigarettes, cardboard, tin cans, yard clippings, leaves, wood, glass, bedding, crockery, building materials and similar materials.
VEHICLE
Every vehicle in, upon or which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, including devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
A. 
No person shall throw or deposit litter, garbage, refuse, or rubbish in or upon any street, sidewalk, quasi-public place or public property within the Village except in public receptacles or in authorized private receptacles for collection; provided, however, that said public receptacles shall not be used by persons for the deposit of domestic, commercial and industrial litter arising from the conduct of their daily activities.
[Amended 5-16-2014 by L.L. No. 6-2014; 10-4-2018 by L.L. No. 15-2018; 8-21-2020 by L.L. No. 5-2020]
B. 
Notwithstanding the above, the owner or persons in control of private property may deposit leaves in the grassed area of the right-of-way and not in any paved portion of a street, road, lane or gutter for pickup by the Village from the second Monday in October through the second Friday in December
[Amended 12-19-2008 by L.L. No. 13-2008]
C. 
No person shall discard, throw, toss, place, scatter or stack or cause or allow any handbills to be discarded, thrown, tossed, placed, scattered or stacked within the Village of East Hampton, except as follows:
[Added 10-4-2018 by L.L. No. 15-2018]
(1) 
Handbills may be distributed on public property only if they are personally and individually handed to members of the public who are willing to accept them.
(2) 
Handbills may be made available for distribution on quasi-public property only when (i) a person at the adjacent private premises requests or agrees to properly display handbills; and (ii) the handbills are hand-delivered to a person of authority on the private property; and (iii) the handbills are secured in a way that prevents them from creating litter or becoming hazardous to the public.
D. 
Notwithstanding the above, no person shall deposit in any public receptacle any accumulated domestic litter, garbage, refuse, trash, or rubbish, and/or commercial/industrial litter, garbage, refuse, or rubbish.
[Added 8-21-2020 by L.L. No. 5-2020]
E. 
All litter, garbage, refuse, or rubbish deposited in any public receptacle or authorized private receptacle shall be deposited in such a manner as to prevent it from being scattered, carried or deposited upon any street, sidewalk or other public or private property.
[Added 8-21-2020 by L.L. No. 5-2020]
F. 
Where public receptacles are not provided or are already full in any public place, all litter, garbage, refuse, or rubbish shall be carried from said place by the person responsible for its presence and shall be properly disposed of elsewhere.
[Added 8-21-2020 by L.L. No. 5-2020]
No person, while a driver or passenger in a vehicle, shall throw or deposit litter upon any street or other public place within the Village.
No person shall throw or deposit litter in any park except in public receptacles and in such manner as to prevent such litter from being carried or deposited by the elements upon any part of the park or upon any street or other public place. Where public receptacles are not provided, all litter shall be carried from the park by the person responsible for its presence and shall be properly disposed of elsewhere.
No person shall throw or deposit litter on any occupied private property, whether owned by him or not, except that the owner or person in control of private property shall maintain private receptacles for collection in such a manner that litter will not be carried or deposited by the elements upon any other public place or upon any private property.
[Amended 9-18-2015 by L.L. No. 19-2015]
The owner or person in control of any private property shall at all times maintain the premises free of litter. This section shall not be construed to prohibit the storage of litter in private receptacles for collection or the creation and maintenance of a home composting facility for the production of compost from natural material to be used on and about the private premises. All receptacles for garbage, litter, refuse or rubbish shall be covered at night with covers that are sufficiently secure to prevent their contents from blowing out of the receptacle.
The owner, agent, lessee, tenant, occupant or other person who manages or controls a building or lot shall be jointly and/or severally responsible for keeping the sidewalk, flagging and curbstone and the air shafts, backyards, courts, parking lots and alleys free from litter.
[Amended 3-18-2016 by L.L. No. 4-2016]
Any garbage, waste or rubbish placed outside commercial premises, visible to the public, shall be contained in a covered container sufficiently secure so as to prevent animals from gaining access to the contents thereof. Any container greater than 1.5 cubic yards shall be screened.
[Amended 8-21-2020 by L.L. No. 5-2020]
The Building Inspector of the Village of East Hampton, Code Enforcement, Traffic Control Officers or any police agency is hereby empowered and authorized to exercise such powers as may be necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this article.
[Added 8-21-2020 by L.L. No. 5-2020[1]]
A lack of eyewitness testimony shall not bar prosecution under this article, and it shall be presumptive evidence, rebuttable by competent evidence, that the identity of the person accused of a violation of this article may be established if litter found deposited on public or private property in violation of the provisions of this article contains substantial evidence of that person's identity.
[1]
Editor's Note: This local law also renumbered former § 246-12, Penalties for offenses, as § 246-13.
A. 
Civil penalties shall be as follows:
(1) 
For the first offense, $500 or twice the cost to the Village of clearing away the offending materials, whichever is greater.
(2) 
For a second offense, $750 or twice the cost to the Village of clearing away the offending materials, whichever is greater.
(3) 
For a third offense, $1,000 or twice the cost to the Village of clearing away the offending materials, whichever is greater.
B. 
A violation of the provisions of § 246-2A and § 246-3 of this chapter shall be punishable as follows:
[Amended 4-20-2015 by L.L. No. 8-2015]
(1) 
A person or entity charged with a violation of the sections listed above shall be required to appear or answer within 15 days of the issuance of a ticket, and shall be subject to a minimum fine of $150.
(2) 
Upon the failure to answer or appear on the return date or any subsequent adjourned date or to pay the fine when due, a late penalty of $75 shall be added to the minimum fine.
(3) 
Upon the failure to pay the fine within 60 days of the issuance of a ticket, a late penalty of $150 shall be added to the minimum fine.
(4) 
Upon the failure to pay the fine within 90 days of its due date, a late penalty of $200 shall be added to the minimum fine.
C. 
Any person or persons, association, firm or corporation violating any of the other provisions of this article, as the same may be from time to time amended, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $2,500 or imprisonment for a period not to exceed 30 days, or both, and shall be subject to further civil penalties above.
[Added 4-20-2015 by L.L. No. 8-2015; amended 8-21-2020 by L.L. No. 5-2020]