[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of East Hampton as indicated in article histories.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Brush, grass, weeds and rubbish — See Ch. 84.
[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:
Putrescible animal and vegetable waste resulting from either
the handling, preparation, cooking or consumption of food.
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.
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.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation or
organization of any kind.
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.
Any or all streets, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys or other
public ways and any and all public parks, squares, spaces, grounds
and buildings.
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.
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.
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.
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 in any
lake, pond, stream or any other body of water.
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.
No person shall throw or deposit litter on any
open or vacant private property, whether owned by such person or not.
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.
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]