[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Elmsford 12-12-1949;
repealed and reenacted in the same form 7-10-2006 by L.L.
No. 4-2006. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Building construction and fire prevention — See Ch. 109.
Certain words, when used in this chapter, unless otherwise expressly
stated or unless the contents or subject matter otherwise require, are defined
as follows:
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Elmsford.
Any building, wall or structure located within the incorporated area
of the Village of Elmsford, whether or not the same be situate in a business,
industrial, residential or other section of said Village of Elmsford.
The Building Inspector of the Village of Elmsford.
Includes buildings structurally unsafe, unstable or unsanitary; inadequately provided with exit facilities; constituting a fire hazard; otherwise dangerous to life or property; unsuitable or improper for the use or occupancy to which it is put; constituting a hazard to health or safety because of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation, obsolescence, decay, deterioration or abandonment; a nuisance; having parts which are so attached that they may fall and injure members of the public, or public or private property; and those buildings, walls or structures existing in violation of any provision of Chapter 109, Building Construction and Fire Prevention, Article I, Building Code, of the Village of Elmsford or of any other ordinance of the Village of Elmsford.
The Village of Elmsford.
Any building, wall or structure or any part of a building, wall or structure
that from any cause is or shall become dangerous or unsafe shall be taken
down and removed or made safe and secure in compliance with the provisions
of this chapter.
The Building Inspector of the Village of Elmsford shall report to the
Board of Trustees of the Village of Elmsford any building, wall or structure
about which he has received or shall hereafter receive a complaint, and shall
report all dangerous or unsafe buildings, walls or structures in the Village
of which he has knowledge or shall hereafter acquire knowledge, and which
he believes in any way violate the provisions and terms of this chapter.
Upon receiving such report, the Board of Trustees of the Village shall
appoint an official to make an inspection of such building, wall or structure
and to make a written report thereon to the Board of Trustees.
Upon receipt of such report, the Board of Trustees shall direct the
Building Inspector to serve or cause to be served upon 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 such premises upon
which there is located such dangerous or unsafe building, wall or structure,
a notice containing a description of the premises sufficient for identification,
a statement of the particulars in which the building or structure is unsafe
or dangerous and an order requiring same to be made safe and secure or removed.
Such notice shall be served 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 the same, as shown by the records of the
Receiver of Taxes and/or in the office of the County Clerk or County Register,
and if such service be made by registered mail, a copy of such notice shall
be posted on the said premises. Such notice shall further specify the time
within which the person served therewith must commence the securing or removal
of such building, wall or structure.
In the event of the neglect or refusal of the person served with the notice required by § 117-5 hereof to comply with the same, the Board of Trustees shall cause a survey of such building, wall or structure to be made by an official of the Village and a practical builder, engineer or architect to be named by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees shall direct the Building Inspector to cause a further notice to be served on the person described in § 117-5 thereof, stating that the Board of Trustees has appointed an official of the Village and a practical builder, engineer or architect to make a survey of the building, wall or structure in question, and shall direct said person so served to appoint a practical builder, engineer or architect as a third surveyor. Such notice shall further state, that in the event that the building, wall or structure shall be reported unsafe or dangerous under such survey, an application will be made at special term of the Supreme Court in the judicial district in which the property is located, not less than five nor more than 10 days thereafter, for an order determining the building, wall or other structure to be a public nuisance and directing that it shall be repaired and secured or taken down and removed. In the event of the refusal or neglect of the person so served as specified herein to appoint such surveyor, the two surveyors named shall make the survey, and such survey and report shall be in writing and in duplicate, and a signed copy thereof shall be posted by the Building Inspector of the Village of Elmsford on the building, structure or wall which is the subject matter of the report.
Each of the surveyors appointed, as provided in § 117-6, shall receive a fee or compensation to be fixed by the Board of Trustees, the same to be not less than $5 or more than $50, for making such survey and report, which fee or compensation shall be a Village charge.
If the surveyors appointed as herein set forth report such building,
wall or other structure unsafe or dangerous, the Board of Trustees shall cause
an application to be made on behalf of the Village, at a special term of the
Supreme Court in the judicial district, for an order determining the building,
wall or other structure to be a public nuisance and directing that it shall
be repaired and secured or taken down and removed.
All costs and expenses incurred. by the Village in connection with the
proceedings to remove or secure, including the cost of actually removing said
building, wall or structure, shall be assessed against the land on which said
buildings, walls or structures are 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 expense shall have priority over other liens and encumbrances,
except the liens of taxes and assessments, which would constitute a prior
lien or liens under the provisions of the Village law.
The remedies of the Village of Elmsford, as herein set forth, shall
not be exclusive, but the Village shall have any other and further remedy
at law or otherwise, by injunction or otherwise, now existing under the laws
of the State of New York, and any and all such remedies shall be deemed cumulative,
and the pursuit of any remedy shall not be construed as an election or the
waiver of the right to pursue any and all others.
[Amended 11-6-2000 by L.L. No. 7-2000; 7-10-2006
by L.L. No. 4-2006]
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to knowingly
maintain or cause to be maintained, or to knowingly allow or permit any other
person, firm, or corporation, as agent, lessee or otherwise, to maintain any
dangerous building, wall or structure, as herein defined, and any owner, occupant,
lessee or other person or other corporation who shall knowingly maintain or
cause to be maintained or knowingly allow or permit to be maintained any such
dangerous building, wall or structure, and who shall fail to comply with any
order or any provision of any order of the Supreme Court of the State of New
York obtained as herein set forth, directing that such unsafe building, wall
or structure be repaired and secured or taken down and removed, or who shall
violate any of the provisions of this chapter, shall upon conviction thereof
be fined a sum not exceeding $1,000 for each violation thereof. Each and every
day such failure to comply continues beyond the date fixed for such compliance
by an order of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, obtained as herein
set forth, shall constitute a separate violation and offense. An adjudication
by the Supreme Court of the State of New York determining that any building,
wall or structure is dangerous and/or unsafe and a public nuisance, and directing
that it shall be repaired and secured or taken down and removed, shall be
conclusive evidence of the fact of the existence of such dangerous or unsafe
building, wall or structure.
[Amended 11-6-2000 by L.L. No. 7-2000; 7-10-2006
by L.L. No. 4-2006]
Any person removing any notice provided for herein shall be guilty of
a violation of this chapter and upon conviction thereof shall be fined a sum
not exceeding $1,000 for each violation thereof.
