As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
COMMISSIONER
The Commissioner of Environmental Services or his or her designee.
[Added 4-11-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-70]
IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD
A nuisance condition deemed by the Manager of the Division of Environmental Quality of the Department of Environmental Services to be dangerous to life or health unless immediately removed or otherwise abated. Such determination may be made where there is an imminent danger from known substances, waste or materials or where the condition of the storage containers, the method of storage, the danger of the location or any other potentially dangerous conditions related to unknown substances, waste or materials creates a reasonable expectation of imminent danger.
[Added 4-11-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-70]
NUISANCE
Any act or acts dangerous to health, rendering soil, air, water or food impure or unwholesome, or which tend to endanger public comfort or repose.
[Amended 8-22-1958; 1-27-1970 by Ord. No. 70-36; 5-28-1974 by Ord. No. 74-180; 2-14-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-22; 4-11-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-70]
A. 
It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police, Fire Chief or Commissioner to serve notice in writing upon the owner, occupant, agent or person in possession or control of any lot, building or premises in or upon which any nuisance may be found, or who may be the owner or cause of any such nuisance, requiring him or her to abate the same in such manner as it shall prescribe within a reasonable time. It shall not be necessary in any case for the Chief of Police, Fire Chief or Commissioner to specify in his or her notice the manner in which any nuisance shall be abated, unless he or she shall deem advisable so to do. Such notice may be given or served by any officer who is so directed and authorized. If the person so notified shall neglect or refuse to comply with the requirements of such order by abating such nuisance within the time specified, such person shall be prosecuted by the Corporation Counsel of the City of Rochester upon receipt of notice by the Chief of Police, Fire Chief or Commissioner that said person has failed to comply with the requirements of such order.
B. 
It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police, Fire Chief or Commissioner to proceed at once upon the expiration of the time specified in said notice to cause such nuisance to be abated; provided, however, that whenever the owner, occupant, agent or person in possession or control of any premises in or upon which any nuisance may be found is unknown or cannot be found, the Chief of Police, Fire Chief or Commissioner shall proceed to abate such nuisance after mailing notice to the owner appearing on the last assessment rolls of the City of Rochester at his or her last known address.
[Amended 8-22-1958; 1-27-1970 by Ord. No. 70-36; 5-28-1974 by Ord. No. 74-180; 4-11-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-70]
A. 
Whenever any nuisance which is an immediate danger to life or health shall be found on any premises within the City, the Chief of Police, Fire Chief or Commissioner is hereby authorized to cause the same to be summarily abated in such manner as he or she may direct. Abatement of immediate nuisances will be performed without prior notice to the owner.
B. 
Upon a determination of immediate environmental hazard, it shall be the duty of the Chief of Police, the Fire Chief or the Commissioner to remove or otherwise abate an immediate environmental hazard caused or permitted to be caused by the owner, tenant or agent of any property in or upon which an immediate environmental hazard is found. Abatement of immediate environmental hazards will be performed without prior notice to the owner.
C. 
The costs of abatement of an immediate nuisance or an immediate environmental hazard shall be at the property owner’s expense. Such costs shall be billed to the property owner in accordance with § 6-92 of the City Charter and, if not paid, shall be subject to late-payment charges and added to taxes for the subject property in accordance with §§ 6-93 and 6-94 of the Charter. If the property owner challenges his or her responsibility for the costs, the burden shall be upon the property owner to prove that the immediate nuisance or immediate environmental hazard was not caused or permitted by the property owner, or the owner’s tenant or agent, and that the property owner made every reasonable effort to prevent the immediate nuisance or immediate environmental hazard from occurring on the property.
A. 
No person shall use for drinking purposes, or in the preparation of food intended for human consumption, any water except the potable water supply authorized for public use by the City of Rochester.
B. 
Other water supplies, wells or springs used for cooling and washing purposes only, where food is prepared or sold for human consumption, shall be tested and approved by the Monroe County Health Director. All auxiliary water supplies used for commercial or industrial use shall have all hydrants and faucets conspicuously posted indicating that such water is not for drinking use, and such water supplies shall not be cross-connected or interconnected with the public water supply.
No person, firm or corporation shall furnish, keep, maintain or use a common cup, container or utensil, arranged or intended to be used in common, in any public place or public institution or in any hotel, lodging house, theater, factory, store, school or public hall or in any railway or trolley car, boat or bus or in any bus, trolley or railway stations or in any place of public resort, public accommodation or public trade.
No person, firm, corporation or authorities owning, in charge of or in control of any lavatory or washroom in any hotel, lodging house, restaurant, factory, school, store, office building, railway or trolley station or public conveyance by land or water shall provide in or about such lavatory or washroom any towel for common use.
Spitting upon the floor of public buildings or buildings used for public assemblage or upon the floors or platforms or any part of any railroad or trolley car or ferry boat or any other public conveyance is forbidden.
Every owner, occupant or lessee of any lands used as a gasoline station or for parking of automobiles shall so treat, prepare and maintain the surface of the grounds so used to prevent dust being blown from such lands.
[Amended 8-22-1958; 1-27-1970 by Ord. No. 70-36; 5-28-1974 by Ord. No. 74-180; 11-12-1985 by Ord. No. 85-480]
No person shall operate any stone crushers, concrete mixer or batching machine for more than three weeks in any one year in any one place without permission from the Mayor, which permission must be registered with the Chief of Police and which permission shall specify the length of time for which the same is granted, but all permits to operate stone crushers shall be given upon the condition that the operator of such crusher shall provide and furnish a continuous sprinkling of the stone during the process of crushing so as to prevent any dust nuisance arising therefrom.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 59-39, Receptacles for garbage, refuse and waste materials, as amended, was repealed 12-20-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-407.
[Amended 6-27-1961]
No vehicle for carrying offal, swill, garbage or rubbish, the contents of any cesspool or sink or any manure or other nauseous substances, except when actually engaged in collecting such materials, shall stand before any residence, building or place of business; nor shall any such vehicle occupy an unreasonable length of time in loading or unloading or in passing along any street or inhabited place. When not in use, all such vehicles and all implements used in connection therewith shall be stored and kept in some place where no needless offense shall be given to the public. All such vehicles and all receptacles thereon, and also all vehicles transporting stone, gravel, sand, dirt and other similar materials, shall be strong and tight, and the sides shall be so high above the load that no part thereof shall leak or spill.
A. 
No person shall deposit any slops, liquid of any offensive kind, garbage, contents of a sink, privy, septic tanks or cesspool, manure, offal or anything which can become offensive to human beings or detrimental to public health upon any street, lot or vacant place, nor deposit in any vault, privy, sink or cesspool any offal, meat, fish or garbage; nor shall any slops or kitchen waste be permitted to run into any privy or cesspool; provided, however, that manure may be placed on private lands for the purpose of fertilizing in those parts of the City that are not built up, if no nuisance results therefrom.
B. 
Every person, firm or corporation owning, leasing or occupying any place where any cattle or swine have been or hereafter shall be killed or dressed shall cause such place and their yards and appurtenances to be thoroughly cleansed and purified and all offal, blood, fat, garbage, refuse or offensive matter to be removed therefrom at least once in every 24 hours after the use thereof for any of the purposes herein referred to.
[Amended 8-22-1958]
A. 
No person shall allow or cause any sewer, cesspool, septic tank or drain to become obstructed so that it is offensive or detrimental to health. The cleaning and repairing of any sewer, cesspool, septic tank or drain and the removal of any putrid or offensive contents shall be done in an offensive manner. Any contents so removed shall be conveyed in such a manner and to such places as may be approved by the authorized inspector of the Examining Board of Plumbers.
B. 
All putrid and offensive matter, night soil and the contents of sinks, privies, septic tanks or cesspools, before their removal or exposure, when so demanded by an authorized inspector of the Examining Board of Plumbers, shall be disinfected and rendered inoffensive by the owner, lessee or occupant of the premises where situated.
[Added 1-22-1963; amended 11-10-1992 by Ord. No. 92-403]
The Commissioner of Environmental Services shall, upon request of a lawful applicant, undertake the handling of the disposal of cleanings from privately owned septic tanks.
[Added 1-22-1963]
The following amounts shall constitute the rates to be charged against the applicant: $5 per one-thousand-gallon truck or any part thereof; and an additional $2.50 for every 500 gallons over and above the original 1,000 gallons or any part thereof.
No person shall burn any wood or casing from storage batteries or storage battery boxes, tar paper, rubber, insulating material from wire, button nuts or other material which shall give rise to noxious, nauseous or offensive odors.
[Amended 8-22-1958; 1-27-1970 by Ord. No. 70-36; 5-28-1974 by Ord. No. 74-180]
A. 
No person, firm or corporation shall drain into or place so that the same shall enter the sewers of the City of Rochester any of the products or waste of any asphalt factory, slaughterhouse, cattle yard, phosphate or fertilizing works or storehouse, rendering establishment or soap factory, until so much of the organic solids of the said product or waste has been removed or the remainder has been so treated by chlorination or other proper process that all odors from any such material which may enter the sewers shall be prevented and eliminated.
B. 
No person, firm or corporation shall build or use any asphalt factory, slaughterhouse, cattle yard, phosphate or fertilizing works or storehouse, rendering establishment or works for the reduction of garbage, dead animals or night soil or any soap factory, tannery or other place or establishment that shall give rise to nauseous or offensive odors, without permission from the Council, which permission must be registered with the Chief of Police, but nothing herein contained shall apply to the reduction of garbage or dead animals by the City of Rochester, its agents or contractors.
[Amended 8-22-1958; 1-27-1970 by Ord. No. 70-36; 5-28-1974 by Ord. No. 74-180]
No person shall keep or operate any place for the storage, drying, cleaning or sorting of rags within the built-up portions of the City of Rochester, without a permit from the Chief of Police and unless the said premises is at least 200 feet from any house, factory or building occupied by human beings.
[Amended 8-22-1958]
No person, firm or corporation shall cause or suffer to cause the creation of any nuisance or condition that shall give rise to other nuisances occasioned by rodents, insect pests or other vermin detrimental to health. Every owner, lessee or occupant of premises on which such nuisances exist shall comply with the orders of authorized inspectors of the Monroe County Health Director and shall take such steps as may be necessary to prevent any nuisance arising or cause the removal of existing nuisances.
When any lot or excavation shall from any cause whatsoever become the repository of stagnant water or of any decaying or offensive substance, liquid or solid, it shall be the duty of the owner or occupant, within a specified time given in a written notice from the Bureau, to cause such lot or excavation to be drained or to be filled with clean earth or other inoffensive substance.
[Added 4-9-1963; amended 1-23-1968 by Ord. No. 68-18; 2-10-1981 by Ord. No. 81-45; 2-14-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-22]
A. 
Notwithstanding the powers of enforcement of this chapter by the officials and employees of the City of Rochester, the Monroe County Health Director shall have the power to enter, examine and inspect, or cause to be entered, examined and inspected, and enforce the provisions of this chapter upon any lot, dwelling, building, structure, excavation or business pursuit in which any violation of the provisions of this chapter or Chapter 90 is found which he or she deems to be dangerous to life and health.
B. 
Whenever any violation of Chapter 59 or Chapter 90 of the Municipal Code is found by the Monroe County Health Director to be dangerous to life or health, he or she may order that the violation be discontinued, removed or abated as his or her order shall specify. If such an order of the Director of the Monroe County Health Department is not complied with within 30 days after the service thereof or within such shorter time as he or she may designate therein as necessary under the circumstances, then such order may be executed by said Director through his or her officers, agents, employees or the Commissioner of Neighborhood and Business Development, and the expenses incurred incident to said order shall be assessed against said real property as provided in the City Charter, or he or she may order the premises vacated; provided, however, that when in the opinion of the Monroe County Health Director such matter, condition or thing is in a state of nuisance which constitutes an actual menace to health, he or she shall proceed forthwith to cause such nuisance to be abated.
[Amended 6-16-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-179]
C. 
Before proceeding to execute such order, the Monroe County Health Director shall post a notice on the front of the building, stating that since such order was not complied with within the time mentioned in said notice, the Monroe County Health Director will proceed to execute the same at the expiration of an additional five days and assess the cost thereof against said real property as provided in the City Charter. A copy of such notice shall be sent to the owner of the property, or his or her agent, if names and addresses, on reasonable search, can be ascertained; and such notice shall be posted on said premises at least five days before the Monroe County Health Director proceeds to incur expenses, unless the condition is of such a character requiring immediate action, in which case the time of the notice shall be such as, in the judgment of the Monroe County Health Director, is reasonable and proper.
D. 
Whenever it shall be found by the Monroe County Health Director that a dwelling is dangerous to life or health by reason of want of repair, of defects in the drainage, plumbing, lighting, ventilation or the construction of the same, or by reason of the existence on the premises of any condition likely to cause sickness or injury among the occupants of said dwelling, or for any other causes affecting the public health, the Monroe County Health Director may issue an order requiring such dwelling to be vacated. A copy of such order shall be posted on the front of the dwelling at least 10 days before it shall be effective unless the situation is of a character requiring immediate action, in which case the effective time of the order shall be such as in the judgment of the Monroe County Health Director is reasonable and proper. A copy of such order shall be sent to the owner of the property, or his or her agent, and to the tenant or tenants, if names and addresses, on reasonable search, can be ascertained. The dwelling so ordered to be vacated shall not again be occupied until a written statement shall have been secured from the Monroe County Health Director showing that the dwelling or its occupation has been made to comply with his or her order, and a certificate of occupancy, pursuant to § 90-16 of the Municipal Code, shall have been secured.
[Amended 12-15-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-409]