[HISTORY: Adopted by the Rochester City Council 4-9-1968 by Ord. No.
68-94. Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Anti-Litter Ordinance."
For the purposes of this chapter, the following
words, phrases and terms, and their derivations, shall have the meanings
given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in
the present tense include the future, words used in the plural number
include the singular, words used in the singular number include the
plural, and words in the masculine include the feminine. The word
"shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
A litter storage and collection receptacle as required and
authorized in ordinances regulating garbage and waste disposal.
The City of Rochester.
Putrescible animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the
handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
Any printed or written matter, any sample or device, dodger,
circular, leaflet, pamphlet, paper, booklet or any other printed or
otherwise reproduced original or copies of any matter of literature.
Garbage, refuse and rubbish, as defined herein, which is
thrown, deposited or discarded in or on a public place, park, or private
premises or from a vehicle.
[Amended 3-28-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-74]
A printed publication issued at regular intervals, including
any periodical or current magazine regularly published with not less
than four issues per year, and sold to the public, commonly containing
news, comment, features and advertisements, including any newspaper
duly entered with the Post Office Department of the United States
in accordance with federal statute or regulation.
A park, reservation, playground, beach, recreation center
or any other public area in the City owned or operated by the City
and devoted to active or passive recreation.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company, or organization of any kind.
Any house, building or other structure not owned or operated
by the City, whether inhabited or temporarily or continuously uninhabited
or vacant, including any yard, ground, parking lot, walk, driveway,
porch, steps, vestibule or mailbox, belonging or appurtenant to such
house, building or other structure.
Any and all streets, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys or other
public ways and any and all public parks, squares, spaces, grounds
and buildings.
All putrescible and nonputrescible solid wastes, except body
wastes, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, dead
animals, abandoned automobiles, concrete, asphalt, building materials
and solid market and industrial wastes.
[Amended 5-27-1986 by Ord. No. 86-161]
Nonputrescible solid wastes consisting of both combustible
and noncombustible wastes, such as, but not limited to, paper, wrappings,
cardboard, tin cans, yard clippings, leaves, wood, glass, bedding
and crockery.
[Amended 5-27-1986 by Ord. No. 86-161]
Every device in, upon or by which any person or property
is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway or public street.
A.
No person shall throw or deposit litter in or upon
any street, sidewalk or other public place within the City, nor on
any property owned by the City, except in public receptacles or in
authorized private receptacles for collection.
[Amended 5-27-1986 by Ord. No. 86-161]
B.
Persons placing litter in public receptacles or in
authorized private receptacles shall do so in such a manner as to
prevent it from being carried or deposited by the elements upon any
street, sidewalk or other public place or upon private property.
C.
No person shall sweep into or deposit in any gutter,
street or other public place within the City the accumulation of litter
from any building or lot or from any public or private sidewalk or
driveway.
D.
Persons owning or occupying property shall keep the
sidewalk in front of their premises free of litter.
A.
No person shall throw or deposit litter from any vehicle
upon any street or other public place within the City or upon private
property.
B.
No person shall drive or move any truck or other vehicle
within the City unless such vehicle is so constructed or loaded as
to prevent any load, contents or litter from being blown or deposited
upon any street, alley or other public place or private property.
C.
No person shall drive or move any vehicle or truck
within the City, the wheels or tires of which carry onto or deposit
in any street, alley or other public place sticky substances or foreign
matter of such kind which adheres to the road surface.
A.
No person shall throw or deposit litter in any park
within the City except in public receptacles and in such a manner
that the litter will be prevented from being carried or deposited
by the elements upon any part of the park, upon any street or other
public or private place. Where public receptacles are not provided,
all such litter shall be carried away from the park by the person
responsible for its presence and property, disposed of elsewhere,
as provided herein.
B.
No person shall throw or deposit litter in any fountain,
pond, lake, stream, bay or any other body of water in a park or elsewhere
within the City.
A.
No person shall throw or deposit litter on any private
property within the City, whether owned by such person or not and
whether occupied or vacant, except that the owner or person in control
of private property may maintain authorized private receptacles for
collection in such a manner that litter will be prevented from being
carried or deposited by the elements upon any street, sidewalk or
other public place or upon private property.
B.
The owner or person in control of private property
or any portion thereof shall, at all times, maintain the premises,
or that portion controlled by him or her free of litter, except when
stored properly in authorized private receptacles for collection,
when such person shall have actual notice thereof or when said litter
shall have been present a sufficient length of time to constitute
constructive notice.
[Amended 2-14-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-22]
A.
In public places. No person shall throw or deposit
any handbill in or upon any sidewalk, street or other public place
within the City. No person shall hand out or distribute any handbill
in any public place except to persons willing to accept it.
B.
On vehicles. No person shall throw or deposit any
handbill in or upon any vehicle, except it shall not be unlawful in
any public place for a person to hand out or distribute a handbill
to any occupant of a vehicle who is willing to accept it.
C.
On private property. No person shall throw or deposit
any handbill in or upon any private premises which are:
(1)
Temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant.
(2)
Posted with a sign placed in a conspicuous position
near the entrance thereof, bearing the words "No Peddlers or Agents,"
"No Advertisements," or words of similar import indicating the desire
of the occupants not to have such handbills left upon such premises,
or where an occupant expressly directs the person not to throw, deposit
or distribute the handbill on the premises.
(3)
Inhabited but not posted or subject to an express
warning by an occupant, except by handing or transmitting any such
handbill directly to an occupant, unless he or she places or deposits
any such handbill so as to secure or prevent it from being blown or
drifted about the premises or sidewalks, streets or other public ways.
[Amended 2-14-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-22]
D.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to
the distribution of mail by the United States nor to newspapers (as
defined herein), except that newspapers shall be placed on private
property in such a manner as to prevent their being carried or deposited
by the elements upon any street, sidewalk or other public place or
upon private property.
[Amended 7-22-1969 by Ord. No. 69-329; 9-28-1982 by Ord. No. 82-443; 5-27-1986 by Ord. No. 86-161]
A person violating any provision of this chapter shall be subject to the penalties set forth in § 13A-11 of the Municipal Code. In addition, any person littering or disposing of refuse in a public place or on property owned by the City shall be liable to the City in a civil action for the costs to the City of the removal of such litter or refuse and the restoration of said public place or land to its condition before the litter or refuse was disposed of at the site.
Smoking shall not be permitted, and no person shall smoke, within
100 feet of the entrance, exit or outdoor area of a public library;
provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply
to smoking within the boundary lines of a residential property. For
the purposes of this section smoking shall be defined as in Article
13-E of the Public Health Law.
Should any section, paragraph, sentence, clause
or phrase in this chapter be declared unconstitutional or invalid
for any reason, the remainder of the chapter shall not be affected
thereby and shall remain in full force and effect, and to this end
the provisions of this chapter are declared to be severable.
This chapter shall take effect 20 days after
its adoption.
