[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of the Village of Johnson
Creek 12-1-1994 by Ord. No. 12-94 as §§ 42.01 to 42.04, 42.07
and 42.10 of the 1994 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
No person shall erect, contrive, cause, continue, maintain or permit
to exist any public nuisance within the Village of Johnson Creek.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
A thing, act, occupation, condition or use of property which shall
continue for such length of time as to:
Substantially annoy, injure or endanger the comfort, health, repose
or safety of the public;
In any way render the public insecure in life or in the use of property;
Greatly offend the public morals or decency; or
Unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct or tend to obstruct
or render dangerous for passage any street, alley, highway, navigable body
of water or other public way or the use of public property.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are specifically declared to be public health nuisances, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other health nuisances coming within the definition of "public nuisance" in § 177-2 of this chapter:
A.
All decayed, harmfully adulterated or unwholesome food
or drink sold or offered for sale to the public.
B.
Carcasses of animals, birds or fowl not intended for
human consumption or food which are not buried or otherwise disposed of in
a sanitary manner within 24 hours after death.
C.
Accumulations of decayed animal or vegetable matter,
trash, rubbish, rotting lumber, bedding, packing material, scrap metal or
any material whatsoever in which flies, mosquitoes, disease-carrying insects,
rats or other vermin may breed.
D.
All stagnant water in which mosquitoes, flies or other
insects can multiply.
E.
Privy vaults and garbage cans which are not flytight.
F.
All noxious weeds and other rank growth of vegetation.
G.
All animals running at large or in any food-handling
establishment.
H.
The escape of smoke, soot, cinders, noxious acids, fumes,
gases, fly ash, industrial dust or other atmospheric pollutants within the
Village limits or within one mile therefrom in such quantities as to endanger
the health of persons of ordinary sensibilities or to threaten or cause substantial
injury to property in the Village.
I.
The pollution of any public well or cistern, creek, stream,
lake, canal or other body of water by sewage, creamery or industrial wastes
or other substances.
J.
Any use of property, substances or things within the
Village of Johnson Creek emitting or causing any foul, offensive, noisome,
nauseous, noxious or disagreeable odors, gases, effluvia or stenches extremely
repulsive to the physical senses of ordinary persons which annoy, discomfort,
injure or inconvenience the health of any appreciable number of persons within
the Village.
K.
All abandoned wells not securely covered or secured from
public use.
L.
Any use of property which shall cause any nauseous or
unwholesome liquid or substance to flow into or upon any street, gutter, alley,
sidewalk or public place within the Village.[1]
M.
No appliances shall be stored unenclosed outside a building upon
private property within the Village for a period exceeding 30 days, unless
the appliance is stored in connection with an authorized business enterprise
located on a properly zoned area and maintained in such a manner as to not
constitute a public nuisance.
[Added 8-5-2004 by Ord. No. 29-04]
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby specifically declared to be public nuisances offending public morals and decency, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances offending public morals and decency coming within the definition of "public nuisance" in § 177-2 of this chapter:
A.
All disorderly houses, bawdy houses, houses of ill fame,
gambling houses and buildings or structures kept or resorted to for the purpose
of prostitution, promiscuous sexual intercourse or gambling.
B.
All gambling devices and slot machines.
D.
Any place or premises within the Village where Village
ordinances or state laws relating to public health, safety, peace, morals
or welfare are openly, continuously, repeatedly and intentionally violated.
E.
Any place or premises resorted to for the purpose of
drinking intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverages in violation of the
laws of the state or ordinances of the Village.
The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby declared to be public nuisances affecting peace and safety, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances affecting public peace or safety coming within the definition of "public nuisance" in § 177-2 of this chapter:
A.
All signs and billboards, awnings and other similar structures
over or near streets, sidewalks, public grounds or places frequented by the
public so situated or constructed as to endanger the public safety.
B.
All unauthorized signs, signals, markings or devices
placed or maintained upon or in view of any public highway or railway crossing
which purport to be or may be mistaken as an official traffic control device,
railroad sign or signal or which because of their color, location, brilliance
or manner of operation interfere with the effectiveness of any such device,
sign or signal.
C.
All trees, hedges, billboards or other obstructions which
prevent persons driving vehicles on public streets, alleys or highways from
obtaining a clear view of traffic when approaching an intersection or pedestrian
crosswalk.
D.
All limbs of trees which project over and are less than 14 feet above the surface of a public sidewalk or street or less than 10 feet above any other public place and all trees which exist contrary to § 210-10 of this Code.
F.
All buildings or structures so old, dilapidated or out
of repair as to be dangerous, unsafe, insanitary or otherwise unfit for human
use.
G.
All wires over streets, alleys or public grounds which
are strung less than 15 feet above the surface thereof.
H.
All loud, discordant and unnecessary noises or vibrations
of any kind, including such noises caused by operation of any motor vehicle.
I.
The keeping or harboring of any animal or fowl which
by frequent or habitual howling, yelping, barking, crowing or making of other
noises shall greatly annoy or disturb a neighborhood or any considerable number
of persons within the Village.
J.
All obstructions of streets, alleys, sidewalks or crosswalks
and all excavations in or under the same, except as permitted by this Code,
or which, although made in accordance with this Code, are kept or maintained
for an unreasonable or illegal length of time after the purpose thereof has
been accomplished.
K.
All open and unguarded pits, wells, excavations or unused
basements freely accessible from any public street, alley or sidewalk.
L.
All abandoned refrigerators or iceboxes from which the
doors and other covers have not been removed or which are not equipped with
a device for opening from the inside.
M.
Any unauthorized or unlawful use of property abutting
on a public street, alley or sidewalk or of a public street, alley or sidewalk
which causes large crowds of people to gather, obstructing traffic and free
use of the streets or sidewalks.
N.
Repeated or continuous violations of the ordinances of
the Village or laws of the State of Wisconsin relative to the storage of flammable
liquids.
O.
All snow and ice on sidewalks not removed or sprinkled with ashes, sawdust, sand or other chemical removers as provided in § 210-9 of this Code.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II). Original § 42.02(5), Junked motor vehicles, which immediately followed this subsection, was deleted at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II). See now Ch. 221, Vehicles and Traffic.
A.
Inspection of premises. Whenever a complaint is made
to the Village that a public nuisance exists within the Village of Johnson
Creek, the Police Chief, Health Officer, or Building Inspector will be notified
and shall promptly inspect or cause to be inspected the premises complained
of and shall make a written report of his findings. Whenever practicable,
the inspecting officer shall cause photographs to be made of the premises
and shall file the same in the office of the Village Clerk-Treasurer.[1]
B.
Summary abatement.
(1)
Notice to owner. If the inspecting officer shall determine
that a public nuisance exists within the Village and that there is great and
immediate danger to the public health, safety, peace, morals or decency, the
Police Chief or his representative may serve notice on the person causing,
permitting or maintaining such nuisance or upon the owner or occupant of the
premises where such nuisance is caused, permitted or maintained and post a
copy of said notice on the premises. Such notice shall direct the person causing,
permitting or maintaining such nuisance or the owner or occupant of the premises
to abate or remove such nuisance within 24 hours and shall state that unless
such nuisance is so abated the Village will cause the same to be abated and
will charge the cost thereof to the owner, occupant or person causing, permitting
or maintaining the nuisance, as the case may be.[2]
(2)
Abatement by Village. If the nuisance is not abated within
the time provided or if the owner, occupant or person causing the nuisance
cannot be found, the Health Officer, in case of health nuisances, and the
Police Chief, in other cases, shall cause the abatement or removal of such
public nuisance.
C.
Abatement by court action. If the inspecting officer
shall determine that a public nuisance exists on private premises but that
the nature of such nuisance is not such as to threaten great and immediate
danger to the public health, safety, peace, morals or decency, he shall file
a written report of his findings with the Village President, who shall cause
an action to abate such nuisance to be commenced in the name of the Village
in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County in accordance with the provisions
of § 254.59, Wis. Stats.
D.
Other methods not excluded. Nothing in this chapter shall
be construed as prohibiting the abatement of public nuisances by the Village
of Johnson Creek or its officials in accordance with the laws of the State
of Wisconsin.
In addition to any other penalty imposed by this chapter for the erection,
contrivance, creation, continuance or maintenance of a public nuisance, the
cost of abating a public nuisance by the Village shall be collected as a debt
from the owner, occupant or person causing, permitting or maintaining the
nuisance, and if notice to abate the nuisance has been given to the owner,
such cost shall be assessed and collected against the real estate as a special
assessment.
No person shall cause the discharge of water from a sump pump or similar
apparatus onto a public right-of-way where the discharge is of such a quantity
as will create a traffic or safety hazard for vehicular or pedestrian traffic
utilizing the roadway.[1]
Except as otherwise provided, any person who shall violate any provision of this chapter shall be subject to a penalty as provided in Chapter 60, Penalties. A separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day on which a violation of any provision of this chapter occurs or continues.
