As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
NUISANCE
Includes but is not limited to that which vexes or creates a health
or safety hazard or that which, by its use or existence, creates injury or
damage to others.
OWNER
Any person who has a right of property in poultry, keeps or harbors
poultry, has poultry in his/her care or acts as custodian of poultry.
[Added 6-20-2006]
PEST
Any organism that exists under circumstances that make it deleterious
to man or the environment if it is any vertebrate animal other than man; or
any invertebrate animal, such as any insect, other arthropod, nematode, or
mollusk, such as a slug or snail, but excluding any internal parasite of living
man or other living animals; or any plant growing where not wanted, such as
any moss, alga, liverwort, fungus, or other plant of any higher order, and
any plant part such as a root; or any bacterium, virus, or other microorganisms,
except for those on or in living man or other living animals and those on
or in processed food or processed animal feed, beverages, drugs, as defined
in provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act at 21 USC § 321(g)
(i), and cosmetics, as defined in provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act at 21 USC § 321(i). Any organism classified as endangered,
threatened, or otherwise protected under federal or state laws shall not be
deemed a pest for the purposes of this chapter.
POULTRY
Includes all domestic fowl or game birds raised in the County.
[Added 6-20-2006]
ROAMING AT LARGE
Poultry shall be deemed to be roaming at large while roaming off
the property where housed or kept, and not under its owner's or custodian's
immediate and continuous supervision or control.
[Added 6-20-2006]
RODENT
Relatively small gnawing animals having a single pair of constantly
growing incisor teeth specialized for gnawing.
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
Includes but is not limited to the owner, occupier, or possessor
of the premises where the nuisance is located, the owner or agent of the owner
of the material which escaped, spilled, or was released and the owner or agent
of the owner who was transporting or otherwise responsible for such material
and whose acts or negligence caused such public nuisance.
It shall be unlawful for any person to permit, deposit, store or hold
any junk or matter which is noxious or offensive, either to health or to comfort,
on any premises or place or in any building or structure, unless such matter
is so treated, screened, covered or placed as not to create a nuisance. It
shall also be unlawful to throw, deposit or dump any paper, trash, rubbish,
ashes, garbage, junk or offensive matter on any public highway or right-of-way
or on any public property not otherwise operated as an approved collection
point for disposal in a sanitary landfill.
It shall be unlawful for any person to cause or allow garbage to accumulate
on his/her premises, whereby a nuisance or health hazard is created. It shall
also be unlawful for any person to deposit garbage on property belonging to
another, either public or private, other than at a sanitary landfill permitted
by the Department of Environmental Quality.
No pest or rodent infestation shall remain on any property within the
County. If, in the opinion of the County Administrator or designee, an infestation
occurs which constitutes a public nuisance or a menace to public health or
safety, he/she may order the rodents/pests controlled at the expense of the
owner of the property.
[Added 6-20-2006]
No poultry shall be allowed to roam at large outside the area where
housed or kept by the owners within the County. If, in the opinion of the
County Administrator or designee, poultry roaming at large is
determined to constitute a public nuisance or a menace to public health or
safety, the County Administrator or designee may order the poultry controlled
at the expense of the owner or removed.
It shall be unlawful for any person to cause or maintain a public nuisance
not otherwise provided for in this chapter.
The County Administrator or designee may investigate any possible violation
of this chapter. If he or she determines that a violation of any provision
of this chapter has occurred, he or she shall notify the violator to comply
within a time specified in the notice. Such notice shall be in writing and
delivered or mailed to the last known address of the violator. It shall be
unlawful for any person to fail to comply with such notice.
Should the recipient of the notice, as provided in §
80-7, fail or refuse or neglect to comply therewith within the time specified therein, then such person shall be deemed to be in violation of this chapter and subject to penalties as hereinafter provided.
If, after such reasonable notice as the County Administrator or designee
may prescribe, the owner or owners, occupant or occupants, of the property
or premises affected by the provisions of this section shall fail to abate
or obviate the condition or nuisance, the County Administrator or designee
may do so and charge and collect the cost thereof from the owner or owners,
occupant or occupants of the property affected in any manner provided by law
for the collection of state or local taxes. Every charge authorized by this
section with which the owners of any such property shall have been assessed
and remains unpaid shall constitute a lien against such property. In addition
to the penalties hereinabove stated, a person found guilty of a violation
of the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.