This chapter is adopted pursuant to the authority
granted by §§ 251.04, 251.06, 252.01, 252.02, 252.03,
252.05, 252.06, 252.07, 252.11, 252.18, 252.19, 252.21, 254.59, 254.593
and 254.595, Wis. Stats.
The purpose and intent of this chapter is to
protect the public health, safety and general welfare and to maintain
and protect the environment for the people and communities of Pierce
County and in the process to:
A. Prevent communicable diseases.
B. Prevent the continuance of public nuisances.
C. Assure compliance with county and state air quality
standards.
D. Assure that insects and rodents do not create a public
nuisance and/or human health hazard.
E. Assure that surface and ground waters meet county
and state standards and regulations.
F. Assure that solid waste is handled, stored and disposed
of according to county and state standards and regulations.
G. Assure that citizens are protected from hazardous,
unhealthy or unsafe substances.
H. Provide for the administration and enforcement of
this chapter and provide penalties for its violation.
The following definitions apply throughout this
chapter:
COUNTY
Pierce County, Wisconsin.
GROUNDWATER
All water found beneath the surface of Pierce County located
in sand, gravel, lime rock or sandstone geological formations or any
combination of these formations.
HEALTH HAZARD
A situation or condition which exists or has the potential
to exist which adversely affects or has the potential to adversely
affect the health of a person and/or the general public.
HUMAN HEALTH HAZARD
A substance, activity or condition that is known to have
the potential to cause acute or chronic illness or death if exposure
to the substance, activity or condition is not abated.
IMMEDIATE HEALTH HAZARD
A condition which exists or has the potential to exist which
should, in the opinion of the Local Health Officer, be abated or corrected
immediately, or at least within a twenty-four-hour period, to prevent
possible severe damage to human health and/or the environment.
ORDINANCE
The Pierce County Public Health Nuisance and Human Health
Hazard Ordinance.
OWNER
Any of the following:
A.
A person who has legal title to a dwelling;
or
B.
A person who has charge, care or control of a dwelling or unit of a dwelling as an agent of or as executor, administrator, trustee or guardian of the estate of a person under Subsection
A.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, corporation, society, institution,
public body or any other entity.
POLLUTION
The contaminating or rendering unclean or impure of the air,
land or waters of the county or making the same injurious to public
health, harmful for commercial or recreational use or deleterious
to fish, bird, animal or plant life.
PUBLIC
Affecting or having the potential to affect the people and/or
the environment outside the limits of one's personally owned and/or
occupied structure.
PUBLIC HEALTH NUISANCE
A thing, act, condition or use of property which is dangerous
or has the potential to be dangerous to human life or health and whatever
renders or has the potential to render the soil, air, water or any
article of food or drink unwholesome or impure is a nuisance.
SOLID WASTE
Garbage, refuse and all other discarded or salvageable solid
materials from commercial and agricultural operations and from domestic
use and public service activities, but does not include solids or
dissolved material in wastewater effluent or other common water pollutants.
STATE
The State of Wisconsin.
STRUCTURE or BUILDING
A man-made structure or device having walls and a roof erected
or set upon an individual foundation or slab-constructed base designed
or used for the housing, shelter, enclosure or support of persons,
animals or property of any kind. This definition shall include mobile
homes.
The ordinance codified in this chapter shall
be referred to as the "Pierce County Public Health Nuisance and Human
Health Hazard Ordinance."
The Pierce County Local Health Officer shall
be appointed by the County Board Chairperson, subject to confirmation
by the County Board of Supervisors.
[Amended 5-24-2022 by Ord. No. 22-03]
This chapter shall be administered by the Local
Health Officer or delegated official. The Local Health Officer or
the delegated official shall have the power to ensure compliance with
the intent and purpose of this chapter by any means possible under
the law. This chapter shall not divest the Zoning Administrator or
Solid Waste Operations Manager or other county official of powers
and duties previously delegated elsewhere in the Pierce County Code.
The provisions of this chapter shall be interpreted
to be minimum requirements and shall be liberally construed in favor
of enforcement and shall not be deemed a limitation or repeal of any
power granted by the Wisconsin statutes, Wisconsin Administrative
Code or by the Pierce County Board of Supervisors in other provisions
of the Pierce County Code.
The jurisdiction of this chapter shall include
all air, land and water (both surface and ground) within Pierce County
but shall not apply within the corporate limits of municipalities
that have a local health department in accord with Chapter 251, Wis.
Stats.
The Local Health Officer or other county official
shall have all the powers necessary to enforce the provisions of this
chapter, without limitation by reason of enumeration, including the
following:
A. To enter any structure or premises at a reasonable
time for the purpose of performing duties under this chapter and to
secure a court order to accomplish this purpose if necessary.
B. To order abatement and/or correction of any public
nuisance or health hazard in compliance with this chapter or state
statutes.
C. To delegate the administration and enforcement of
this chapter to a registered environmental health sanitarian or another
person qualified in the field of public health, except as delegated
elsewhere in the Pierce County Code.
D. To take any other action authorized under the law
or this chapter to ensure compliance with the purpose, intent and
requirements of this chapter.
No person shall erect, construct, cause, continue, maintain or permit any human or immediate health hazard or public nuisance within the county. Any person who shall cause, create or maintain a human or immediate health hazard or nuisance or who shall in any way aid or contribute to the causing, creating or maintenance thereof shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter and shall be liable for all costs and expense attendant upon the removal and correction of such a human or immediate health hazard or nuisance and to the penalty provided in §
180-18E.
It shall be the responsibility of the property
owner to maintain property in a hazard-free manner and to be responsible
for the abatement and/or correction of any human or immediate health
hazard or public health nuisance that has been determined to exist
on his or her property. In the event that the property is occupied
by a tenant who fails or refuses to abate or correct a human or immediate
health hazard or public health nuisance for which the tenant is responsible,
responsibility for abatement and/or correction will be that of the
property owner.
The following are human health hazards and public
nuisances:
A. Unburied carcasses. Carcasses of animals, bird or
fowl not intended for human consumption or food which are not buried
or otherwise disposed of in a sanitary manner within the time period
specified by the Health Officer or as required by § 95.50,
Wis. Stats.
B. Manure. Accumulations of the bodily waste from all
domestic animals and fowl that are handled, stored or disposed of
in a manner that creates a health hazard.
C. Air pollution. The escape of smoke, soot, cinders,
noxious acids, fumes, gases, fly ash, industrial dust or any other
atmospheric pollutants within the county that creates noncompliance
with Chapter NR 445 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
D. Noxious odors. Any negligent use of property, substances
or things within the county emitting or causing any foul, offensive,
noisome, noxious or disagreeable odor or stenches extremely repulsive
to the physical senses of ordinary persons or a neighborhood as a
whole.
E. Solid waste. Any solid waste which is stored or disposed
of in a manner which may pose a human health hazard as defined above.
F. Food or breeding places for vermin, insects, etc.
Accumulations of decayed animal or vegetable matter, trash, rubbish,
garbage, rotting lumber, bedding, packing material, scrap metal, animal
and human fecal matter or any substance in which flies, mosquitoes,
disease-carrying insects, rats or other vermin can breed, live, nest
or seek shelter, except private compost piles.
G. Toxic and hazardous materials or waste. Any chemical
and/or biological material or waste that is stored, used or disposed
of in such quantity or manner that it is, or has the potential to
create, a public health hazard.
H. Wastewater. The presence of wastewater or sewage effluent
from buildings on the ground surface, backing up into the building
and/or running into a surface water body, caused by a damaged, malfunctioning,
improperly constructed or inadequately maintained private sewage system
or private sewage lateral; also any wastewater or sewage effluent
that is not handled and disposed of in compliance with all applicable
county and state codes.
I. Surface water pollution. The pollution of any stream,
lake or other body of surface water within the county that creates
noncompliance with Chapters NR 102 and NR 103 of the Wisconsin Administrative
Code.
J. Groundwater pollution. Addition of any chemical and/or
biological substance that would cause groundwater to be unpalatable
or unfit for human consumption. These substances include but are not
limited to the chemical and/or biological substances listed in Chapter
NR 809 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
K. Holes or openings. Any hole or opening caused by an
improperly abandoned cistern, septic tank, dug well or any other improperly
abandoned, barricaded or covered up excavation.
L. Nonfunctioning and maintenance of public building
fixtures.
(1) Nonfunctioning water supply systems, toilets, urinals,
lavatories or other fixtures considered necessary to ensure a sanitary
condition in a public building.
(2) Any public rest room which is soiled by human waste
or other waste and maintained in a filthy and/or unclean manner.
M. Unhealthy or unsanitary condition. Any condition or
situation which renders a structure or any part thereof unsanitary,
unhealthy and unfit for human habitation, occupancy or use or renders
any property unsanitary or unhealthy.
No owner or occupant shall allow any other human
health hazard or public health nuisance as determined by the Local
Health Officer to exist in any dwelling or dwelling unit.
The Local Health Officer or designated representative
shall investigate all potential public nuisances and human health
hazards and shall determine whether or not they exist.
Abatement, correction and enforcement of public
nuisances and human health hazards will be in accord with this chapter.