Chapter 8.05
PUBLIC NUISANCES
Sections:
8.05.010 Nuisances designated.
8.05.015 Duty to remove nuisances.
8.05.018 Authorized act not a public nuisance.
8.05.030 Repealed.
8.05.040 Failure to abate nuisance or pay bill – Lien on property.
8.05.005 Prohibited conduct.
It is a violation of this chapter for any person to permit, create, maintain, or allow, upon any premises, any of the acts or things declared in HPMC 8.05.010 to be a public nuisance. [Ord. 461 § 2, 2007]
8.05.010 Nuisances designated.
Each of the following conditions, unless otherwise permitted by law, is declared to constitute a public nuisance:
(1) Trees, plants, shrubs or vegetation or parts thereof which are growing in such manner, either above or below ground, so as to obstruct or otherwise interfere or impair the full and unhampered use of a street or other public way;
(2) Any premises containing trash, filth, rubbish, debris, accumulation of yard trimmings, or abandoned materials, except properly maintained yard compost or trash kept in properly closed garbage cans or containers maintained for regular collection; provided, that said garbage cans are not left in the public right-of-way for longer than three days;
(3) Erecting, maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remain in or upon any premises, which may be viewed or smelled from without the premises, or in or upon any street, alley, sidewalk, park, parkway or other public or private place in the town, any privies, vaults, cesspools, open containers of stagnant water, sumps, pits or like places which are not securely protected from flies and rats, or which are malodorous;
(4) Any dangerous, decaying, unkempt, falling or damaged dwelling, fence, or other structure;
(5) Any accumulation of material which endangers property or public safety, or constitutes a fire hazard or vermin habitat on a property, including, but not limited to, animal matter, ashes, bottles, boxes, broken stone, cans, cement, crates, empty barrels, dead animals or animal waste, glass, litter, mattresses or bedding, old appliances or equipment or any parts thereof, furniture, iron or other scrap metal, packing cases, packing material, plaster, plastic, rags, wire, yard waste or debris or other objects; provided, that nothing in this section shall prevent the temporary retention of waste in appropriate, covered receptacles;
(6) The existence in a place accessible to children of any attractive nuisance dangerous to children, including but not limited to any abandoned, broken or neglected equipment, machinery, refrigerator, freezer, or other large appliance; any structurally unsound or unsafe fence or edifice; any unsecured or abandoned excavation, pit, well, cistern, storage tank or shaft; and any lumber, trash, debris or vegetation which may prove a hazard for minors;
(7) Dumping of any type by any person on public or private property not registered as a legal dump site;
(8) Dense smoke, noxious fumes, gas and soot, or cinders, in unreasonable quantities;
(9) Any poisonous or harmful substance which is reasonably accessible to persons or to animals; and
(10) The keeping or harboring of any animal which by frequent or habitual howling, yelping, barking or the making of other noises, or the keeping or harboring of any fowl which by frequent habitual crowing or the making of other noises shall annoy or disturb a neighborhood or any considerable number of persons to an unreasonable degree, taken to be continuous noise for a period of 10 or more minutes or intermittent noise for a period of 30 or more minutes. [Ord. 461 § 3, 2007; Ord. 208 § 1, 1988]
8.05.015 Duty to remove nuisances.
It is the duty of the owner(s) of property containing any nuisance listed in HPMC 8.05.010 to abate the nuisance. [Ord. 461 § 4, 2007]
8.05.018 Authorized act not a public nuisance.
An act which is done or maintained under the express authority of a statute or ordinance cannot be deemed a public nuisance. [Ord. 461 § 5, 2007]
8.05.020 Enforcement.
The town engineer shall enforce this chapter on town rights-of-way and private property. If, after notice, any property owner fails or refuses to abate any such nuisance on private property, the town engineer may require such property owner, in addition or alternative to the penalties prescribed by HPMC 8.05.050, to abate the nuisance by removal or destruction, at the owner’s cost and expense within a time specified by the town engineer. If the removal or destruction is not made by such owner within the time specified, the town engineer acting on behalf of the town may abate the same as provided in this chapter. [Ord. 461 § 6, 2007; Ord. 208 § 3, 1988]
8.05.030 Notice.
Repealed by Ord. 461. [Ord. 208 § 4, 1988]
8.05.040 Failure to abate nuisance or pay bill – Lien on property.
If a nuisance is not abated by removal or destruction by the property owner at the direction of the town engineer within the time given, the town engineer may abate the same and shall render a statement covering the cost to the town of such abatement, including the engineer’s time and expense, and mail the statement to the property owner. If the property owner fails or refuses to pay the statement, the town may record a lien against the property which lien shall be in the same form, filed with the same officer and within the same time and manner and enforced and foreclosed as is provided by law for liens for labor and material. [Ord. 461 § 8, 2007; Ord. 208 § 5, 1988]
8.05.050 Violation – Penalty.
In addition to or as an alternative to any other penalty provided in this chapter or by law, the failure or refusal to comply with any of the provisions of HPMC 8.05.015 shall subject the offender to a fine not exceeding $500.00, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 90 days, or both. [Ord. 461 § 9, 2007; Ord. 208 § 2, 1988]