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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinances Book 16, Page 1161, Ordinance Number 69-12-269ORDINANCE NO. 69-12-269 AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE ABATEMENT AND REMOVAL OF PUBLIC NUISANCES OF ABANDONED, WRECKED, DISMANTLED, JUNIED, OR INOPERATIVE MOTOR VEHICLES, OR PARTS THEREOF, AND OF HOUSEHOLD, BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL APPLIANCES FROM PRIVATE PROPERTY OR PUBLIC PROPERTY, FROM OCCUPIED PREMISES OR UNOCCUPIED PREMISES, WITH AND WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE OWNER OR OCCUPANT; PROVIDING PROCEDURES THEREFOR; PROVIDING FOR ACCUMULATIVE PROVISION; PROVIDING FOR A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES WHEREAS, the presence of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled,' junked or inoperative motor vehicles, or parts thereof, or of abandoned, junked or inoperative household, business or industrial appliances or equipment, or parts thereof, on private or public property is hereby found to create a condition tending to reduce the value of private property, to promote blight and deterioration, to invite plundering and vandalism, to create fire hazards, to constitute an attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors, to create a barborage for rodents and insects and to be injurious to the health, safety and general welfare, and, when on city streets, to create a traffic hazard and endanger the public safety, and WHEREAS, existing ordinances pertaining to zoning, litter, junkyards, illegal parking and impoundment of motor vehicles are insufficient alone to solve the problems created by abandoned and junked motor vehicles, NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF PADUCAH, KENTUCKY: SECTION 1. For the purpose of this ordinance, the following terms, phrases, words and their duration shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense shall include the future; words used in the plural number shall include the singular number; and words used in the singulat number shall include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory. (a) "Junked Motor Vehicles". Any contrivance, or parts thereof, propelled by power and used for transportation of persons or property on public streets and highways, the condition of which is one or more of the following: 1162 (1) Wrecked (2) Dismantled (3) Partially dismantled (4) Inoperative (5) Abandoned (6) Discarded (b) "Junked Appliances". Any unit, or part thereof, of machinery, furniture, or equipment, whether functional or ornamental, and whether mechanical or powered by some source of energy or not, including, but not limited to, stoves, refrigerators, television sets, beds, lamps, tools, objects of Art, etc., the condition of which is one of the following: (1) Wrecked (2) Dismantled (3) Partially dismantled (4) Inoperative (5) Abandoned (6) Discarded Provided, however, the term shall not apply where the unit does not exceed 15 cubic feet or the combination of units in the immediate proximity to each other does not exceed 120 cubic feet. (c) "Person". Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind. SECTION 2. The presence of any junked motor vehicle or appliance on public property or on any provate lot, tract or parcel of land or portion thereof, occupied or unoccupied, improved or unimproved, within the City of Paducah, Kentucky, shall be deemed a public nuisance, and shall further be considered rubbish or refuse and, it shall be unlawful for any person to cause or maintain such a public nuisance by wrecking, dismantling, partially dismantling, rendering inoperable, abandoning or discarding any motor vehicle or appliance on the real property of another or to suffer, permit or allow a junked motor vehicle or appliance to be parked, left or maintained on his own real property, provided that this provision shall not apply with regard to: (a) Any motor vehicle or appliance in an enclosed building; (b) Any motor vehicle or appliance on the premises of a business enterprise operated in a lawful manner, when necessary to the operation of such business enterprise; or (c) Any motor vehicle or appliance on property occupied and used for repair, reconditioning and remodeling of motor vehicles or appliances in conformance with the zoning ordinance of the city of Paducah. Nothing in this section shall authorize the maintenance of a public or private nuisance as defined under other provisions of law. 1163 SECTION 3. This ordinance is not the exclusive regulation of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicles or appliances within the city. Such junked motor vehicles and appliances are hereby declared to be a public nuisance and unlawful as set our in Section 2 above. The provisions of this ordinance are supplemental and in addition to all other regulatory codes, statutes and ordinances heretofore enacted by the city, state or any other legal entity or agency having jurisdiction. SECTION 4. The provisions of this ordinance shall be administered and enforced by the Building Inspector, or his assistant if directed in writing by the City Manager. In the enforcement of this ordinance, sues. officer and his duly authorized agents, assistants, employees, or contractors, may enter upon private or public property to examine a junked motor vehicle or appliance, or obtain information as to the identity of a junked motor vehicle or appliance and of the owner thereof, and to remove or cause removal of a junked motor vehicle or appliance declared to be a nuisance pursuant to this ordinance. SECTION 5. Whenever the enforcement officer shall deem such a public nuisance to exist, he shall issue a notice to the parEies hereinafter stated, and such notice shall: (a) be in writing; (b) specify the public nuisance and its location; (c) request the public nuisance to be abated; and (d) advise the said party that he has ten (10) days to abate the nuisance or to make a written demand for a hearing before the enforcement officer, or else the public nuisance will be removed and abated by the city. The notice shall be sent by registered mail, return receipt requested, to the last known address of the owner of the property whereon the nuisance is located, as it appears on the current tax assessment roll. Where the owner of the property is not the occupant thereof, such notice shall be mailed also to the occupant (s). The enforcement officer shall coordinate his efforts to determine ownership of a junked motor vehicle with the Paducah Police Department, and notice shall also be sent to the last registered and legal owner of record of the junked motor vehicle, unless the owner is the owner or occupant of the premises whereon the nuisance is located, and unless identification numbers are not available to determine ownership of the vehicle. If the owner, or his address, of any junked motor vehicle is not known or cannot be readily ascertained. 1164 the notice to him to abate, and of his right to a hearing may be given by attaching such notice to the vehicle no less than ten (10) days before action is to be taken. If the latter method of service is used, the enforcement officer shall make an affidavit attesting to such facts. Where a junked motor vehicle is found to be upon any public property within the city, notice to the owner of the vehicle is all that shall be required. Where a junked appliance is found on public property, no notice shall be required. In the event a hearing is demanded, such hearing shall be held within five (5) days after the demand is made and shall be conducted by the enforcement officer, who shall hear all the facts and testimony on the condition of the junked motor vehicle or appliance and the circumstances concerning the location. Such hearing shall not be limited by technical rules of evidence. The enforcement officer may impose such conditions and take such other action as he deems appropriate under the circumstances to carry out the purposes of this ordinance. He may delay the time for removal of the junked motor vehicle or appliance if, in his opinion, circumstances justify it. At the conclusion of any hearing, the enforcement officer may find that a junked motor vehicle or appliance has been abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or is inoperative on private or public property and order the same removed from the property as a public nuisance and order disposal of same. The order requiring removal shall include a description of the junked appliance or junked motor vehicle and the correct identification number and state license tag number of the junked motor vehicle, if available at the site. Any interested party may appeal the decision of the enforcement officer by appealing to any Court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to the rules of civil procedure within fourteen (14) days after the decision. If no appeal is taken within the time prescribed, or immedi- ately after a final judicial review affirming the right to remove the nuisance, the enforcement officer shall cause the junked motor vehicle or appliance to be removed and disposed of in any manner as he may provide. SECTION 6. Upon the failure, neglect or refusal to abate by any owner - occupant or owner of private property who has been notified and ordered to abate such public nuisance within the time as set forth above, the enforcement officer is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to remove same and dispose of it. 1165 The cost of such removal and disposal shall be accounted for by the enforcement officer, and where the full amount due the city for such service is not paid by such owner within thirty (30) days after the disposal of such nuisance, then and in that case, the enforcement officer shall cause to be recorded in the McCracken County Court Clerk's office a sworn statement showing the cost and expense incurred for the work, the date the work was done, and the location of the property on which said work was done. The recordation of such sworn statement shall constitute a lien and privilege on the property, and shall remain in full force and effect for the amount due in principal and interest, plus cost of Court, if any, for collection, until final payment has been made. Sworn statements recorded in accordance with the provisions hereof shall be prima facie evidence that all legal formalities have been complied with and shall be full notice to every person concerned that the amount of the statement, plus interest, constitutes a charge against the property designated or described in the statement and that the same .is due and collectable as provided by law. SECTION 7. Neither the owner or occupant of the premises from which any aforesaid junked motor vehicles shall be removed, their servants or agents, or any department of the City of Paducah or its agents, shall be liable for any loss or damage to said junked motor vehicle while being removed or as a result of any subsequent sale or other disposition. SECTION 8. The removal of the junked motor vehicle from the premises prior to the time for removal by the City shall be considered compliance with the provisions of this ordinance and no further action shall be taken against the owner of the junked motor vehicle or appliance or the owner or occupant of the premises. Written permission given to the enforcement officer for the removal of the junked motor vehicle or appliance by the owner of same or the owner or occupant of the premises on which it is located, shall be considered compliance with the provisions of this ordinance on their part and no further action shall be taken against the ones giving such permission, except for collection of towing charges or hauling costs for the removal of the nuisance. SECTION 9. In addition to the civil remedies provided for in this ordinance, it shall be unlawful for any person to continue and maintain the public nuisance as described herein, and any person violating any provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon con- viction thereof shall be fined in any amount not less than $25.00 nor more 1166 than $300.00 or be imprisoned in the city jail for a period not exceeding thirty (30) days or be both so fined and imprisoned. Each day such violation is committed or permitted to continue shall constitute a separate offense and shall be punishable as such hereunder. SECTION 10. The provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed cumulative of the provisions and regulations contained in the Code of Ordinances, City of Paducah, Kentucky, save and except that where the provisions of this ordinance and the sections hereunder are in conflict with the provisions elsewhere in the Paducah City Code, then the pro- visions contained herein shall prevail. Any and all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are, to the extent of such conflict, hereby repealed. SECTION 11. It is hereby declared to be the intention of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Paducah that the sections, para- graphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence,paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid by the judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect any other remaining phrase$,clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the said Commissioners without the incorporation in this ordinance of any unconstitutional or invalid phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs or sections. SECTION 12. As there are no adequate provisions regulating public nuisances created by junked motor vehicles or appliances on private or public property, the regulation thereof is necessary and in the public interest and an emergency exists in the immediate preservation of the public health, safety, comfort and general welfare, and this ordinance shall therefore be in full force and effect from and after its adoption. Mayor Passed by the Board of commissioners December 19, 1969 Recorded by Sarah Thurman, city Clerk, December 19, 1969.