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Ordinance 1992-14 ORDINANCE NO. ?~ -Ic.f AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF WYLIE, TEXAS, AMENDING SEC. 2.00 TALL WEEDS, BRUSH, AND GRASS OF CHAPTER 14 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE aTY; DECLARING WEEDS, RUBBISH, BRUSH AND OTHER OBJECTIONABLE, UNSIGHTLY OR UNSANITARY MATTER A NUISANCE AND SETTING FORTH REGULATIONS REQillRING THE OWNER OR OCCUPANT TO KEEP PROPERTY FREE OF SUCH NUISANCE; PROVIDING FOR ABATEMENT OF SUCH NUISANCE BY THE CITY AND RECOVERY OF COSTS AND EXPENSES OF SUCH ABATEMENT, INCLUDING PROVISIONS FOR IMPOSITION OF A LIEN; PROVIDING FOR AN ADMINISTRATIVE FEE BEING THE COST OF ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 6-2; PROVIDING A REPEALER CLAUSE, A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, A SAVING CLAUSE, A PENALTY CLAUSE AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the Texas Health and Safety Code, V.T.C.A. provides municipalities with the power to require the owner of a lot within the municipality to keep the lot free from weeds, rubbish, brush, and other objectionable, unsightly, or unsanitary matter; and WHEREAS, for the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Wylie, the City Council desires to revise the provisions of Sec. 6-2 of Wylie City Code to provide clearer regulations and requirements for keeping properties within the City free from such conditions; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF OF WYLIE, TEXAS, AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I That Sec. 2.0 of Chapter 6 of the Wylie City Code, is hereby revised to read in its entirety as follows: "Sec. 2.00 Weeds, rubbish or unsanitary matter. 2.01 Definitions: for purposes of this section, the terms used herein shall have the following meanings: Brush shall mean scrub vegetation or dense undergrowth. Carrion shall mean the dead and putrefying flesh of any animal, fowl or fish. Filth shall mean any matter in a putrescent state. Garbage shall mean all decayable wastes. Junk shall mean all worn out, worthless, or discarded material, including, but not limited to: odds and ends, old iron or other material; glass; cordage; refrigerators and appliances (if outside buildings). Enforcement Officer shall mean the City of Wylie Code and Environmental Inspector, or such other person(s) designated by the City Manager. Impure or unwholesome matter shall mean any putrescible or nonputrescible condition, object or matter which tends, may, or could produce injury, death, or disease to human beings. Objectionable, unsightly or unsanitary mater shall mean any matter, condition, or object which is or should be objectionable, unsightly, or unsanitary to a person of ordinary sensitivities. Owner shall mean a person having title to real property. Person shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, association, business, corporation, or other entity. Refuse shall mean a heterogeneous accumulation of worn out, used up, broken, rejected or worthless materials and includes garbage, rubbish, paper or litter and other decayable or non- decayable waste. Rubbish shall mean trash, debris, rubble, stone, useless fragments of building materials, refrigerators and appliances, or other miscellaneous useless waste or rejected matter. Weeds shall mean vegetation that because of its height is objectionable, unsightly or unsanitary, but excluding: (1) Shrubs, bushes, and trees, (2) Cultivated flowers, and (3) Cultivated crops. Any word not defined herein shall be construed in the context used and by ordinary interpretations; not as a word of art. 2.02 A person owning, claiming, occupying, or having supervision or control of any 1 real property, occupied or unoccupied, within the city limits of the City of Wylie, Texas, and outside the city limits for a distance of five thousand (5,000) feet, commits an offensive if said person permits or allows any stagnant or unwholesome water, sinks, filth, carrion, weeds, rubbish, brush, refuse, junk or garbage, or impure or unwholesome matter of any kind, or objectionable, unsightly matter of whatever nature to accumulate or remain on such real property or within any easement area on such real property or upon any adjacent right-of-way for streets and alleys between the property line of such real property and where the paved surface of the street or alley begins. Such condition or conditions are hereby defined as public nuisances. 2.03 A person, owner, tenant, agent or person responsible for any premises within the City, occupied or unoccupied, commits an offensive if said person permits or allows weeds to grow on the premises to a greater height than twelve (12) inches. Said premises shall include, but not limited to, the parkway between sidewalk and the curb; the right-of-way between any fence, wall or barrier and the curb or pavement if such exists or the center line of said right-of- way; or the area between a fence, wall or barrier and within any abutting drainage channel easement to the top of such channel closest to the property. 2.04 With respect to uncultivated agricultural properties, a person, owner, tenant, agent or person responsible for such property commits an offense if said person permits or allows weeds to grow to a greater heights than twelve (12) inches within one-hundred fifty (150) feet from any adjacent property under different ownership or any street right-of-way. However, on cultivated agricultural properties where the distance between the growing crop and abutting property under different ownership or street right-of-way is less than one hundred fifty (150) feet, the person, owner, tenant, agent or person responsible for such property commits an offense if said person permits or allows weeds to grow to a greater height than twelve (12) inches between such growing crop and such property or street right-of-way, so long as no traffic visibility obstruction will exist. 2.05 In the event that any person violates the proVISIOns of this section, the Enforcement Officer , or his designee, shall give notice to such person setting forth the noncompliance with this section. Such notice shall be given in anyone of the following ways: (a) Personal delivery: (b) By letter addressed to such person at his post office address, and which shall deemed to have been received five (5) days from the date of mailing; (c) If personal service cannot be obtained or the owner's post office address is unknown; (1) by publication at least twice within ten (10) consecutive days; (2) by posting the notice on or near the front door of each building on the property to which the violation relates; or (3) by posting the notice on a placard attached to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the violation relates if the property contains no .3. buildings. If such person fails or refuses to comply with the demand for compliance in the notice within ten (1) days of such notice or publication, the city may do such work or cause such work to be done to bring the real property into compliance with this section. The costs, charges, and expenses incurred in doing or having such work done or improvements made to the real property shall be a charge to and personal liability of such person (called "Charges). The Charges to be collected by the City under this section shall include in addition to the costs and expenses of mowing or correcting a condition upon a tract of land, the sum of One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) per lot or tract of land, which sum is hereby found to be the cost to the city of administering the terms of this section. If a notice as provided herein is delivered to the owner of such real property, and he fails or refuses to comply with the demand for compliance within the applicable time period as herein provided, the aforementioned costs, charges, and expenses shall be, in addition to a charge to and personal liability of the owner, a privileged lien upon and against such real property, including all fixtures and improvements thereon. In order to perfect such lien, the enforcement officer, or his designee, shall first give such owner written notice of demand for payment of such charges. Such written notice may be given by an one of the methods provided for the initial notice requiring compliance. If the owner fails or refuses to make complete payment of the charges within twenty (20) days of such notice, the enforcement officer, or his designee, shall file a written statement of such charges with the County Clerk of the County in which the real property is located for filing in the County Land Records. The statement shall be sufficient if it contains the following: i) The name of the owner; ii) A description of the real property; iii) The amount of the charges including interest thereon; iv) A statement that all prerequisites required by this section for the imposition of the charges and the affixing of the lien have been met; v) A statement signed by the Enforcement Officer, or his designee, under oath, that the statements made therein are true and correct. The statement may also contain such other information deemed appropriate by the Enforcement Officer, or his designee. All charges shall bear interest at the rate of ten (10) percent per annum from the date the City incurs the expense. The City may bring suit to collect the Charges, institute foreclosure ! proceedings, or both. The statement, as provided herein, or certified copy thereof, shall be prima facie evidence of the City's claim for charges or right to foreclose the lien. The owner or any other person responsible as provided herein, shall be jointly and severally liable for the charges. 2.06 The provisions of this section shall be enforced by representatives of the City's Code Enforcement Department. Notwithstanding any provisions of this section to the contrary, the Enforcement Officer has authority to issue immediate citations to persons violating any provision of this section in the presence of said official. It shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with the Enforcement Officer, his designee, or an Environmental Health Specialist, in the exercise of their duties under this section. 2.07 Any person, firm, or corporation who commits an offense under the provisions of this section shall be subject to the penalty provided for in Section 1-1.06 of this Code. SECTION II Should any paragraph, sentence, sub-division, clause,phrase or section of this ordinance be adjudged or held to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid the same shall not affect the validity of this ordinance as a whole or any part or provision thereof, other than the part or parts as declared to be invalid, illegal. SECTION ill This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its adoption by the City Council and publication of its caption as the law and the City Charter provide in such cases. SECTION IV That all other ordinances and code provisions in conflict herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of any such conflict or consistency and all other provisions of the Wylie City Code not in conflict herewith shall remain in full force and effect. SECTION V The repeal of any ordinance, of parts thereof, by the enactment of this Ordinance, shall not be construed as abandoning any action now pending under or by virtue of such ordinance; nor shall it have the effect of discontinuing, abating, modifying or altering any penalty accruing or to accrue, nor as effecting any rights of the municipality under any section or provisions of any ordinances at the time of passage of this ordinance. 5. DULY PASSED AND APPROVED by the City Council of the City of Wylie, Texas, this 8th day of December, 1992. ~