Loading...
19810929 1981-17ORDINANCE NO. 1981-17 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FAIRFAX TO AMEND A CHAPTER 11.2 ENTITLED HEALTH, SAFETY AND SANITATION BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Fairfax, Virginia, that Chapter 11.2, entitled Health, Safety and Sanitation be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: "CHAPTER 11.2 HEALTH, SAFETY AND SANITATION. ~11.2-1. Definition. §11.2-2. Abatement of health and safety menaces ~enerally. Failure to abate a health or safety menace. §11.2-4. §11.2-5. §11.2-6. Emergency procedure. Hearin9 and appeal procedure. Accumulations of trash, etc., prohibited; removal of same; abatement by city; unpaid costs to constitute lien on pr ope rty. Trash, litter, rubbish, etc., on commercial and industrial property. Sec. 11.2-1. Definition. A public health or safety menace shall include, but not be limited to: unburied de ad animals, accumulations of water causing mosquito or other vector breeding or proliferation; unsanitary disposal of sewage, debris, construction wastes, compost, litter, waste matter, trash and garbage; rodent and insect infestations; the accumulation of fowl and animals in such a manner as to create a condition that may be in3u~lous to the public health or safety; hazards such as open excavations, open wells, pits, trees o~ parts thereof in danger of falling, discarded refrigerators and freezers with doors attached, unsecured vacant structures, or habitation for bats, wasps or other ven~ous pests; and any other condition that may be injurious to the public health or safety. Sec. 11.2-2. Abatement of health or safety menaces generally. (a) The city health officer or his designee is authorized to inspect occupied or vacant land or premises to ascertain the existence of health or safety menaces on such land or premises. The 1981-17 -2- city health officer shall inspect the land or premises at reasonable daylight times in a reasonable manner. If the owner, lessee, occupant or person in control of the land or premises denies the city health officer or his designee free access for such purposes, the city health officer or his designee may inspect after obtaining a search warrant. (b) When any condition that constitutes a public health or safety menace is found on occupied or vacant land or premises, the city health officer or his designee shall notify in writing the owner, lessee, occupant or person in control of such land or premises. Such written notice shall contain a description of the health or safety menace; the time within which the menace shal 1 be abated, corrected or el iminated; a statement that the owner or occupant may request a hearing within ten (10) days of the receipt of the notice; and an address and/or telephone number at which information may be obtained concerning such public health or safety menace. The amount of time allowed to abate, correct or eliminate the condition shall not be less than forty-eight (48) hours nor more than ten (10) days. Notice sent by registered or certified mail to the last known address of the owner as shown on the current real estate tax assessment books shal 1 be deemed compliance with the notice requirement to the owner. (c) If the written notice as provided in this section is undeliverable or if an emergency is found to exist, the city health officer or his designee shall cause a public notice, as described by this section, to be posted on the land or premises on which the public health or safety menace exists. (d) Every owner, lessee, occupant or person in control of any land or premises within the jurisdictional limits of the City shal 1, upon written notice from the city health officer or his designee, abate, correct and end the existence of any condition that is a public health or safety menace. Sec. 11.2-3. Failure to abate a health or safety menace. (a) After receipt of the written notice, it is unlawful for the owner, lessee, occupant or person in control of the land or premises on which the condition exists to fail to abate, correct or eliminate the condition within such time as such written notice requires. Upon a good faith showing that a longer period of time is required to abate, correct or eliminate the condition the city health officer may allow a longer period of time. If the owner, lessee, occupant or person in control of such land or premises shall neglect or refuse to abate, correct or eliminate the condition within the time required, he shal 1, upon conviction thereof, be punished as provided in section 1-6. 1981-17 -3- (b) If the written notice is undeliverable, or if, after the receipt of the written notice, the owner, lessee, occupant or person in control of the land or premises on which the condition exists fails to abate, correct or eliminate the condition, the city health officer, after granting such owner, lessee, occupant or person in control an opportunity to be heard, may request the director of public works to take reasonable steps to abate, correct or elminate the condition whether the land or premises are occupied or vacant. If the owner or occupant of the land or premises denies free access for such purposes, the dire ctor of public works may proce ed after obtaining a warrant. Costs and expenses incurred by the health department and/or the department of public works shall be assessed against the owner, lessee, occupant or person in control of the land or premises, and shal 1 be recoverable from the owner in the same way as taxes and levies. Sec. 11.2-4. Emergency procedure. In the case of an emergency, the city health officer or his designee may request the director of public works to take reasonable steps to abate, correct or eliminate, to the extent immmediately necessary, the condition without providing the owner, lessee, occupant or person in control of the land or premises an opportunity to be heard until afterwards. In such an emergency, any request for hearing must be made within ten days after the condition is abated, corrected or eliminated. Sec. 11.2-5. Hearing and appeal procedure. All hearing requests shall be in writing and directed to the city health officer, who shall forward the request to the city manager within two days of receipt. All hearings shall be before the city manager or his designee. The city manager shall set a time and place for the hearing, which shall occur within ten days of the request for the hearing, and shal 1 so notify the city heal th officer and the appellant. After the hearing, the city manager may affirm, amend or overturn the requirements of the city health officer or his de s ignee. Any person who fa il s, refuses or neglects to comply with any order of the city manager shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter. Sec. 11.2- 6. Accumulations of trash, etc;, prohibited; removal of same; abatement by city; unpaid costs to constitute lien on property. (a) No person owning or having possession or charge of any premises, vacant lot, private roadway, Whether in use or not, or other lands within the City, shall permit to accumulate or remain accumulated thereon, within five hundred feet of any inhabited building or dwelling, any rubbish, trash, garbage, piles or mounds of earth, pools of water or other matter which may be a breeding place of disease, noxious insect s or rodents or which may be otherwise injurious to the 1981-17 -4- health, safety or welfare of the area concerned, but shal 1 keep such lands cleared of any objectionable accumulations or piles or mounds of earth. (b) Should the city health officer or his designee find such objectionable accumulations, piles or mounds of earth, he shall have the power to inspect such accumulations, piles or mounds as set forth above in section 11.2-2; he shall have the power to abate, correct or eliminate such accumulations, piles or mounds and collect costs and expenses incurred as set forth above in section 11.2-3; he shall have the power to take emergency actions as set forth above in section 11.2-4; and he shall have the duty to provide notice and opportunity to be heard as set forth above in sections 11.2-2 and 11.2-5. (c) Any person who shall be in violation of the provisions of this section and who, upon receipt of written notice from the city health officer or his designee to correct the same, shall fail or refuse to correct the violation within the time prescribed, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished as provided by section 1-6. Sec. 11.2-~..7. Trash, litter, rubbish, etc. , on commercial, and industrial property. (a) It shall be the joint and several respo ns ibil ity of the owner and occupant of commercial and industrial lands or buildings to provide a sufficient number of containers for storage of refuse to prevent overflow between times of collection, and to maintain the premises in accordance with the standards of this chapter. Such containers shal 1 be equipped with a tight fitting lid and shall be water tight, rodent proof and fly proof. (b) The owners and occupants of al 1 developed commercial or industrial property within the limits of the City are hereby required to install and maintain trash receptacles on the edge of all sidewalks or other designated pedestrian walkways within such property. These receptacles shall be placed at a maximum of sixty feet apart, unless the city health officer or his designee determines that this distance is not practicable. Such receptacles shall be of a type and size suitable for the purpose and clearly designated as receptacles of trash. (c) Should the city health officer or his designee find a violation of this section, he shall have the power to inspect such violation as set forth above in section 11.2-2; he shall have the power to abate, correct or eliminate such violation and collect costs and expenses incurred as set forth above in section 11.2-3; he shall have the power to take emergency actions as set forth above in section 11.2-4; and he shall have the duty to provide notice and opportunity to be heard as set forth above in sections 11.2-2 and 11.2-5. (d) Any person who shall be in violation of the provisions of this section and who, upon 1981-17 -5- receipt of written notice from the city health officer or his designee to correct the same, shall fail or refuse to correct the violation within the time prescribed, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon convict ion thereof, be punished as provided by section 1-6." This ordinance shall become effective immediately upon adoption. Introduced: September 8, 1981 Adopted: September 29, 1981 ATTEST: