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0611 Code Enforcement ORDINANCE NO. 611 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF OKEECHOBEE, FLORIDA, PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF CHAPTER 9 AND SECTION 11 -7 AND 11 -17 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF OKEECHOBEE, FLORIDA; DECLARING SAME TO BE NULL AND VOID AND OF NO EFFECT; PROVIDING A NEW TITLE FOR CHAPTER 8; PROVIDING FOR NEW DEFINITIONS IN SECTION 8 -1; AMENDING SECTION 8 -2 AND 8 -4; PROVIDING FOR NEW SECTIONS 8 -8 THROUGH 8 -15 INCLUSIVE; AMENDING SECTION 8 -17; PROVIDING FOR RESERVING 8 -37 THROUGH 8 -39 INCLUSIVE IN ARTICLE II, DIVISION 2; PROVIDING FOR A NEW ARTICLE II, DIVISION 3 ENTITLED ENFORCEMENT; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED by the city council of the City of Okeechobee, Florida as follows: SECTION 1. Chapter 9, Section 11 -7 and 11 -17 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Okeechobee, Florida, is hereby repealed and declared null and void and of no effect. SECTION 2. The title of chapter eight of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Okeechobee, Florida, shall now read: HEALTH AND BEAUTIFICATION. SECTION 3. Chapter eight of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Okeechobee, Florida, is hereby amended as follows: ARTICLE I. IN GENERAL SECTION 8 -1. DEFINITIONS: Abandoned Property: Wrecked or derelict property having no value other than nominal salvage value, if any, which has been left abandoned and unprotected from the elements and shall include wrecked, inoperative, or partially dismantled motor vehicles, trailers, boats, machinery, refrigerators, washing machines, plumbing fixtures, furniture and any other similar article which has no value other than nominal salvage value if any, and which has been left abandoned and unprotected from the elements. Code Enforcement Officer: Any person who is authorized to investigate, on public or private property civil infractions relating to the provisions of this ordinance. Improved Property: Any lot(s) within a platted subdivision where a residence or other structure has been constructed and is being utilized for residency or business use. Public Property: Lands and improvements owned by the city and includes buildings, grounds, parks, playgrounds, streets, sidewalks, parkways, rights -of -way, and other similar property. Stagnant Water: Any body of water, regardless of size lacking flow or tidal flushing. -1- Untended Vegetation: Grass, weeds or underbrush in excess of 12- inches in height from the ground, dead trees, hedges, or any dense growth of trees, vines or other vegetation which tends to create a danger to public health, safety and welfare by creating a fire hazard; by providing a nesting, breeding or feeding area for sandflies, mosquitoes, rodents, snakes, other species of pests and vermin, or disease bearing organisms; by impairing the vision of motorists or bicyclists or impeding pedestrians to the extent that traffic and pedestrian safety is impaired; or by adversely affecting the aesthetic appearance of the property upon which the vegetation is found and adjacent properties. SECTION 8 -2. RESPONSIBILITY OF OWNERS AND TENANTS No owner or tenant of any property, within the city, shall allow trash, rubbish, garbage, stagnant water or abandoned property to accumulate or remain on such property. It shall be the duty of the owner of each lot. tract or parcel of land. within the city. to reasonably regulate and effectively control excessive growth and accumulation. as enumerated in Section 8 -1. on the property. It shall also be the duty of the owner to drain. rearade or fill any lot. tract or parcel. including swimming pools thereon. which shall be unwholesome or unsanitary. have stagnant water thereon or be in such other condition as to be susceptible to producing disease. SECTION 8 -4. DUMPING, DEPOSITING, LEAVING ON OR NEAR STREET a. No person shall dump, leave or dispose of garbage, rubbish, trash, abandoned property, or other waste matter in or on any street, road, right -of -way, highway, alley of the city, er- with4n- twe- handred- f 2O8} ynrde--- cry arced--- street� teac��-- hfgn--- er>- 1e -er right- of -ways SECTION 8 -6. THROWING INTO OR NEAR TAYLOR CREEK No person shall throw, place, or deposit or cause to be thrown, placed or deposited into Taylor Creek, the canals feeding into Taylor Creek or on the shore thereof within the city, any trash, garbage, dead fish, manure, decayed food, filth, litter or abandoned property or hazardous chemicals, which by its odor, decay or putrefaction, would or could become offensive to human beings residing in the vicinity thereof or detrimental to health or create a nuisance. SECTION 8 -8. DISABLED VEHICLES: No person in charge or in control of any property within the city, whether an owner, tenant, occupant, lessee or otherwise, shall allow any disabled vehicle to be placed or remain on such property unless such vehicle is within a completely enclosed building or is on the premises of an automotive repair or storage business for which the owner of the business has a current city occupational license and zoning approval. -2- a. Prima Facia Evidence A vehicle will be considered 111 physically or mechanically incapable of being operated on the public streets if it is wrecked, partially dismantled, has no engine, has no transmission, has a dismantled engine or transmission, has no valid current license tag or is in some comparable physical state rendering it inoperable. b. Interpretation of this Requirement Nothing in this part shall be construed as permitting the disassembling, tearing down or scrapping of a vehicle or to permit one vehicle to be scavenged or stripped for parts for use on another vehicle. c. Responsibility for Compliance The owner, agent and /or tenant of the property on which the violation occurs and the owner of the disabled vehicle shall be jointly and individually responsible for compliance with the requirements of this part. SECTION 8 -9. ABANDONED PROPERTY ON PUBLIC PROPERTY: a. Whenever the code enforcement officer of the city shall ascertain that an article of abandoned property is present on public property within the limits of the city, he shall cause a notice to be placed upon such article in substantially the following form: NOTICE TO THE OWNER AND ALL PERSONS INTERESTED IN THE ATTACHED PROPERTY. This property to wit: (setting forth brief description) is unlawfully upon public property known as (setting forth brief description of location) and must be removed within 10 -days or, if the property is a boat, 30 -days from the date of this notice otherwise, it shall be presumed to be abandoned property and will be removed and destroyed by Order of the City of Okeechobee. If the property is a motor vehicle or boat, the owner will be liable for the costs of removal and destruction. Dated this: (setting forth the date of posting of notice). Signed: (setting forth name, title, address and telephone number of code enforcement officer). Such notice shall be not less than 8- inches by 10- inches and shall be sufficiently weatherproof to withstand normal exposure to the elements. In addition to posting, the code enforcement officer shall make a reasonable effort to ascertain the name and address of the owner, and if such is reasonably available to the code enforcement officer, he shall mail a copy of such notice to the owner on or before the date of posting. -3- b. If, at the end of 10 -days or if the property is a boat 30 -days, after posting such notice the owner or any person interested in the abandoned article or articles, described in such notice, has not removed the article or articles from public property or shown reasonable cause for failure to do so, the code enforcement officer may cause the article or articles of abandoned property to be removed and destroyed according to applicable city ordinances. The salvage value, if any, of such article or articles shall be retained by the city to be applied against the cost of removal and destruction thereof; unless the costs of removal and destruction are paid by the owner, in which case the salvage value may be deposited in the city's general fund. c. The owner of any abandoned motor vehicle or boat who, after notice as provided in this section, does not remove the vehicle or boat within the specified period shall be liable to the city for all costs of removal and destruction of such property, less any salvage value received by the city. Upon such removal and destruction, the city's code enforcement officer shall notify the owner of the amount owed and of the penalty provision of this subsection. In the case of an abandoned boat, any person who neglects or refuses to pay such amount shall not be entitled to be issued a certificate of registration for any other boat until such costs have been paid. The city's code enforcement officer shall supply the Department of Natural Resources with a list of persons whose boat registration privileges have been revoked under this subsection, and neither the department nor the tax collector or other person acting as agent thereof shall issue a certificate of registration to a person whose boat registration privilege has been revoked, as provided by this subsection, until such costs have been paid. In the case of an abandoned motor vehicle, any person who neglects or refuses to pay such amount shall be subject to a fine of $100.00. SECTION 8 -10. PUBLIC NUISANCES: The existence of excessive accumulation of litter or untended vegetation, garbage, weeds, or other dead or living plant life; or stagnant water, including but not limited to abandoned property, and all other objectionable, unsightly or unsanitary matter upon any lot, tract or parcel of land within this city be it uncovered or under open shelter, to the extent and in the manner that such lot, tract or parcel of land is or may reasonably become infested or inhabited by rodents, vermin or wild animals, or may furnish a breeding place for mosquitoes, or threatens or endangers the public health, safety or welfare including such condition causing or creating a hinderance to fire, police or safety personnel in the performance of their duties;or may reasonably cause disease or adversely affects and impairs the economic welfare of adjacent property, is hereby prohibited and declared to be a public nuisance and unlawful unless neatly arranged for removal in accordance with established city regulations. -4- SECTION 8 -11. GENERAL CLEANING AND BEAUTIFICATION: a. All owners of improved property shall cut and keep cut all weeds, grasses or undergrowth on the entire property, to a height not to exceed 8- inches. Also, all landscaping shall be trimmed and kept in a neat appearance so as not to adversely affect the aesthetic appearance of the property and adjacent properties. b. When determined by the Code Enforcement Officer of the City that a public nuisance exists, as defined above, owners of all unimproved property shall cut and keep all weeds, grasses and undergrowth to a height not to exceed 12- inches, in a strip 100 -ft. wide around the perimeter of said property, which fronts on a public street, drainage or utility easement or is contiguous to occupied property. Also, owner shall remove any abandoned property, garbage, litter, stagnant water, untended vegetation or noxious matter on the entire property. c. All owners are deemed to be in control of and responsible for areas on or adjoining their property such as easements. d. All lands in the city shall be kept free of untended vegetation or any other matter, which by reason of height, proximity to neighboring structures, physical conditions; disease such as but not limited to: lethal yellowing palms or other peculiar characteristics which might in time of high winds, prevalent in this region, cause damage to life or property within the immediate area surrounding such region. e. It shall be unlawful for any person to cause, maintain, permit or allow to be caused, maintained or permitted, the accumulation of any litter, garbage, abandoned property, stagnant water, untended vegetation or weeds on any construction or building site before, during or after completion of said construction or building. It shall be the duty of the owner or his agent to make adequate provisions for the disposal of the above mentioned items and to have, on the construction or building site, adequate facilities for the disposal of said items and to make appropriate arrangements for the collection thereof. f. It shall be the responsibility of all owners of improved property to maintain proper ground cover on their property (such ground cover including but not limited to: grasses, concrete, asphalt, decorative stones) and driveways (driveway groundcover including but not limited to: concrete, asphalt, decorative stones, in -laid brick, tile and shell rock) to prevent a condition that could endanger the health, safety and welfare of any member of the community; maintained as required in this section. MEI -5- Furthermore, appropriate landscaping shall be installed, replaced and maintained, in living condition, so as not to adversely affect the aesthetic appearance of the property and adjacent properties. g. The owner or occupant of any improved lot or lands lying and abutting on any intersection of two streets or any combination thereof in the city and having shrubs or bushes on such lot or lands, shall trim or cause to be trimmed all shrubs and bushes located within twenty feet of the intersection of the property lines nearest to the street intersection and abutting the sidewalk or the normal sidewalk location, so that no bush or shrub shall exceed three (3) feet in height above the surface of either the sidewalk or the normal sidewalk location. h. The owner or occupant of any lot or lands lying and abutting on any street in the city and having trees, shrubs or bushes on his lot or lands extending over the property line onto such street shall trim or cause to be trimmed such trees to the clear height of not less than ten (10) feet above the surface of the sidewalk or street. i. The director of public works shall have the authority, and it shall be his duty to order trimming, preservation or removal of trees or plants upon private property when he finds such an act necessary to public safety or to prevent the spread of disease or insects in public trees or places. j. No persons shall sweep into or deposit in any gutter, ditch, street or other public place within the city the accumulation of litter from any building or lot or from the public sidewalks. Nor shall any owner or tenant abutting a public thoroughfare allow or suffer to remain litter upon the adjacent public sidewalk including medians, so that litter, rubbish and refuse shall not be allowed to pile up or accumulate on such public right -of -way. k. No merchant or business within the city shall allow litter to accumulate, and shall clean and otherwise rid his premises, including sidewalks, of waste matter and litter although the same may not have been deposited by him, his agents or his patrons. SECTION 8 -12. PRESUMPTION WHERE MOTOR VEHICLE IS SOURCE: In any prosecution charging a violation of this article; by the throwing, discarding, placing or depositing of litter in any manner or amount whatsoever, in or on any public highway, road, street, alley, thoroughfare or any other public lands; by, through or from a motor vehicle, proof that the particular vehicle described in the complaint was the source of the litter so discarded, together with proof that the defendant named in the complaint was at the time of such violation the registered owner of such a vehicle, shall constitute in evidence a presumption that the registered owner of such vehicle was the person who committed the violation of this article. Said presumption may be rebutted by substantial evidence on the part of said owner. -6- SECTION 8 -13. STATE SANITARY CODE ADOPTED: 111 The rules and regulations promulgated by the Florida State Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services pursuant to Chapter 381, Florida Statutes, or any amendments thereto, known as "The Sanitary Code of the State of Florida 1960 Revision, excepting Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 19 is hereby adopted as the Sanitary Code of the City of Okeechobee, Florida. SECTION 8 -14. PENALTY FOR VIOLATING STATE SANITARY CODE: Any person violating the provisions of the state sanitary code shall be punished as for a violation of this Code or Ordinances. SECTION 8 -15. SLAUGHTERHOUSES, MEAT PACKING OR PROCESSING PLANTS PROHIBITED: It shall be unlawful for any person to operate or conduct a slaughterhouse, meat packing, meat processing, fat rendering, soap, tallow, grease or lard manufacturing or refining business or establishment within the corporate limits of the city. ARTICLE II. CITY COLLECTION SERVICE DIVISION I. GENERALLY SECTION 8 -17. DISPOSAL OTHER THAN BY CITY a. No person shall in any manner dispose of or attempt to dispose of garbage or trash in the city without having the method and place of such disposal approved by the city council and obtaining a permit therefore from the department of general services, which permit shall cost Seventy- five-Bei *ere 4645 :98} One Hundred Dollars (5100) per calendar year or any part thereof. DIVISION 2. FEES SECTIONS 8 -37 8 -39 RESERVED DIVISION 3. ENFORCEMENT SECTION 8 -40. IMPEDING AN OFFICER: Whoever opposes, obstructs or resists any code enforcement officer in the discharge of his duties, as provided in this section, upon conviction shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. SECTION 8 -41. IMMUNITY: Any code enforcement officer, or any person authorized by the code enforcement officer, shall be immune from prosecution; civil or criminal for reasonable, good faith trespass upon real property while in the discharge of duties imposed by this ordinance. -7- SECTION 8 -42. SEVERABILITY: If any section, phrase, sentence or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction; such portion shall be deemed a separate, distinct and independent provision and such portion shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions thereof. EFFECTIVE DATE: This ordinance shall become effective immediately upon its adoption. Introduced for first reading and set for final hearing this 3rd day of January, 1989. Passed and adopted on second reading and public hearing this 7th day of February, 1989. .+E. i�� Oakland R. Chapman Mayor ATTEST: i /iii Bonnie S. T homas, CMC City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: John R. Cook, City Attorney MOW