[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Lackawanna 6-6-2017. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
NUISANCE — Shall be deemed whatever annoys,
injures, or endangers the safety, health, comfort, repose or tranquility
of the public; offends public decency; interferes with or obstructs
and renders dangerous any street, highway, lake, river or stream;
or in any way renders the public insecure in life and property. All
such conditions are hereby declared to be public nuisances.
The landlord of the premises, including his/her agent.
A building or structure, or any part thereof.
In addition to its ordinary meaning, shall include an occupant
of one or more rooms in a rooming house or a resident, not including
a transient occupant, of one or more rooms in a hotel who has been
in possession for 30 consecutive days or longer.
It shall be unlawful for any owner, land contract vendee, vendor
or lessee, or occupant of any premises to maintain a public nuisance
on either public or private property anywhere in the City.
A.
It shall be unlawful for anyone in the City of Lackawanna to have
a nuisance party. A nuisance party is a gathering of people on property
that results in any of the following occurring at the site of the
gathering, on neighboring property or on an adjacent public property:
(1)
Unlawful sale, furnishing, possession or consumption of alcoholic
beverages;
(3)
Fighting;
(4)
Property damage;
(5)
Littering;
(6)
Outdoor urination or defecation in a place open to public view;
(7)
The standing or parking of vehicles in a manner that obstructs the
free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic;
(8)
Conduct that obstructs the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic;
(9)
Conduct that threatens injury to persons or damage to property;
(10)
Unlawful use or possession of marijuana or any drug or controlled
substance;
(11)
Trespassing; or
(12)
Indecent exposure.
B.
Nuisance parties prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person
having the right to possession of any premises, whether individually
or jointly with others, to cause or permit a gathering on the premises
to become a nuisance party.
C.
Police order to disperse. Any duly sworn law enforcement officials
are authorized to order those attending a nuisance party to disperse.
It shall be considered a violation of this section for any person
not domiciled at the site of the nuisance party to fail or refuse
to leave the premises immediately after being ordered to leave by
any duly sworn law enforcement official.
D.
Penalty. A person(s) who violates any subsection of § 160-3, either by direct violation or by giving permission to, or allowing by silent consent, or allowing by not prohibiting, or allowing by failure to exercise control of a nuisance party, shall be guilty of a civil infraction and shall be subject to the following penalties which shall be assessed in addition to any other lawful sentence that the sentencing court may impose:
(1)
Notwithstanding the civil fines schedule set forth in § 1-3 of the City Code of Ordinances, violation of this chapter shall be punishable by a civil fine of $500 (if first offense), $1,000 (if second offense), or $1,500 (if third offense), plus costs and all other remedies available pursuant to the City Code of Ordinances or by statute.
(2)
The cost of enforcement and prosecution shall be the actual amount
of attorney fees and costs of enforcement. An itemized bill of fees
and costs given under oath shall be prima facie evidence of the attorney
fees and costs.
(3)
In addition, as an alternate remedy, the City shall have the authority
to proceed in any court of competent jurisdiction to obtain an injunction,
restraining order, or other appropriate remedy to compel compliance
with the within chapter. Election of one of the foregoing remedies
shall not preclude the application of other remedies.
A special proceeding to evict a tenant from leased premises
may be maintained upon the ground that the premises, or any part thereof,
have been used or occupied for the purposes of a nuisance party.
The procedures applicable to summary proceedings to recover
possession of real property under state law shall be applicable to
any proceeding brought under this chapter.
A.
The following persons, corporations and agencies may serve personally
upon the owner or landlord, or upon his agent, of demised real property
used or occupied, in whole or in part, for the use of a nuisance party,
a written notice requiring the owner or landlord to make an application
for the removal of the person(s) so using or occupying the premises:
(1)
Any domestic corporation organized for the suppression of vice, subject
to, or which submits visitation by the New York State Department of
Social Services or the Erie County Department of Social Services,
and possesses a certificate from such department of such fact and
of such conformity with regulations of the department.
(2)
Any duly authorized enforcement agency of New York State, or a subdivision
thereof, and/or the City of Lackawanna, under a duty to enforce the
provisions of the Penal Law or of any state or local law, ordinance,
code, rule or regulation relating to buildings.
B.
If the owner or landlord, or his agent, does not make such application
within five days thereafter, or having made it, does not in good faith
diligently prosecute it, the person, corporation or enforcement agency
giving notice may bring a proceeding under this chapter for such removal
as though the petitioner were the owner or the landlord of the premises,
and shall have precedence over any similar proceeding thereafter brought
by such owner or landlord or to the one theretofore brought by him
and not prosecuted diligently and in good faith. Proof of all the
nuisances of the demised premises, or of the occupants thereof, or
of those resorting thereto, shall constitute presumptive evidence
of the unlawful use of the demised premises required to be started
in the petition for removal. Both the person(s) in possession of the
property and the owner or landlord shall be made respondents in the
proceeding.
A court granting a petition pursuant to this section may, in
addition to any other order provided by law, make an order imposing
and requiring the payment by the respondent of a civil penalty not
exceeding $5,000 to the City of Lackawanna, in which subject premises
is located, and the payment of reasonable attorneys' fees and
the cost of the proceeding to the petitioner. In any such case, multiple
respondents shall be jointly and severally liable for any payment
so ordered, and the amounts of such payments constitute a lien upon
the subject real property.
