[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Port Jefferson as Ch. 61 of the 1970 Code; amended
in its entirety 6-11-1992 by L.L.
No. 4-1992. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
It is hereby declared that serious conditions
of sewage and drainage in and from buildings and premises situated
within the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson exist, which conditions
are dangerous or detrimental to life or health or threaten and affect
the safety and property of the inhabitants of said Village or threaten
and affect, obstruct, clog and encroach upon the drains, streets,
sidewalks and highways of said Village. To protect the life, health,
safety and property of the inhabitants of the Incorporated Village
of Port Jefferson and its drains, streets, sidewalks and highways
from such conditions of sewage and drainage by reason of which rainwaters,
subsurface waters, dirt, silt, filth or other materials flow from
said buildings and premises onto the property of the inhabitants of
said Village and onto and into the drains, streets, sidewalks and
highways of said Village, such conditions are hereby declared to be
public nuisances and are illegal. The necessity for intervention by
the Building Department by the enactment of this chapter is hereby
declared as a matter of legislative determination, and this chapter
shall be construed liberally to effectuate its purposes.
The plumbing and drainage of all buildings and
premises shall conform to the rules and regulations adopted by the
Building Department of the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson.
Suitable drawings and descriptions of plumbing and drainage in all
cases shall be submitted and filed in the office of the Village Clerk
and only after they have been filed and approved by the Building Department
may work be commenced.
Whenever the Building Department shall certify
that a building or any part thereof is infested with communicable
disease or is unfit for human habitation or dangerous to life or health
by reason of want of repair or of defects in the drainage, plumbing,
ventilation or construction or by reason of the existence on the premises
of a nuisance likely to cause sickness among the occupants of said
building, the Building Department may order all persons to vacate
such building or part thereof within 10 days. The order shall set
forth the reasons of the Building Department. In case such order is
not complied with within the time specified therein, the Building
Department may cause such building or part thereof to be vacated.
Whenever the Building Department is satisfied that the danger or part
thereof has ceased to exist or that it is fit for human habitation,
the Building Department may revoke such order or extend the time within
which to comply therewith.
Whenever any building or premises or the plumbing,
sewage or drainage thereof or the rainwaters, subsurface waters, dirt,
silt, filth or other materials flowing therefrom into the properties
of the inhabitants of the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson or
onto or into the drains, streets, sidewalks or highways of said Village,
in the opinion of the Building Department, are in a condition or are
in effect dangerous or detrimental to life or health or threaten and
affect the safety and property of the inhabitants of the Incorporated
Village of Port Jefferson or threaten and affect or threaten to or
obstruct, clog or encroach upon the drains, streets, sidewalks or
highways of said Village, the Building Department may declare the
same, to the extent that they may specify, to be a public nuisance,
and they may order and compel the owner or occupant of the buildings
or premises in or upon which the public nuisance is situated or from
which it is emanating to cleanse, remove or abate the same. The Building
Department may order and compel said owner or occupant to purify,
cleanse, disinfect, repair or improve any building, sewer, plumbing,
pipe, passage, drain, ground, matter or thing or the premises on which
it is situated. The Building Department may order and compel said
owner or occupant to connect with a municipal sewer system or storm
or combined sewer system and to make such application and pay such
permit and inspection fees to the Port Jefferson Sewer District as
may be required by said district for its approval or permission for
such connection, and upon failure to comply with said order within
such time as the Building Department may regard as reasonable, the
Building Department may cause the same to be done, shall assess the
cost thereof upon the premises upon which the improvement was made
or for which the connection was made and shall, by resolution, determine
whether such assessment shall be paid in one amount and shall fix
the date on which said assessment shall become due and payable; and
if said assessment be not paid within 15 days after the same or any
part thereof shall become due, an action to recover the amount due
may be maintained by the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson against
the person liable therefor and, in addition to such remedy, a special
warrant may be issued by the Building Department for the collection
of such assessment or the amount thereof may be included in the next
annual tax levy.
In every building and on every premises in which
the disposal of liquid or waterborne wastes or drainage is required,
provisions shall be made by the owner or occupant for conveying such
liquid, waterborne wastes or drainage to a municipal sewer system.
Where a sewer system is not available, provisions shall be made for
disposing of such wastes by a method approved by the Building Department.
Every building or structure shall have its sanitary drainage system
independently connected to a sewer or disposal system; but, at the
discretion of the Building Department, buildings on the same premises
and under the same ownership may be connected to the same sewer or
disposal system. Where the street upon which the premises or building
abuts is without a municipal sewer or where there is no sewer within
1,000 feet of the building or premises, the Building Department may
permit buildings to be served by a private sewer under such conditions
as they may deem adequate. A "sewer" shall mean a sewer designed or
used to carry liquid or waterborne wastes from plumbing fixtures.
In every building and on every premises, provisions
shall be made for conveying stormwater to a storm sewer. Where a storm
or combined sewer is not available, provisions shall be made for disposing
of such stormwater by a method approved by the Building Department.
When a sewer is installed subsequent to the completion of a one-family
private dwelling, conveyance of stormwater may be waived where, in
the judgment of the Building Department, the soil is of good porosity,
provided that said Department is satisfied that drainage from roofs
or otherwise will not flow onto adjoining property or across or into
or onto sidewalks, streets or highways of the Incorporated Village
of Port Jefferson or that drainage is adequately contained by dry
wells and will not discharge or interfere with septic tanks, cesspools,
seepage pits or any part of the private sewage disposal system. Such
waiver shall be effective only during the period that the property
remains improved with one-family private dwellings. Nothing in this
chapter shall be construed to relieve any owner of property from the
obligation of paying any assessments for benefit which may be imposed
for the establishment and construction of a sewer or sewage system
pursuant to the Village Law of the State of New York. A "storm sewer"
shall mean a sewer carrying rain or subsurface waters.
The Building Department shall have the power
to order, in writing, the remedying of any condition found to exist
in, on or about any building or premises in violation of any law,
ordinance, rule or regulation.
It shall be the duty of every owner or occupant upon whom the orders of the Building Department may be served to comply with said orders within the time specified therein. Service of said order may be made either by delivering a copy of said order to the owner or occupant or by delivering it to any person in charge of the building or premises or, in case no such person is found, by affixing a copy thereof in a conspicuous place on the premises or in the building or by mailing a copy of said order to the owner or occupant directed to his last known address. Upon the failure to comply with any order within the time specified therein, such order may be executed by the Building Department through such officers, agents, employees or contractors as may be designated by them, and they shall be authorized to enter into said building or premises for said purpose, and the cost thereof shall be assessed against the building or premises in the same manner as hereinbefore provided in § 211-4 of this chapter.
[Amended 1-5-2015 by L.L.
No. 1-2015]
A.
A person, including the owner, occupant, general agent, contractor,
lessee or person in charge of an entire building, structure or premises
where a violation of the provisions of this chapter has been committed
or shall exist and including the owner, occupant, general agent, contractor,
lessee or person in charge of any part of a building, structure or
premises in which a violation of the provisions of this chapter has
been committed or shall exist and including any other person who knowingly
commits, takes part or assists in any such violation or who maintains
any building, structure or premises in which part any violations shall
exist, who fails to comply with any order of the Building Department
within the time specified therein, shall be deemed to have violated
this chapter.
B.
Each day that there has been a failure to comply with said order
shall constitute a separate and distinct violation.
C.
Each day that a violation of this chapter occurs or continues shall
constitute a separate and distinct violation.
