[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of the Town of Lincoln 9-10-1990
by Ord. No. 90-8 (Ch. 4, Art. VIII, of the 1990 Code of Ordinances).
Amendments noted where applicable.]
It shall be deemed a public nuisance and unlawful for any person to violate the terms of this chapter by maintaining a building, structure or surrounding property in a condition adverse to the public health, safety and welfare as specified in § 196-2 of this chapter.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Shall be defined as existing where the owner of a building or premises
has by action or inaction, failed to correct a serious health and/or safety
violation at a building or on the surrounding property. A serious health and/or
safety violation may be found, by way of example only and without limitation,
where the health, safety and welfare of the community is or may be at risk
due to conditions such as:
Where a building is vacant. However vacancy is not necessarily to be
considered a prerequisite to a finding of abandonment;
Where there exists a lack of maintenance of a building or grounds which
actually or potentially poses a risk to the public health, safety or welfare;
Where a building is not structurally sound or where the building or
its interior is otherwise unfit for healthy or safe habitation or access;
Where vandalism at the property has gone unrepaired;
Where a lack of maintenance or use of the property promotes a degradation
of the surrounding community affecting the public health, safety and welfare.
Any structure as defined within Chapter 260, Zoning, of the Code of the Town of Lincoln which is used or intended to be used for residential or any other use.
A building or property which constitutes a menace to the public health,
welfare, or safety, or which is structurally unsafe, unsanitary, or not provided
with adequate and safe ingress and egress, or which constitutes a fire hazard,
or which may otherwise be dangerous to human safety, or which in relation
to existing uses constitutes a hazard to the public health, welfare, or safety
by reason of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation, obsolescence or abandonment.
A.
Investigation. The Director of Public Works or his or
her designee within the Public Works Department shall be responsible for the
investigation of all properties or complaints concerning conditions creating
a public nuisance as defined within this section.
B.
Determination. Upon complaint or other notification, the Director shall order a field examination of the site to determine whether a public nuisance exists as defined in § 196-2 of this chapter.
C.
Order to comply. Should the Director, after inspection
and investigation, find that a public nuisance exists at any building or property
he or she shall cause to be issued a written notification, served personally
or by regular and certified mail addressed to the property owners as their
names and addresses are shown upon the records of the Tax Assessor. The notification
shall declare the property to be a public nuisance, shall include the estimated
cost to rectify the violation, and shall cite the conditions found constituting
the nuisance. Notification shall order the property owner to comply. The notice
shall allow the property owner a specific and reasonable period of time, as
determined by the Director, not to exceed 30 days (unless extended in writing
within the sound discretion of the Director) for the correction of all listed
nuisances.
D.
Compliance or appeal by the property owner. The property owner shall, after notice as stated above, complete all actions required to abate any nuisance as determined by the Director within the time period prescribed. Should the property owner contest the decision of the Director, an appeal in writing may be filed with the Lincoln Zoning and Appeals Board at any time prior to the expiration of 30 days from the date of mailing of the notice as specified above. The appeal shall otherwise follow the course specified in Article XIV, Appeals, of Chapter 260, Zoning, of the Code of the Town of Lincoln. Further action otherwise required pursuant to the terms of this chapter may be stayed upon timely request, pending the resolution of appeal pending before the Zoning Board.
Should the Director not effect personal service or not receive confirmation
of the receipt of a written certified notification within 10 days of the mailing,
he or she shall cause a public notification to be advertised in a local newspaper
of general distribution for three successive days. After the third day of
advertisement, proper notice shall be deemed to have been provided.
The notice by publication prescribed herein shall include the address,
plat and lot number of the property cited as a public nuisance and the name
of the property owner as listed on the Tax Assessor's records. Also included
shall be a listing of the conditions found to create a public nuisance and
the corrective action to be taken to eliminate the public nuisance. Should
no notification be received by the Director from the property owner after
the third day of advertisement and should no appeal to the declaration of
a public nuisance be filed with the Lincoln Zoning and Appeals Board within
the time prescribed, the Director may then cause to be corrected all of those
conditions which create the public nuisance under the terms of this chapter
or the matter may be referred to the Town Solicitor for pursuit of any other
or further remedy deemed appropriate.
Upon failure of the owner of the premises found in violation of this
chapter to remedy the conditions existing in violation of the requirements
hereof within 30 days after mailing or personal service of notice to do so,
then the Director shall proceed to have such conditions remedied, and the
cost thereof shall be and become a lien against such property to the same
extent and character as a lien for real estate taxes and with the same penalties
and interest and with the same rights of collection, foreclosure, sale and
forfeiture as obtained for tax liens.
Upon final determination of a violation of the provisions of this chapter,
the Director shall deliver a certified copy thereof and of the notice to the
Town Clerk, and the Town Clerk shall place the same on record as a lien against
the property described therein. It shall also be the duty of the Director
to file such other and further certificates as to work done and amounts due
and/or paid as the circumstances may require.
Upon completion of the required work by the Town as provided in § 196-6, notice thereof and of the cost assessed therefor shall be given to the owner in the same manner as prescribed for notices of violation and the same assessed shall be due and payable 30 days after such notice of completion and cost, unless such assessment shall be appealed to the Zoning Board of Review prior to the expiration of such thirty-day period.
Any such person shall have the right to appeal the assessment of costs
within 30 days of service of notice thereof. Such appeals shall be taken to
the Zoning Board of Review.
If the property owner, after notice of violation and order to comply,
fails to abate and remove any nuisance he or she shall be fined not exceeding
$50 for every day during which he or she knowingly permits the nuisance to
remain after the time prescribed for the removal thereof to be recovered to
and for the use of the Town.
