[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Clarence 8-15-1973
by L.L. No. 2-1973. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to promote the health, safety and welfare
of persons within the Town of Clarence by providing for the removal or repair
of buildings or structures that from any cause may now or hereafter become
dangerous or unsafe to the public.
[Added 7-22-1992 by L.L. No. 1-1992]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
A structure wholly or partly enclosed within exterior walls or within
exterior or party walls and a roof, affording shelter to persons, animals
or property.
A building or structure which is structurally unsound, unsanitary
or not provided with adequate ingress or egress or which constitutes a fire
hazard or which has become unsafe by reason of damage by fire, the elements,
age or general deterioration or which, in relation to an existing use, constitutes
a hazard to public health, safety or welfare by reason of inadequate maintenance,
dilapidation, obsolescence or abandonment or which is otherwise dangerous
to human life.
No person, firm, corporation or association owning, possessing or controlling
any building or structure in the Town of Clarence shall permit, suffer or
allow said building or structure now or hereafter to be or become dangerous
or unsafe to persons within the Town of Clarence from any cause whatsoever.
The Zoning Enforcement Officer shall cause an inspection of any premises alleged to be in violation of § 75-3 to be made, and he shall thereafter prepare and file in his office a report of said inspection.
When it shall be determined by the Zoning Enforcement Officer that a
building or structure or any part or parts thereof are dangerous or unsafe
to the public, he shall immediately serve notice on the owner or some one
(1) of the owner's executors, legal representatives, agents or lessees or
any other person having a vested or contingent interest in the same, either
personally or by registered mail, addressed to the last known address, if
any, of the owner or some one (1) of the owner's executors, legal representatives,
agents or lessees or any other person having a vested or contingent interest
in the same, as shown by the records of the receiver of taxes and/or in the
office of the County Clerk or County Register, containing a description of
the premises, a statement of the particulars in which the building or structure
is unsafe or dangerous and an order requiring the same to be made safe and
secure or removed; and if such service is made by registered mail, a copy
shall be posted on the premises.
The time within which a person served with such notice may commence
the securing or removal of the building or structure or part or parts thereof
shall be thirty (30) days.
[Amended 7-22-1992 by L.L. No. 1-1992]
In the event of neglect or refusal of a person served with a notice
to comply with the same, an inspection of the premises shall be made by an
inspector and architect to be named by the Town Board and a practical builder,
engineer or architect appointed by the person notified as above; and in the
event of refusal or neglect of the person so notified to appoint a practical
builder, engineer or architect, the inspector and architect named by the Town
Board shall make the inspection and report. The notice shall state that, in
the event that the building or other structure or part or parts thereof shall
be reported unsafe or dangerous under such inspection, an application will
be made at a Special Term of the Supreme Court of Erie County for an order
determining the building or structure or part or parts thereof to be a public
nuisance and directing that it shall be repaired and secured or taken down
and removed. A signed copy of the inspection and the compensation due the
inspector and architect named by the Town Board shall be posted on the building.
The Town Attorney shall make application to a Special Term of the Supreme
Court of Erie County for the order hereinabove referred to, and if the same
is granted, the Town shall proceed to remove or secure the building or structure
or part or parts thereof in accordance with the terms of said order.
The Town shall assess all costs and expenses incurred by it in connection
with the proceedings to remove or secure, including the cost of actually removing,
said building or structure or part or parts thereof against the land on which
the same is or was located.
The Zoning Enforcement Officer shall maintain a record of each building
or structure or part or parts thereof determined by him to be dangerous or
unsafe to the public, including information of action taken by him from time
to time relative to the same, and not later than April 1 of each year shall
report to the Town Board each building or structure or part or parts thereof
upon which the Town has performed work and expended money pursuant to this
chapter, the name of the owner and the cost and expense to remove or secure
the same and whether or not said cost and expense has been assessed against
the land on which the same is or was located.
[Amended 7-22-1992 by L.L. No. 1-1992]
Any person, firm, partnership or corporation convicted of a violation
of this chapter shall be subject to a fine not to exceed two hundred fifty
dollars ($250.) or to imprisonment for not more than fifteen (15) days, or
to both such fine and imprisonment.
