[Adopted 6-10-1991 by L.L. No. 1-1991]
The Town Board has become aware of a growing
problem of the dumping of litter, rubbish, refuse, debris, garbage,
waste and discarded objects, materials and/or matter on various properties
of the Town, including park and recreation areas and highway rights-of-way,
thereby creating unsightly and hazardous conditions and a drain on
the resources of the Town for removal and cleanup of those areas.
It is the intent of this legislation to prohibit littering and dumping
along highways and other public places within the Town. This article
is further intended to supplement Local Law No. 2 of the year 1989
of the Town of Saratoga which prohibited dumps or dumping grounds
on private property.[1]
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Animal, food, and vegetable wastes; animal, food and vegetable
wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption
of food, and materials such as paper, cardboard, wood, cloth, food
cans, glass containers and bottles, dead animals, or parts thereof
and/or any other matter capable of fermentation and decay.
Any person, employee, servant, agent, firm, partnership,
association, company or organization or entity of any kind.
Includes parking areas, rights-of-way, parks, trails, drainage
easements, grounds or other public areas.
All putrescible and nonputrescible solid wastes, except body
wastes, including garbage, rubbish, and ashes.
Nonputrescible solid wastes, including ashes, consisting
of both combustible and noncombustible wastes, such as yard clippings,
metals, wood, glass, bedding, crockery, household appliances, shopping
carts, automobiles or parts thereof and similar materials.
Includes any public street, roadway, highway, lane or alleyway.
A.
No person shall deposit, throw, cast, lay or suffer
or permit any person to deposit, throw, cast or lay any waste, litter,
rubbish, refuse, garbage, debris, discarded objects, materials and/or
matter of any type on any street or public place in the Town.
B.
No person shall abandon or discard or cause or suffer
any other person to abandon or discard any article or thing, including
but not limited to shopping carts or shopping wagons, baskets, crates,
boxes, cartons, yard supplies, household appliances, automobiles or
parts thereof, machinery or equipment, rubbish, refuse or garbage
in any street, avenue, highway or public place in the Town.
C.
No person, being the owner, driver or manager of an
automobile or other vehicle, and no owner of any receptacle, shall
deposit, scatter, blow, drop, spill or permit to be deposited, scattered,
blown, dropped or spilled any dirt, gravel, sand, clay, loam, stone
or building rubbish or materials, shavings, rubbish, litter, waste
materials, household appliances, automobiles or parts thereof, machinery,
refuse, or garbage therefrom upon any street, avenue, highway, or
public place in the Town.
D.
Household and business places may place garbage and
rubbish in properly covered containers in front of their premises
for authorized collecting or removal, and are exempt from these provisions.
A.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this
article, as the same may be from time to time amended, shall be guilty
of a violation punishable by imprisonment for not more than 15 days
or by a fine of not more than $500, or both, and/or appropriate community
service.
B.
Additional penalties:
(1)
Violation of this article shall subject the offender,
for each offense, to a civil penalty as follows:
(a)
For the first offense, not more than $500 or
twice the cost to the Town of clearing away the offensive materials,
whichever is greater.
(b)
For a second offense, $750 or twice the cost
to the Town of clearing away the offensive materials, whichever is
greater.
(c)
For a third and subsequent offenses, $1,000
or twice the cost to the Town of clearing away the offensive materials,
whichever is greater.
C.
Each day or part thereof that such violation shall
continue shall be deemed to be a separate and distinct violation of
the provisions of this article and shall render the offender liable
for a separate penalty for each such violation.
