[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Grand Island 7-6-1981 by L.L. No. 2-1981 (Ch. 25A of the 1963
Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Regrading and filling of land — See Ch. 253.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Litter or Dumping Control Law."
The intent of this chapter is to safeguard the
health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the Town, with particular
effort to safeguard their material rights against unwarranted diminishing
of open space, and to minimize visual and hazardous nuisance.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following
terms shall have the meanings indicated:
Relinquishment of any item of personal property and/or litter
or dumped matter with the intention of not reclaiming it or resuming
its ownership or enjoyment. Intent shall be presumed at the expiration
of 72 consecutive hours without appropriate plans for its disposition,
subject to applicable codes, rules and regulations, and filed with
the Town Clerk.
Any store, office building or group thereof; any professional,
industrial, mercantile or industrial premises and all yard and parking
areas thereof; and any vacant or unimproved commercial, business or
industrial property.
Garbage, refuse, trash or rubbish or any nauseous
or offensive matter. "Garbage" is waste, animal or vegetable matter,
such as material from a kitchen, store, restaurant, food stand, etc.
All waste or discarded materials also known as "junk" or "refuse" customarily handled or collected by junk dealers or refuse collectors and as provided under § 218-4B.
Items known as "junk" or otherwise discarded
or abandoned, as defined herein, regardless of size, by reason of
obsolescence, age or state of repair, except the following items which
are usable seasonally: a vehicle resting on its tires, a boat resting
on its cradle, a trailer or camper resting on its strut(s).
Discarded reading material, newspapers, magazines,
posters, handbills or similar paper goods.
Discarded cans, bottles, containers, boxes,
cartons or wrappers, with or without contents.
Discarded matter consisting of partly ruined,
ruined, damaged or scrapped material used in the construction of buildings,
roads, driveways, sidewalks, machines, devices, equipment, containers,
etc.
Ruined or scrap material or refuse associated
with new general construction or the deterioration of general construction.
Litter and dumped matter as described herein and abandoned
as described herein, existing on private property or on public property
or premises prior to the adoption of this chapter.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind.
Any house, building or other structure designed or used,
either wholly or in part, for private residential purposes, whether
inhabited or temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant, and
shall include any yard, grounds, walk, driveway, porch, steps, vestibule
or mailbox belonging or appurtenant to such dwelling, house, building
or other structure.
Any and all streets, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys or other
public ways and any and all public parks, squares, spaces, grounds
and buildings.
Any house, building or other structure designed or used,
either wholly or in part, for a single-family or multiple-family dwelling,
whether inhabited or temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant,
and shall include any yard, grounds, walk, driveway, porch, steps,
vestibule or mailbox belonging or appurtenant to such dwelling, house,
building or other structure, including any vacant or unimproved residential
property.
Includes spilling, dumping or throwing from a vehicle of
any type or from a riding animal, aircraft or boat.
The Town of Grand Island, New York.
A.
No person shall throw, deposit or abandon litter or
dumped matter on any property within the Town, whether private or
public and whether or not owned by such person, nor shall any property
owner use his land for dumping of matter or litter or permit the dumping
of matter or litter or the accumulation of such matter or litter on
his property by others, except that the owner or person in control
of private property shall maintain private receptacle(s) for the collection
of litter and dumped matter in such manner that such material will
not be carried or deposited by the elements upon the yards, yard or
premises of others or upon street(s), road(s) and highway(s) or public
place or places.
B.
Litter and dumped matter not contained in receptacles,
as aforesaid, shall not be stored or piled on land within the Town,
except to facilitate delivery to the vehicle of a junk dealer, refuse
collector, salvage dealer or a person, firm or charitable organization
customarily engaged in the removal, purchase, collection or salvage
of discarded articles and, in such case, shall not be so stored in
anticipation of such collection for a period in excess of 72 consecutive
hours without contract confirmation of prompt pickup by a dependable
collection dealer, person, firm or charitable organization.[1]
C.
No person shall throw, deposit or abandon litter upon
any open or vacant property within the Town, regardless of the ownership
thereof.
D.
No person shall throw, deposit or abandon litter in
or upon any street, highway, walk, park, parking area or other public
place within the Town, except in public receptacles; provided, however,
that no litter defined as garbage shall at any time be thrown or deposited
in public receptacles, unless such receptacles are specifically designated
and marked for the reception of garbage.
E.
No person shall throw, deposit or abandon any litter
or foreign matter of any kind whatsoever in any fountain, pool, pond,
lake, stream, culvert, reservoir or its tributaries or watershed or
any body of water in a park or elsewhere within the Town, except that
this provision shall not prohibit the authorized treatment and control
of pools or reservoirs to control or regulate water purity or aquatic
vegetation by persons or corporations having all required permits
issued by state, county, Town or watershed authorities having jurisdiction
over such treatment or such permits.
F.
The prohibitions contained herein against the deposit
of litter shall include activities known as "dumping," the maintenance
of dumps for any purpose, including landfill operations, or the use
of any property in the Town as a dumping ground for the benefit of
the owner or any other person, except those activities approved by
the Department of Environmental Conservation and the County Board
of Health and/or licensed by the Town of Grand Island.
G.
No person shall be exempt from the provisions of this
chapter, including a person owning land with litter or dumped matter
as described herein preexisting the effective date of this chapter,
except that which may be authorized by the Town Board.
Each and every day a violation of this chapter
continues shall constitute a separate violation, and the penalties
prescribed hereinafter shall be applicable to each such separate offense,
except that no further penalty shall be imposed for the period during
which any appeal from a conviction of such offense is pending. Each
and every violation of this chapter shall constitute and shall be
a violation punishable by a maximum fine of $250 or by imprisonment
for not more than 15 days, or both. In addition, the Town Board may
also maintain an action or proceeding in the name of the Town in a
court of competent jurisdiction to compel compliance with or to restrain
by injunction the violation of this chapter.
