[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village
of Sands Point 2-28-2017 by L.L.
No. 3-2017. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to preserve and protect private
and public property from the damaging spread of certain running bamboo
grasses, protect plant materials from the invasive spread of bamboo
and maintain the general welfare of the residents of the Village of
Sands Point (the "Village").
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Running Bamboo — Hereinafter defined as any
tropical or semi-tropical grasses with monopodial (leptomorph) rhizome
(root) systems which typically send off rhizomes far away from the
plant, including, but not limited to, the following plant genera:
Arrow Bamboo, Arundinaria, Bambusa, Chimonobambusa, Common Bamboo,
Golden Bamboo, Phyllostachys, Pleioblastus, Pseudosasa, Sasa, Sasaella,
and Semiarundinaria.
Clumping Bamboo — Hereinafter defined as any
tropical or semi-tropical or sympodial podial (pachymorph) grasses
which typically send off rhizomes near the base of the plant, including,
but not limited to, Bambusa, Chusquea, Dendrocalamus, Drepanostachyum,
Fargesia, Himalayacalamus, Otatea, Thamnocalamus, Thyrsostachys and
Yushania.
Any property owner or resident who has planted and/or grows
running bamboo, or who maintains running bamboo on the property, or
who permits running bamboo to grow or remain on the property even
if the running bamboo has spread from an adjoining property. Any property
owner or resident at whose property running bamboo is found will be
considered a Running bamboo owner, except any property owner or resident
who:
Has provided satisfactory proof to the Village that, within
one year of discovering the encroachment of running bamboo onto his
or her property from an adjoining neighboring property, advised the
owner of such property of an objection to the encroachment of the
running bamboo; or
Can otherwise prove to the satisfaction of the Building Commissioner,
or his or her designee, that the running bamboo originated from an
adjacent property owner, spread onto his or her property without his
or her consent, and the resident took reasonable measures to mitigate
the further spreading of the running bamboo on his or her property
within one year of discovery.
In the event any bamboo is found to have encroached, spread,
invaded, or intruded upon any other property or right-of-way, said
species shall be presumed to be classified as "running bamboo." This
presumption shall be rebuttable. For the purposes of this section,
bamboo found growing upon a property shall constitute presumptive
evidence that the bamboo was planted and/or grown by and/or with the
consent of the bamboo owner.
Upon the effective date of this provision the planting of running
bamboo shall be prohibited within the Village. Any person, owner,
agent for such owner, firm or corporation in possession of any improved
or unimproved real property, who thereafter plants or causes to be
planted any such running bamboo within the Village, shall be deemed
to be in violation of this section and shall be subject to such penalties
as are set forth hereunder.
In the event any species of running bamboo is located upon any
property within the Village, the owner of said property shall confine
such species to prevent the encroachment, spread, invasion, or intrusion
of same onto any property or right-of-way.
Any running bamboo that has been planted or otherwise permitted
to grow on any property within the Village prior to the effective
date of this section may remain on such property subject to compliance
with this section.
A.
Running bamboo shall not be planted, maintained or otherwise be permitted
to exist within 10 feet of the edge of the pavement or traveled portion
of any public roadway in the Village.
B.
Any bamboo owner whose property contains running bamboo shall remove
and abate the growth of the running bamboo within 10 feet of the edge
of the pavement or traveled portion of a public road in the Village.
C.
Each bamboo owner shall be responsible to ensure that the running
bamboo planted or growing on the property prior to the effective date
of this section does not encroach or grow upon any adjoining or neighboring
property or properties, including all public property and Village
rights-of-way.
D.
Each bamboo owner shall be required to take such measures as are
reasonably expected to prevent such running bamboo from invading or
growing onto adjoining or neighboring properties. Such measures shall
include, but not be limited to, installation of sheathing impenetrable
by running bamboo at a sufficient depth within the property line or
lines where the running bamboo is planted or is growing to prevent
the growth or encroachment upon adjoining or neighboring property
by the running bamboo.
E.
All running bamboo which migrates onto adjacent properties shall
be deemed a public nuisance, and no resident of the Village or property
owner shall have any vested or nonconforming right to continue maintenance
of that running bamboo that has migrated onto an adjacent property,
whether or not it preexisted the adoption of this regulation.
F.
An owner, tenant, or occupier of property, after being given notice
of the occurrence of a migration or trespass upon adjacent property
by running bamboo planted upon and originating from his or her property,
shall be required to take appropriate measures to remove the running
bamboo and prevent any further migration.
G.
An owner, tenant, or occupier of property, after being given notice
of the occurrence of a migration or trespass upon adjacent property
by running bamboo planted upon and originating from his or her property
shall be responsible for the cost of removing the running bamboo from
the adjacent property, and for any damage to the adjacent property
reasonably caused by the running bamboo and its removal.
Any running bamboo either planted or caused to be planted or
existing on a property prior to the effective date of this chapter
may not be replanted or replaced in kind once such running bamboo
is or has become, for any reason, dead, destroyed, uprooted or otherwise
removed. In addition, all dead, destroyed, uprooted or otherwise removed
running bamboo shall be disposed off site in a manner that will not
permit the removed plants to repropogate in the Village.
The Village shall notify the owner, tenant, or occupier of any
property which is in violation of any section of this chapter, and
the notice shall specify a time, not less than 15 days, to comply
with the provisions therein. Said notice shall be in writing and served
personally or by certified mail or nationally recognized courier.
Service shall be deemed complete on the day the delivery or mail is
completed.
A.
Any person or corporation violating any provisions of §§ 46-4 and 46-7 of this chapter, prohibiting the planting and replanting of running bamboo, or §§ 46-5 and 46-6 of this chapter, prohibiting the maintaining, growing, or failure to remove running bamboo in violation of these regulations, shall be deemed guilty of a violation and, upon conviction, shall be liable for:
(1)
A fine not exceeding $300 for a conviction of a first offense; for
a conviction of a second offense, both of which were committed within
a period of five years, punishable by a fine not less than $300 nor
more than $500; and upon conviction for a third or subsequent offense,
all of which were committed within a period of five years, punishable
by a fine not less than $500 nor more than $700; or
(2)
A civil penalty not exceeding $300 for a first offense; for a conviction
of a second offense, both of which were committed within a period
of five years, a civil penalty of not less than $300 nor more than
$500; and upon conviction for a third or subsequent offense, all of
which were committed within a period of five years, punishable by
a civil penalty not less than $500 nor more than $700.
B.
Each quarter-annual period of continued violation shall constitute
a separate additional violation, for which separate and additional
fines and punishment or civil penalties may be imposed and recovered.
C.
In the event the penalty sought is within the monetary jurisdiction
of the Justice Court, as established in Article 18 of the Uniform
Justice Court Act, such action to recover such penalty may, as shall
be determined by the Village Attorney, be commenced in the appropriate
court as a small claim action.
D.
The imposition of a penalty or fine as provided above or as specifically
provided in any chapter of the Village Code or local law, ordinance,
rule or regulation of the Village shall be in addition to any injunctive
or remedial relief for any civil penalty which is authorized under
the laws of the Village of Sands Point, with the same force and effect
as though provided for herein. Such penalty or fine shall not be deemed
to be in lieu of any provision for revocation or suspension of any
license or permit.
E.
The penalty provisions of this section shall not take effect for
a six-month period following the date the local law adopting this
chapter is filed in the Office of the Secretary of State of the State
of New York.
If any section or provision of this chapter shall be adjudged
to be invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such judgment
shall not affect, impair or invalidate any other part of this chapter
or the remainder thereof, but shall by confined in its operation to
the section or provision or part thereof directly involved in the
controversy in which such judgment shall be rendered.
