[Added 6-13-2016 by Ord.
No. 2016-11]
A.
Declaration of legislative findings.
(1)
The City of Schenectady, like all municipalities, is home to owner-occupants
and citizens who rent properties.
(2)
The vast majority of Schenectady's landlords do their best to keep
their properties in good condition for their tenants and want to make
Schenectady a nice place to live.
(3)
The City of Schenectady may be able to help landlords further those
goals by notifying landlords of nuisances which occur on their property.
B.
All previous definitions and point values used in this chapter shall
be applied to this article.
C.
Residential property nuisance defined. For purposes of this article,
a residential public nuisance shall be deemed to exist whenever, through
violations of any of the following provisions resulting from separate
incidents at a building, erection or place: 12 or more points are
accumulated within a period of three months, or 18 or more points
are accumulated within a period of six months, in accordance with
the following point system. Where more than one violation occurs during
a single incident, the total points for the incident shall be the
highest point value assigned to any single violation.
D.
Residential property defined. For the purposes of this article, any
property with a rental unit located on it, which is meant to be rented
for residential purposes, shall be considered residential property,
regardless of what type of zoning the property is subject to.
E.
Abatement. For the purposes of this chapter, "abatement" shall mean
a concerted effort by a person with an interest in the property to
severely diminish or eliminate the activity or activities constituting
the nuisance found to exist at or within the premises. Abatement may
include, by way of example and not exclusion: hiring of security personnel,
lighting changes, video or audio monitoring equipment, signage, cooperation
with police and other enforcement agencies, bureaus, departments and
authorities, eviction or court action.
F.
For purposes of this article, a conviction for an offense in a court
of competent jurisdiction or an administrative bureau shall not be
required. Instead, the City shall prove by a preponderance of the
evidence that the violations have occurred. However, a conviction,
as defined and applied in accordance with the provisions of § 1.20
of the Criminal Procedure Law, in any court of competent jurisdiction,
or a written acknowledgment of violation in a civil compromise proceeding
in the Bureau of Consumer Protection, shall constitute conclusive
proof of a violation. Conviction of an attempt to commit a violation
of any of the specified provisions shall be considered a conviction
for a violation of the specified provision.
A.
In addition to the powers granted to the Mayor in the other sections
of this chapter, a warning letter may be sent to a property owner,
owners, or people with control over the property after half of the
points required to declare it a residential public nuisance have accumulated
during the relevant time frame.
B.
Once a property accumulates the points as described in § 183-15C, a person or persons who own or control the property may be required to attend a meeting with the Mayor or his or her designee to discuss the nuisances and the abatement plan.
C.
In addition to any other criteria determined by the Mayor, any property
subject to this article which causes three or more legitimate complaints
to be made to the Police Department over a period of 30 days will
be reviewed by City staff.
A.
If a property owner has problems with a tenant which they believe
the City can help with, they may request a meeting with the Corporation
Counsel in order to see how the City may assist with their issue.
B.
Any assistance which the Corporation Counsel believes is appropriate
may be provided, including, but not limited to, support with the eviction
process and facilitating inspections by City staff.
A.
Nothing in this article is meant to impair the ability of victims
of gender-based violence to obtain and maintain secure housing or
to penalize crime victims for violence perpetrated against them. Enforcement
of this article shall be undertaken in a manner which protects the
rights of crime victims and victims of gender-based violence, including,
but not limited to, excluding gender-based or domestic violence calls
from the point calculation.
B.
Nothing in this article is meant to impair the ability of people
with disabilities to obtain and maintain secure housing or to penalize
them for violence perpetrated against them. Enforcement of this article
shall be undertaken in a manner which protects the rights of people
with disabilities, including, but not limited to, excluding calls
initiated due to a disability from the point calculation.
C.
For the purposes of this article, a disability shall be defined as
it is in 42 U.S.C. § 12102.
