[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lake
Grove 12-18-1997 by L.L. No. 8-1997. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
The Board of Trustees of the Incorporated Village of Lake Grove hereby
finds and declares that graffiti poses a serious problem for our residents
and merchants. The unabated proliferation of graffiti is a physical blight
upon the landscape of our village and costs taxpayers, merchants and homeowners
substantial moneys to remove and repair. The Board also finds that, when unchecked,
graffiti presents an image of a deteriorating community, a community that
no longer cares about itself.
For purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the meaning
ascribed to them herein:
Defacement of public or private property resulting in a drawing,
figure, inscription, mark, message, slogan or symbol written, painted, drawn,
etched or otherwise indelibly made on a property.
Includes but is not limited to buildings, fences, motor vehicles,
recreational vehicles, rocks, signs, structures, trees, utility boxes, utility
poles, waste receptacles, and all other articles of personal or real property
upon which one can write, draw, paint, etch or otherwise indelibly
mark.
A.
Possession of any aerosol spray paint can or broad-tipped
indelible marker or any tool, instrument, article, substance, solution or
other compound designed or commonly used to etch, paint, cover, draw upon
or otherwise place a mark upon any public or private property, by any person
in the proximity of any defacement, without the prior express written consent
of the owner or operator of the property having been obtained, shall create
a rebuttable presumption that such person did deface public or private property
in violation of this chapter.
B.
A person is guilty of possession of a graffiti instrument(s)
when he possesses any aerosol spray paint can or broad-tipped indelible marker
or tool, instrument, article, substance, solution or other compound designed
or commonly used to etch, paint, cover, draw upon or otherwise place a mark
upon a piece of property which that person has no permission or authority
to etch, paint, cover, draw upon or otherwise place a mark upon, unless the
express prior written permission of the owner or operator of the property
has been obtained.
A.
No person shall sell or offer to sell an aerosol spray
paint can or broad-tipped indelible marker or any tool, instrument, article,
substance, solution or other compound designed or commonly used to etch, paint,
cover, draw upon or otherwise place a mark upon a piece of property to any
person under the age of 18 years.
B.
All acts of graffiti are hereby declared unlawful within
the Incorporated Village of Lake Grove.
A.
Any person who has been found guilty of actually causing
the graffiti to be made or of any other provision of this chapter shall be
punished by a fine of $1,000 for each violation thereof and/or shall be imprisoned
for 15 days in jail, or both. In addition, that person shall be liable for
the cost of removing said graffiti from the property so defaced as part of
his/her punishment pursuant to the violation of the chapter or to perform
suitable alternate community services.
B.
Any occupant, owner, lessee, sublessee, agent and/or landlord of any commercial or residential property located within the Incorporated Village of Lake Grove which has been found guilty of having any form of graffiti on its property after the one-week curative period designated in § 95-6A, shall be punished by a fine of $1,000 for each violation and/or shall be imprisoned for 15 days in jail, or both. Each day the graffiti is permitted to remain on the premises after the curative period designated in § 95-6A shall constitute a separate and distinct offense and shall be punishable by separate and distinct cumulative amounts of fines, periods of imprisonment, or both.
A.
Requirement to remove graffiti. The occupant, owner,
lessee, sublessee, agent and/or landlord of any commercial, personal or residential
property located within the Incorporated Village of Lake Grove which has any
form of graffiti on any of its property shall be required to remove said property
from public view or either restore the defaced surface by removing the graffiti
or repaint the defaced surface using the same color paint as existed previously
on the defaced surface, within one week after written notice to the occupant,
owner, lessee, sublessee, agent and/or landlord by the Incorporated Village
of Lake Grove to remove same. The village shall serve said written notice
on the occupant, owner, lessee, sublessee, agent and/or landlord in one of
the following manners: by personal service, in which case the one-week curative
period shall begin to run from the date of said service; or service by certified
mail, return receipt required, to the address upon which the graffitied property
is located, in which case the one-week curative period shall run from the
date said receipt is dated received.
B.
Remedy of village. If said graffiti condition is not cured or corrected within one week after receipt of written notice by the village as delineated in § 95-6A, then the village shall have the right to issue a criminal summons and to enter the premises to remove the graffiti and/or repaint the property as set forth above, and the cost of the removal of the graffiti and/or repainting shall be at the cost and expense of the occupant, owner, lessee, sublessee, agent and/or landlord of property, reduced only by the amount recovered, if any, by the village from the person(s) found guilty of actually causing the graffiti to be made as delineated in § 95-5A. The actual cost of the removal of the graffiti and/or repainting, plus the cost of the inspection of said property and other costs incidental to such removal, shall thereupon become a lien upon the real property upon which the graffiti was found to be and shall be added to and become a part of the taxes next to be assessed and levied on such real property, and the same shall be collected and enforced in the same manner of taxes.
