Ordinance 1164 - Decay OrdinanceORDINANCE NO. 1164
AN ORDINANCE DEFINING COMMUNITY DECAY, PROHIBITING AND REGULATING
CONDITIONS WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO COMMUNITY DECAY, PROVIDING FOR
SHIELDING AND ABATEMENT, PRESCRIBING A PENALTY, AND SETTING FORTH
AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Kalispell, Montana
is authorized, pursuant to Section 7-5-4104, MCA, to pass and
enforce ordinances defining and abating nuisances within its:
jurisdiction, and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Kalispell has
determined that certain conditions herein defined are community
decay which effectively create nuisances within the City, and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Kalispell, Montana
has determined that it is appropriate to enact an Ordinance to
control community decay in the City in an effort to eliminate
nuisances.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
KALISPELL AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION I. Definitions. In this Ordinance the
following terms have the meanings indicated below:
(a) "Community decay" means a public nuisance
created by allowing rubble, debris, junk or refuse to
accumulate. resulting in conditions that are injurious
to health, indecent, offensive to the senses, or
obstruct the free use of property so as to interfere
with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property;
provided, however, that "community decay" may not be
construed or defined to apply to normal farming,
ranching, or other agricultural facility, and any
appurtenances thereof, during the course of its normal
operation.
(b) "In public view" means any area visible from a:
point up to six feet above the surface of the center of any
public roadway, publicly accessible roadway or private road
in platted subdivisions and mobile home parks.
(c) "Person" means an individual, firm, partnership,
company, association, corporation, city, town, county or any
other entity whether organized for profit or not.
(d) "Public nuisance" means a nuisance which
affects, at the same time, an entire community or
neighborhood or any considerable number of persons,
although the extent of the annoyance or damage
inflicted upon individuals may be unequal.
(e) "Shielding" refers to fencing or other
manmade barriers to conceal a facility from public
view. It also refers to natural barriers.
SECTION II. Purpose. The purpose of this Ordinance is
to regulate, control, and prohibit conditions that
contribute to community decay on or adjacent to all
public streets within City of Kalispell.
SECTION III. Prohibition. No person shall maintain a
public nuisance by allowing rubble, debris, junk or
refuse to accumulate on property owned by him, or under
his control, resulting in conditions that are injurious
to health, indecent';' offensive,,. 'to ...the senses or
obstructive of the free use of property so as to
interfere .with' the comfortable enjoyment of hife or-
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property. For purposes
nuisance includes any of
exists within public view:
of this ordinance, a public
the following conditions that
(a) The dumping, piling, or stacking of bricks,
concrete blocks, waste wood and similar material on
open lots or fields, unless said material is stacked in
neat piles and all waste materials from the cleaning of
such items, such as mortar, wood splinters, broken and
unusable bricks, are removed; .
(b) The storage or accumulation of a significant
amount of cardboard boxes, broken packing boxes, paper,
or other similar items on lots or fields;
(c) The piling, dumping or depositing of any
dirt, demolition wastes including wood, bricks,
concrete, used road black top and other similar
materials on any open lots or fields, unless such
material is to be utilized for fill material to fill a
land depression, and provided that, if such material is
used as fill material, all such material is completely
covered with clean fill material once every ten (10)
days and the fill area is adequately fenced to
restrict access to the area; and further provided that
the failure to comply with the periodic cover and
access control requirements shall constitute a
violation of this Ordinance;
(d) .The storage and accumulation of iron, metal,
component. vehicle and machine parts, junk vehicles,
household appliances, barrels and other salvaged metal
items, unless such material is stored in an approved,
licensed, and shielded Motor Vehicle Wrecking Facility;
(e) The accumulation and storage of any other
rubble, debris, junk, or refuse that, upon
investigation, is deemed to be a public nuisance as
defined in this Ordinance.
SECTION IV. Shielding. The maintenance of materials
that would be considered a public nuisance under this
Ordinance shall be lawful if such materials are
shielded from public view in accordance with the
following standards.
(a) Any shielding must conform to all local
zoning, planning, building and protective covenant
provisions and shall be of sufficient height that none
of the violation on the premises is visible to public
view.
(b) When fences are used for shielding, the
boards may be spaced and/or slanted to reduce wind
load, the space between boards when viewed from a
broadside view shall not be more than one and one-half
(1 1/2) inches and the interval between spaces shall
not be less than seven and one-half (7 1/2) inches.
Rough dimensional lumber or better is acceptable.
Chain link fencing with standard fiberglass or other
inserts are acceptable, provided the gap between
adjacent slats does not exceed one and one-half (1 1/2)
inches. The fencing is to be maintained by the
property owner or occupant in a neat and workmanlike
manner and shall be replaced when necessary.
(c) Shielding with shrubs and trees shall provide
a degree of shielding similar to that produced by
fencing at all^times of the year. Dirt berms are
acceptable for shielding purposes, provided the berm
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slopes are graded smooth and seeded with an adequate
grass seed formula.
(d) Other types of fencing of equivalent
permanence, attractiveness, and shielding qualities,
including corrugated metal, are also acceptable.
(e) No more than one of the approved shielding
materials shall be used on any one side of a shielding
fence.
SECTION V. Penalty_. A person convicted of the offense
of maintaining a public nuisance under this Ordinance
is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to
exceed $500 or imprisonment not to exceed six months,
or by both fine and imprisonment.
SECTION VI. Abatement. The abatement of conditions
which constitute a public nuisance prohibited by this
Ordinance shall be accomplished under the provisions of
this section.
(a) The City of Kalispell Police Chief or his
designee shall be responsible for initiating abatement
proceedings.
(b) When the Police Chief receives a complaint
that, a condition of community decay exists, he, or his
agent, shall inspect the property alleged to be in
violation of this Ordinance to determine whether there
is a violation of this Ordinance.
(c) If he determines that there is a violation of
this Ordinance, the Police Chief shall notify the owner
of the property in writing of the violation by
certified mail and order its abatement within thirty
(30) days. The notice of violation shall:
i) include a statement specifically describing
the violation;
ii) specify that the owner has thirty (30) days
from receipt of such notice to bring the property into
compliance with this Ordinance by means or removal or
shielding of the conditions; and
iii) advise the owner that if the violation is
not abated, the City may undertake abatement and
assess the costs of that abatement to the owner.
d) The owner may, after receipt of the notice of
violation, submit a plan of abatement to the Police
Chief which shall include:
i) the type of abatement or shielding to be
undertaken;
ii) the date for commencement of action; and
iii) the date for completion of the abatement.
The Police Chief may accept such plan and defer
further proceedings under this Ordinance pending the
date of completion of the abatement.
(e) In the alternative, the Owner may, within
fourteen (14) days of the date of issuance of the
Order,' appeal the abatement order to the City-CounC.il
of the City of 'Kalispell. Upon receipt of a timely
notice of appeal, the Council shall schedule a hearing
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within twenty (20) days, but may postpone that hearing
at the request of either party. Following the hearing,
the Council may either:
i) determine that a violation exists and order
abatement within thirty (30) days; or
ii) determine that no violation exists and
dismiss the proceedings.
(f) In the event that the owner fails to comply
with an abatement order, or an abatement plan approved
by the Police Chief under Section 6(c) hereof, the
Police Chief and/or his agent(s) may enter upon the
owner's property with the specific purpose of abating
or shielding the violation, which ever the Police Chief
deems appropriate;
(i) The City may assess the property owner/user
for the actual costs of the abatement by the Police
Chief.
(ii) If the assessment is not paid, it shall
become a lien upon the property and enforced as is non-
payment of property taxes.
SECTION VII. Jurisdiction. This Ordinance applies to
all of the city limits of the City of Kalispell.
SECTION VIII. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall be
in full force and effect thirty (30) days after its
final passage and adoption by the City Council and
approval by the Mayor.
SECTION IX. Compatibility. This Ordinance will not
affect previously enacted state and local statutes and
ordinances.
SECTION X. Severabilit_y. If any provision of this
Ordinance is held to be invalid, such invalidity shall
not affect other provisions which can be given effect
without the invalid provision. To this end, the
provisions of this Ordinance are to be severable.
PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KALISPELL AND APPROVED
BY THE MAYOR TH I S 19th DAY OF November _ 1990.
ATTEST:
�. t Rauthe,
Amy H obertson
City Clerk -Treasurer
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