Rio Arriba County Nuisance and Property Blight Ordinance

DRAFT

Rio Arriba County Nuisance and Property Blight Ordinance
2009-06

RIO ARRIBA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

AN ORDINANCE 2009-06 COMPILING, AMENDING, ADOPTING, RESTATING AND SUPPLEMENTING STANDARDS DEFINING NUISANCE THROUGHOUT RIO ARRIBA COUNTY; SETTING FORTH PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR PROPERTY MAINTENANCE IN RIO ARRIBA COUNTY; PROVIDING FOR ADMINISTRATION FOR THE ORDINANCE; AND PROVIDING FOR PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS



WHEREAS, this Ordinance will supplement Ordinance No. 2000-01 which provides standards for property maintenance, further defining property blight and constitutes a nuisance violation
within Rio Arriba County.


ARTICLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. Title

This Ordinance shall be known and may be cited as the Rio Arriba County Nuisance and Property Blight Ordinance.

Section 2. Purpose

This Ordinance has been constructed to maintain the quality of life in Rio Arriba County by
setting standards for property maintenance and reducing visual and environmental property
blight that can adversely impact the character of a neighborhood, public health, safety and
general welfare of the citizens of Rio Arriba County. This Ordinance has also been constructed to maintain compatible land use relationships and to preserve the aesthetic values of Rio Arriba County.

Section 3. Jurisdiction

This Ordinance shall apply to the same proportion of the territory to Rio Arriba County as does Ordinance 2000-01

Section 4. Interpretation

The provisions of this Ordinance are held to be minimum requirements. Whenever any provisions of this Ordinance conflict with other laws, rules, regulations, covenants, or ordinances, the more restrictive shall govern. This Ordinance shall be construed broadly to promote the purposes for which it is adopted.


Whenever the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) or its delegate is required this Ordinance to make a decision, the decision shall be in writing and supported by the findings of fact which are sufficient for meaningful review.

Section 5. Exemptions

This Ordinance does not apply to normal agricultural practices being conducted in an appropriately zoned (CRAD) area or practices at businesses operating under a conditional use permit within the parameters of the issued conditional use permit. This Ordinance does not apply to legal non-conforming land uses that have been or continue to operate within Federal, State and County statues.

ARTICLE II. DEFINITIONS

Consolidate - The act of placing, organizing or arranging various movable objects within one area of a parcel in a manner that shows intent to manage and regulate various movable objects.

Cordoned - The act of placing a fence, wall or visual barrier around various movable objects that have been consolidated into one area of the parcel.

Junk - Scrap iron, scrap tin, scrap brass, scrap copper, scrap lead or scrap zinc and all other scrap metals and their alloys, and bones, rags, used cloth, used rubber, used rope, used tinfoil, used bottles, old or used machinery, used tools, used appliances, used fixtures, used lumber, used tires, paper products, food containers or any other man made discarded goods or parts that are so worn.

Litter - Carelessly discarded junk that is visible to neighbors, pedestrians and motor vehicle traffic. Litter is considered a public and environmental health hazard, as well as having a negative impact to the aesthetic values of the County.

Nuisance - A nuisance means any substance, matter, emission, or thing which creates a dangerous or unhealthy condition or which threatens the public peace, health, safety, or sanitary condition of the County. This includes, without limitation, excessive or noxious noise, odors, vibrations, air pollution, smoke, liquid or solid wastes, heat, glare or dust. The term ‘nuisance’ does not apply to normal agricultural practices being conducted in an appropriately zoned area or business practices operating under the appropriate business license.

Screening - The act of employing an opaque wall to visually shield objects from view from neighbors, pedestrians and motor vehicle traffic.

Tarpaulin - A piece of material, such as durable plastic or outdoor fabric, used for protecting or covering exposed objects.


ARTICLE III. NUISANCE DEFINED

Section 1. Specific Violations

In addition to any act or omission determined to be a nuisance, the following are likewise declared to be a public nuisance:

General Nuisance Violations:
1) To violate any provision of any ordinance of the County, State or Federal Government;
2) To create or permit light trespass to nearby or adjacent properties pursuant to the Rio Arriba County Night Sky Protection Ordinance 2009-04;
3) Accumulation of debris, rubbish, trash, refuse, litter and junk;
4) Essentially interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property, tends to depreciate the aesthetic character of a neighboring properties;
5) To construct or maintain any structure upon any County owned premises without permission from the County;
6) Any building, structure or other place or location where any activity which is in violation of local, State or Federal law is conducted, performed or maintained;
7) The pollution of any well or cistern, stream, lake, canal, acequia, cienaga or body of water by sewage, creamery, industrial wastes, or other substances;
8) Any condition which provides for the infestation of rats, mice, snakes and other vermin;
9) To place any part of an animal carcass or any other offensive substance into any stream, well, spring, arroyo, ditch, pond, acequia, cienaga or other waters within the County;
10) The carcasses of animal or fowl not disposed of within a reasonable time after death;
11) Dense smoke, noxious fumes, gas soot or cinders in unreasonable quantities, to the point of negatively impacting a neighborhood, the environment or causing a fire hazard;

Environmental Nuisance Violations:
12) Any owner or occupant allowing to grow weeds and noxious vegetable growth on the owners or occupants lot or parcel of ground, or on the sidewalks and lawn strips or land areas abutting such lot or parcel of ground;
13) To store or collect on private property vehicles, industrial machinery or liquid waste containers that are leaking fluids onto the property;
14) The infestation of trees or shrubbery by the cocoon (bags) of all members of the genus \ Thyridopteryx (bagworm) and the webs (nests) of all members of the genus Malacosoma of the family Lasiocampide (tent caterpillars) and all of the genus Hyphantria of the family of Arctidae (webworm) and all members of the genus Pyrrhalta Luteola (leaf beetles);
15) To store, collect, maintain or display on private property solid waste or waste that is offensive or hazardous to the health and safety of the public, or which creates an unsanitary condition or offensive odors;

Property Blight Nuisance Violations:
16) Any building or other structure which is in such dilapidated condition that it is unfit for human habitation, or kept such an unsanitary condition that it is a menace to the health of people residing in the vicinity thereof, or presents a more than ordinarily dangerous fire hazard in the vicinity where it is located. Any condition which is attractive and dangerous to children such as a vacant accessible building, excavation, dilapidated walls and fences that encroach public ways, junk on vacant lots which may constitute a hazard to health and welfare to children who may not be able to recognize those dangers;

17) Accumulation of inoperative trucks, inoperative automobiles, inoperative machinery, heavy equipment, abandoned materials, such as metals, tires, lumber construction materials which are unsightly to the area or neighborhood where said objects are placed.
a. These objects must be consolidated and organized within one area of the parcel which is out of view from the surrounding neighbors and not visible from the adjacent road(s).
b. If said objects are not able to be consolidated on the parcel in a manner that is acceptable to \ the Zoning Officer, the Zoning Officer will obligate the violator to cordon and screen said objects from view. Screening of said objects will include, but is not limited to; opaque fencing, foliage \ screening, outdoor tarpaulin.

18) Any abandoned, unattended or discarded washing machine, clothes dryer, refrigerator, \ motor vehicle or any other container of any kind which has an airtight door, or lock which may not be released for opening from the inside of said container.

19) A building within the County is declared to be a nuisance if:
a. The residential or commercial property is found to be in violation of building or housing codes which make the building uninhabitable to the extent that the County, in the exercise of reasonable discretion, believes constitutes a threat to the public health, safety, or welfare; or
b. In the event that the building has been used for illegal drug manufacturing on the premises, which means any property with activity involving unauthorized manufacture of a controlled substance as listed in the State of New Mexico Administrative Laws pertaining to illegal drugs or any chemical for such substances occurs.


ARTICLE IV. ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT

Section 1. Enforcement

Enforcement and Penalties for Violation. If the Zoning Administrator finds that any provision of this Article is being violated, the Zoning Administrator shall give notice by hand delivery or by mail, of such violation to the owner and/or to the occupant of such premises, demanding that the violation be abated within thirty (30) days of the date of hand delivery or of the date of mailing of the notice. The Planning and Zoning Department Staff shall be available to assist in working with the violator to correct said violation. If the violation is not abated within the thirty (30) day period, the Zoning Administrator may institute actions and proceedings, either legal or equitable, to enjoin, restrain or abate any violations of this Article. Penalties for violation can be found in the Rio Arriba County Design and Development Regulation System Ordinance 2000-01, Article III Enforcement, Section I.

Section 2. Severability

The provisions of this Ordinance are severable and if any paragraph, section, subsection, or part of this Ordinance is held to be invalid, unenforceable, unconstitutional, or inapplicable to any person or circumstance, such illegality, invalidity, unconstitutionality, inapplicability shall not affect or impair the remainder of this Ordinance.

Section 3. Effective Date

Pursuant to ♣4-37-7 NMSA 1978 it is hereby declared by the Board of County Commissioners of Rio Arriba County that there is an immediate danger of the public health, safety and welfare of Rio Arriba County and therefore this Ordinance shall take effect immediately upon signature by the County Commissioners, signature and recording by the County Clerk and publication by title and general summary in a newspaper of general circulation in Rio Arriba County.

REVIEWED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED ON THIS 25th day of SEPTEMBER 2008.

THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF RIO ARRIBA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO

Alfredo L. Montoya, Chairman
Commissioner, District II

Elias Coriz
Commissioner, District I

Felipe D. Martinez
Commissioner, District III

ATTEST:
J. Fred Vigil, County Clerk

CERTIFICATE OF FILING

I, J. Fred Vigil, County Clerk, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance designated as Ordinance 2009-02 was filed in my office on the ____ day of April 2008 in Book Number _______, pages _____________.

J. Fred Vigil, County Clerk