REVISION
Revision to Chapter 18 Article II Division I
Nuisances
18-20
X .01 PUBLIC NUISANCES
PROHIBITED.
No person shall erect, contrive, cause, continue, maintain or permit to exist any public nuisance within the Town of Gauley Bridge, or within the police jurisdiction of the Town.
18-21
X .02 PUBLIC NUISANCES
DEFINED
(a) Generally, A public nuisance is a thing, act, occupation, condition or use of property which shall continue or use of property which such continue for such length of time as to:
(1) Substantially annoy, injure or endanger the comfort, health, repose or safety of the public; or
(2) In any way render the public insecure in life or in the use of property; or
(3) Greatly offend the public morals or decency; or
(4) Unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct or tend to obstruct or render dangerous for passage any street, alley, highway, navigable body of water or other public way.
(b) Public Nuisances Affecting Health. The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby specifically declared to be public health nuisances, but shall not be construed to exclude other health nuisances coming within the definition of subsection (a) hereof.
(1) All decayed, harmfully adulterated or unwholesome food or drink sold or offered for sale to the public;
(2) Carcasses of animals, birds or fowl not buried or otherwise disposed of in a sanitary manner within twenty-four hours after death;
(3) Accumulations of decayed animal or vegetable matter, trash, rubbish, rotting lumber, bedding, packing material, abandoned vehicles or machinery, scrap metal or any material in which flies, mosquitoes, disease-carrying insects, rats or other vermin may breed, or which may constitute a fire hazard;
(4) All stagnant water in which mosquitoes, flies or other insects can multiply;
(5) Garbage cans which are not fly tight;
(6) The escape of smoke, soot, cinders, noxious acids, fumes, gases, fly ash or industrial dust within the Town limits in such quantities as to endanger the health of persons of ordinary sensibilities or to threaten or cause substantial injury to property;
(7) The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal or body of water by sewage, creamery or industrial wastes or other substances;
(8) Any use of property, substances or things within the Town emitting or causing any foul, offensive, noisome, nauseous, noxious or disagreeable odors, effluvia or stenches which are extremely repulsive to the physical senses of ordinary persons and/or which annoy, discomfort, injure or inconvenience the health of any appreciable number of persons within the Town;
(9) Any barn, stable yard, shed, pen or other place where animals or fowl are kept which is not maintained in a clean condition; or any animals or fowl which because of disease, unsanitary conditions, odor or noise injure or discomfort the health or well-being of residents of the Town
(10) All abandoned wells not securely covered or secured from public use;
(11) Any obstruction to watercourses, drainage ditches or ravines;
(12) All noxious weeds as defined by the laws of the State or ordinances of the Town;
(13) Building materials not being used for immediate construction which are not stored in an enclosed accessory or other structure. Tarping shall not constitute a storage structure for the purposes of this section, and the use of tarping for such purposes is prohibited.
(14) Upholstered furniture constructed for interior use, carpeting, mattresses, box springs, clothing and any such fabric items stored or placed on the exterior of a structure. Structures intended for storing such items shall be constructed so as to be secure from the elements and rodent infestation.
(c) Public Nuisances Offending Morals and Decency. The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby specifically declared to be public nuisances offending in public morals and decency, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances offending public morals and decency coming within the definition of subsection (a) hereof.
(1) All disorderly houses, bawdy houses, houses of ill fame, and buildings or structures kept or resorted to for the purpose of prostitution,
(2) All places where intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverages are sold, possessed,
stored, brewed, bottled, manufactured or rectified without a permit or license required by the laws of the State or the ordinances of the Town;
(3) Any place or premises within the Town where Town ordinances or State laws relating to public health, safety, peace, morals or welfare are openly, continuously, repeatedly and intentionally violated;
(4) Any place or premises resorted to for the purpose of drinking intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverages in violation of the laws of the State or the ordinances of the Town;
(5) Any place that the owner, his agents or employees permit, condone or foster the sale or distribution of controlled substances, as defined in West Virginia Code 60A-1-101 et seq., within or upon the establishment.
(d) Public Nuisances Affecting Peace and Safety. The follow acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are hereby declared to be public nuisances affecting peace and safety, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances affecting public peace or safety coming within the provisions of subsection (a) hereof.
(1) All unauthorized signs, signals, markings or devices which purport to be or may be mistaken as official traffic control devices placed or maintained upon or in view of any public highway or railway crossing;
(2) All use or display of fireworks except as provided by the laws of the State and ordinances of the Town;
(3) All buildings or structures so dilapidated or out of repair as to be dangerous, unsafe, unsanitary or otherwise unfit for human use;
(4) All wires over streets, alleys or public grounds which are strung less than fifteen feet above the surface of the street or ground;
(5) All loud and discordant noises or vibrations of any kind;
(6) All debris or foreign matter or excess water in, and all obstructions of, streets, alleys, sidewalks, or crosswalks, and all excavations in or under the same, except as permitted by the ordinances of the Town or which, although made in accordance with such ordinances, are kept or maintained for an unreasonable length of time after the purpose thereof has been accomplished;
(7) All open and unguarded pits, wells, excavations or unused basements freely accessible from any public street, alley or sidewalk;
(8) All abandoned refrigerators or iceboxes from which the doors and other covers have not been removed or which are not equipped with a device for opening from the inside by pushing with the strength of a small child;
(9) Any structure, material or condition which constitutes a fire hazard or will impair extinguishing a fire;
(10) Any unauthorized or unlawful use of property abutting on a public street, alley or sidewalk or of a public street, alley or sidewalk which causes large crowds of people to gather, obstructing traffic and free use of the streets or sidewalks;
(11) Any nuisance described in the laws of the State.
(e) Storing, Parking or Leaving Abandoned, Dismantled or Other Such Motor Vehicle Prohibited. No person shall park, store, leave, or permit the parking, storing, or leaving of any motor vehicle of any kind which is unlicensed, abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, inoperative, rusted, junked, or partially dismantled whether attended or not, upon any public or private property within the Town for a period in excess often days, except when stored by a licensed business for the purpose of vehicle repair or improvement.
(1) The presence of such vehicles or parts thereof on private or public property shall be declared a public nuisance.
(2) This subsection shall not apply to any vehicle properly enclosed within a building on private property.
18-51
X .03 ABATEMENT OF PUBLIC
NUISANCES
(a) Inspection of Premises. Whenever complaint is made that a public nuisance exists, or has existed, within the Town, the Chief of Police, or his designee, shall inspect or cause to be inspected the premises and shall make a written report of his findings. Whenever practicable, the inspecting officer shall cause photographs to be made of the premises and shall file the same in the office of the Town Clerk.
(b) Notice. If at any time the Chief of Police, or his designee, finds that a condition which constitutes a nuisance exists within the Town he shall give notice in writing to the owner, occupant or person in charge of the premises upon which such condition exists, stating therein the condition which constitutes a nuisance and directing such addressee to remedy the condition within the time stated in such notice, which shall be not more than ten days; and no such owner, occupant or person in charge shall fail to comply with the terms of such notice.
(c) Abatement by Town. If the nuisance is not abated within the time provided or the owner, occupant or person causing the nuisance cannot be found, the Mayor or Chief of Police shall cause the abatement or removal of such public nuisance.
(d) Cost of Abatement. In addition to any other penalty imposed for the erection, contrivance, creation, continuance or maintenance of a public nuisance, the cost of abating a public nuisance by the Town shall be collected as a debt from the owner, occupant or person causing, permitting or maintaining the nuisance, and if notice to abate the nuisance has been given to the owner, such cost shall be assessed against the real estate as other special taxes.
(e) General Penalty. Whoever violates any provision of this article or fails to comply with any notice provided for herein, shall upon summons be required to appear before the Municipal Judge of the Town of Gauley Bridge and fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00). Each day any such violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.
(I) Appeal. A determination by the Chief of Police, or his designee may be appealed by the owner of the property to the Town of Gauley Bridge Municipal Judge within thirty (30) days of the property owner’s first receipt of said order. If the Municipal Judge affirms the prior determination, the property owner may appeal the decision to the Circuit Court of Fayette County within thirty (30) days of the decision.
Lasting reading: January 13, 2020
Will be posted at
Gauley Bridge Town Hall