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HomeMy Public PortalAboutOrdinance 791ORDINANCE NO. 791 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BEAUMONT DECLARING UNLAWFUL THE FAILURE TO MAINTAIN PRIVATE LANDSCAPING AND ESTABLISHING CRIMINAL PENALTIES THEREFOR The City Council of the City of Beaumont hereby ordains as follows: Section 1: Findings The City Council finds and determines as follows: a. Property values and the general welfare of the City of Beaumont are founded, in part, upon the appearance and maintenance of private and public property located within the City. b. The lack of maintenance of landscaping and sanitation on both private and public properties, including overgrown, dead, or decayed vegetation and weeds and the accumulation of rubbish and debris, is a condition which is injurious to the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of the City of Beaumont and contributes substantially and increasingly to the deterioration of the City. c. Unless corrective measures, as established herein, are undertaken to alleviate such existing conditions and to assure the avoidance of future problems in this regard, the public health, safety and general welfare, specifically aesthetic, social and economic standards, will be depreciated. d. The uses and abuses of property as described herein are reasonably related to the proper exercise of the police power to protect the health, safety and general welfare of the public. Section 2: Duty to Maintain Landscaping a. It shall be unlawful for any owner and/or occupant of property used for commercial, office or industrial purposes for which landscaping standards or requirements were established by the City of Beaumont to fail to maintain such landscaping in accordance with such conditions of approval imposed thereon and generally recognized horticultural standards. b. It shall be unlawful for any owner and/or occupant of any property used for commercial, office or industrial purposes to: (1) Permit or allow on such property overgrown vegetation including trees, shrubbery, groundcovers, lawns and other plantings which from the overall appearance results in the diminution of the appearance of the subject property as compared to adjacent properties. (2) Permit or allow on such property dead, decayed or diseased trees, shrubs, or other vegetation which is otherwise in need of landscape maintenance. (3) Maintain such property with a lack of vegetation so as to render the yard areas unsightly and which, from the overall appearance results in a diminution of the appearance of the subject property as compared with adjacent properties. c. Owners and/or occupants of properties fronting on, or adjacent to, any portion of a street shall comply with the provisions of Subsection b of this Section 2 as well as Chapter 12 of the Beaumont Municipal Code for any landscaping along said street or within the street right-of-way adjacent to their property fronting on, or adjacent to, any portion of the street. Section 3: Notice a. Notification: Prior to being issued a citation pursuant to this Ordinance, owners and occupants of any property charged with being in violation thereof shall receive the following notifications: (1) Notice of Violation (2) Notice of Intent to Issue a Citation. These notices shall provide a reasonable description of the violation and specify what corrective measures must be taken to achieve compliance. b. Notification Deadlines: (1) Upon receiving a "Notice of Violation", the property owner and/or occupant of the property shall have fourteen (14) days to begin the necessary corrections to achieve compliance. 2 (2) Upon receiving a "Notice of Intent to Issue a Citation", the property owner and/or occupant shall have fourteen (14) days to complete the necessary corrections to achieve compliance. c. Manner of Notification: Notifications shall be either: (1) Personally served upon the owner and occupant of the property; or (2) Delivered by regular mail addressed to the owner and occupant, at the address(es) shown on the last available assessment roll or as otherwise known. Section 4: Penalty Any individual violating any provision of this Ordinance shall be deemed guilty of an infraction or misdemeanor as hereinafter specified. Such individual shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each and every day or portion thereof during which any violation of any of the provisions of this Ordinance is committed, continued, or permitted. Any individual convicted of a violation of this Ordinance shall be: a. Guilty of an infraction offense and punished by a fine not exceeding One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) for a first violation; b. Guilty of an infraction offense and punished by a fine not exceeding Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) for a second violation of the same ordinance provision and perpetrated by the same individual. The third and any additional violations of the same ordinance provision and perpetrated by the same individual shall constitute a misdemeanor offense and shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00). Notwithstanding the above, a first offense may be charged and prosecuted as a misdemeanor. Payment of any penalty herein shall not relieve an individual from the responsibility for correcting the violation. Any person who removes any notice or order posted on the subject property is guilty of an infraction. In addition to the penalty, the individual shall also be liable for the payment of restitution to the City of Beaumont, in a sum not to exceed Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00). 3 Section 5: Severability If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of Section 1 through 4 hereof is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed those sections, subsections, clauses and phrases, irrespective that one or more may be declared invalid or unconstitutional. Section 6: Effective Date This Ordinance shall become effective 30 days after it is adopted. PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED on this 27th day of July, 1999. CITY OF BEAUMONT AYES: NOES: ABSTAIN: ABSENT: J dIICE C. LEJA, Mayor(/ Leja, Zeller, Berg, and Westcot None DeForge None 4