ORD 00-16CITY OF OTSEGO
COUNTY OF WRIGHT
STATE OF MINNESOTA
ORDINANCE NO. o o - 1 h
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING OTSEGO
ORDINANCE NO. 9 1 - 2 3 DEFINING NUISANCES,
PROHIBITING THEIR CREATION OR
MAINTENANCE AND PROVIDING FOR
ABATEMENT AND PENALTIES FOR
VIOLATION THEREOF.
The City Council of the City of Otsego
Ordains as follows:
Otsego Ordinance No.91-21 hereby amend as follows:
Section 1: Section 6-2-1 Purpose is added and reads as follows:
6-2-1: ose. The purpose of this ordinance is to protect the
general, health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the City of Otsego by
prohibiting the occurrence and maintenance of public nuisances and
eliminating junk and blight within the City. The ordinance allows for the
abatement of public nuisances and provides penalties for and remedies
against those causing or maintaining a public nuisance.
Section 2: Section 6-2-3 Public Nuisance Affecting Health, section F, is amended
to read as follows:
F. The discharge, disposal, accumulation, or collection of sewage or
industrial waste without proper permit or approval;
Section 3: Section 6-2-5 Public Nuisances Affecting Peace and Safety, section F,
is amended to read as follows:
F. Placing or storing on any street, sidewalk, alley or public right-of-
way any boxes, goods, wares, merchandise, building materials,
machinery, business or trade article except for the purpose of
immediately transferring the same to some other proper place;
Section 4: Section 6-2-5 Public Nuisances Affecting Peace and Safety, section H,
is amended to read as follows:
H. Radio aerials or television antennae erected or maintained in a
dangerous manner;
Section 5: Section 6-2-5 Public Nuisances Affecting Peace and Safety, section O,
is amended to read as follows:
O. Accumulations in the open of broken or unused metal, wood,
lumber, cement, electrical fixtures, plumbing fixtures, building
materials (but excluding building materials awaiting use and stored
for a reasonable period of time for allowable or improvement
presently in progress on the same premises), discarded or unused
machinery, household appliances, automobile bodies, trash, debris,
rubbish or other material, in a manner conducive to the harboring of
rats, mice, snakes, or vermin, or the rank growth of vegetation
among the items so accumulated, or items accumulated in a manner
creating fire, health, or safety hazards;
Section 6: Section 6-2-6 Storage of Personalty, is amended to read as follows:
6-2-6: Storage of Personalty.
A. Unsheltered storage of unused, stripped, junked, and other
automobiles, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, watercraft or any
other motor vehicle, not in good and safe operating condition and
bearing a current State of Minnesota License or Registration for that
type of vehicle, and of any other vehicles, machinery, implements,
and/or equipment and personal property of any kind which is no
longer safely usable for the purposes for which it was manufactured,
all of which is hereinafter described as "said personalty", for a any
period of thirty days or more within any given year(except in
licensed junkyards) within the corporate limits of the City of Otsego
is hereby declared to be a nuisance and dangerous to the public
safety.
B. For purposes of this ordinance unsheltered storage means said
personalty which is not stored in a permitted structure complying
with the then existing and controlling City ordinances. The period of
one year for purposes of considering whether or not a continuing
violation exists commences upon the date of notice of the violation.
In the event that any violation is corrected but a same or similar act
occurs within the one year time period set forth above it shall be
considered a continuation of the original violation and each day that
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said violation exists may be considered a separate violation as well
as a continuation of the original violation.
C. Abatement by Owners. The owner, owners, tenants, lessees and/or
occupants of any lot within the corporate limits of the City of Otsego
upon which such above prohibited storage or any other violation of
this ordinance is made, and also the owner, owners, and/or lessees of
said personalty involved in such storage or any other material
constituting a violation of this ordinance, all of whom are hereinafter
collectively referred to as "owners", shall jointly and severally abate
said nuisance by the prompt removal of said personalty or materials
into completely enclosed buildings authorized to be used for such
purposes, or to a licensed junkyard or waste facility, or remove it to
a location outside the corporate limits of the City of Otsego.
D. Abatement by the City. Whenever said owners fail to abate such
nuisances the City shall remove the said personalty or materials to a
location of its selection. Abatement of such nuisance by the City
shall be in accordance with Section 6-2-12 of this ordinance. Costs
incurred by the City during said abatement, including the cost of
storage or disposal, shall be recoverable from the said owners,
jointly and severally, in accordance with Section 6-2-13 of this
ordinance or in a suit at law.
E. Disposal of Property After Abatement by the City. When said
personalty or materials have been removed and placed in storage by
the City, as provided for herein, said personalty shall be sold by the
City after the lapse of such time as is provided for by law. If the
proceeds of such sales are insufficient to pay the costs of abatement
and storage said owners shall be liable to the City for the balance of
the costs. If the proceeds are in excess of the costs, including
storage, the balance shall be paid to said owners or deposited in the
City Treasury for their use.
Section 7: Section 6-2-13 Abatement, section A, is amended to read as follows:
A. General. Whenever the officer charged with enforcement
determines that a public nuisance is being maintained or exists on
premises in the city, the officer shall notify in writing the owner or
occupant of the premises of such fact and order that such nuisance
be terminated or abated. The notice shall be served in person or by
certified or registered mail. If the premises are not occupied and the
owner is unknown, the notice may be served by posting it on the
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premises. The notice shall specify the steps to be taken to abate the
nuisance and the time, not exceeding thirty (30) days, within which
the nuisance is to be abated. If the notice is not complied with
within the time specified, the enforcing officer shall, in the same
manner described above serve notice at least seven (7) days prior to
a scheduled hearing by the City Council upon the owner or occupant
of the property. Thereafter, the Council may, after notice to the
owner or occupant and an opportunity to be heard, provide for
abating the nuisance by the City. The City Council shall by
resolution adopt a Notice of Abatement, which shall set forth the
nuisance to be abated and shall indicate a date and time on which the
City will enter onto the property and abate the nuisance. The notice
shall also notify the property owner that the costs of abatement will
be billed to the property owner and if not paid will be assessed
against the property. The Notice of Abatement shall be served upon
the owner and/or occupant in person or by certified or registered
mail at least seven (7) days prior to the proposed date for the City to
abate the nuisance. If the premises is unoccupied or the owner and/or
occupant cannot be served notice may be posted upon the premises
at least seven (7) days prior to the proposed abatement.
Section 8: Section 6-2-14 Recovery of Cost, is amended to read as follows:
6-2-14: Recovery of Cost.
A. Personal Liability. The owner of the premises on which a nuisance
has been abated by the City shall be personally liable for the cost to
the City of the abatement, including legal and administrative costs.
As soon as the work has been completed and the costs determined,
the clerk or other official designated by the Council shall prepare a
bill for the cost and mail it to the owner. Thereupon, the amount
shall be immediately due and payable at the Office of the Clerk.
B. Assessment. If the nuisance is a public health or safety hazard on
private property or the accumulation of snow and ice on public
sidewalks, the Clerk shall, on or before September 1, next following
abatement of the nuisance, list the total unpaid charges (including all
applicable legal and administrative costs) along with all other such
charges as well as other charges for current services to be assessed
under Minnesota Statutes, Section 429.101, against each separate lot
or parcel to which the charges are attributable. The Council may
then spread the charges against such property under that statute and
other pertinent statutes for certification to the County Auditor and
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collection along with current and following year taxes, or in annual
installments, not exceeding ten, as the Council may determine in
each case.
Section 9: Section 6-2-15 Penalty, is amended to read as follows:
6-2-15: Penal . Any person violating any provision of this order
shall, upon conviction be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished
pursuant to applicable State Statute regarding misdemeanor penalties, as
amended, plus the costs of prosecution. Each day a nuisance continues to
exist is deemed a separate punishable offense under this ordinance. The
City may, in its discretion, seek any civil remedies available to it as well,
including injunctive relief or abatement. Each right or remedy accruing to
the City under this ordinance or at law is separate and distinct and may, in
the City's discretion, be exercised independently or simultaneously with
any other right or remedy.
This ordinance amendment to be effective upon its passage and publication
according to law.
ADOPTED this L'.1c day of 2000.
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IN FAVOR: LARRY FOURNIER, MAYOR, CM VERN HEIDNER, CM VIRGINIA
WENDEL, CM SUZANNE ACKERMAN AND CM RICHARD NICHOLS
OPPOSED:
no one
CZayy>or,.5CWo Otsego
ATTEST:
"�g
Otsego City Clerk
Publish: October 25, 2000 - Elk RiverSSSar
News
Posted: Otsego City Hall - Both Boards 10/19/00
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