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Home My WebLink About1992-1988 - Ordinance - 11/12/1992ORDINANCE NO. 1988 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 7, SECTION 3, OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, BY ADDING SUBSECTIONS DECLARING UNWHOLESOME, IMPURE OR STAGNATING POOLS OR PONDS OF WATER AND FIREWORKS A NUISANCE; INCREASING THE PENALTY PROVISION; PROVIDING FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE PROHIBI- TION OF ANY NUISANCE TO WITHIN FIVE THOUSAND FEET OUTSIDE THE LIMITS OF THE MUNICIPALITY; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AUTHORIZING THE CITY ATTORNEY TO FILE SUIT TO ABATE SUCH NUISANCES; AND DETERMINING THAT THE MEETING AT WHICH THIS ORDINANCE IS PASSED IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AS REQUIRED BY LAW. WHEREAS, Section 217.042 of the Local Government Code grants to municipalities the authority to define and prohibit any nuisance within the limits of a municipality and within five thousand feet (5,000') outside its limits; and WHEREAS, the manufacture, sale, or discharge of fireworks, as defined by Section 202 of the Fire Prevention Code, consti- tutes a nuisance because fireworks pose a threat to the safety of individuals, in particular children, and pose an increased threat to property as a result of fire; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS: That Chapter 7, Section 3, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of College Station is hereby amended to read as follows: "SECTION 3: PUBLIC NUISANCES A. DEFINITIONS (1) A publio nuis&nos is a thing, act, occupation, or use of the property which shall annoy, injure, or endanger the safety, health, comfort, or repose of any considerable number of persons; shall offend the public decency; or shall in any way render any considerable number of persons insecure in life or in use of property. (2) The term person shall mean and include any natural person, association of persons, partnership, corpo- ration, agent or officer, and shall also include all warehousemen, common and private carriers, bailees, trustees, receivers, executors, administrators. Ordinance No. 1988 Page 2 NUISANCE SPECIFICALLY DEFINED The following specific acts, places, conditions, and things are hereby declared to be nuisances within the corporate limits of the City or outside the limits of the City for a distance of five thousand feet (5,000'): (1) Accumulations of manure or rubbish which are breed- ing places for flies, mosquitoes, or vermin. (2) All loud or unusual noises and annoying vibrations which offend the peace and quiet of persons of ordi- nary sensibilitles. (3) Ail hanging signs, awnings, and other similar struc- tures over the streets or sidewalks so situated or constructed as to endanger public safety. (4) Filthy, littered, or trash-covered cellars, house yards, factory yards, vacant areas in rear of stores, vacant lots, houses, buildings, or premises containing trash, litter, rags, accumulation of empty barrels, boxes, crates, packing cases, lumber or firewood not neatly piled, scrap iron, tin, and other metal not neatly piled, or anything whatsoever in which flies or rats may breed or multiply or which may be a fire danger. (5) Any unsightly building, pre-empted, or other struc- ture, or any old, abandoned, or partially destroyed building or structure, or any building or structure commenced and left unfinished, or any abandoned well or excavation not properly protected and which may attract children and endanger them in the course of play. (6) All places used or maintained as junk yards, or dumping grounds, or for the wrecking or disassem- bling of automobiles, trucks, or machinery of any kind, or for the storing or leaving of any machinery or equipment used by contractors or builders or by other persons, which said places are kept or main- tained so as to essentially interfere with the com- fortable enjoyment of life or property by others. (7) The keeping of any lot or piece of ground on which there is located a pool or pond of unwholesome, im- pure, stagnated or offensive water. Ordinance No. 1988 Page Ce (8) (a) The possession, storage, use, manufacture, assembling, selling, handling, transporting, receiving, offering for sale, or having in one's possession with the intent to offer for sale, use, discharge, ignite, detonate, fire or otherwise set into action, any fireworks as that term is defined by Section 202 of the Fire Prevention Code. (b) Exemptions. This section shall not apply to: the possession or use of signaling devices used by railroads, or others requiring the same, nor to signal flares or rockets for military or police use; (ii) the supervised public displays of fireworks provided that a permit for such fireworks display has been ob- tained from the State Fire Marshall or his designated representative; and (iii) the transportation of Class C Common Fireworks, as defined in Article 5.43, Vernon's Annotated Texas Insur- ance Code, by motor vehicles which meet the Department of Transportation requirements for transporting Class C Common Fireworks. It shall further be lawful for bona fide fireworks dealers to transport Class C Common Fireworks. Any person who shall knowingly cause or create any public nuisance, or permit any public nuisance to be created or to be placed upon or to remain upon any premises occupied by him or them shall, upon conviction thereof, be pun- ished by being subject to a fine as provided in Chapter 1, Section 5 of this Code of Ordinances, as amended from time to time. ABATEMENT OF NUISANCES Notwithstanding any penal provision herein, the City Attorney is authorized to file suit on behalf of the city Ordinance No. 1988 Page 4 for such injunctive relief as may be necessary to abate such nuisance whenever any nuisance as herein defined is found in any place within the City or in any area outside the City Limits for a distance of five thousand feet (5,000'). II. This ordinance shall be and is hereby declared to be cumula- tive of all other ordinances of the City of College Station, and this ordinance shall not operate to repeal or affect any of such other ordinances except insofar as the provisions thereof might be inconsistent or in conflict with the provi- sions of this ordinance, in which event such conflicting pro- visions, if any, in such other ordinance or ordinances are hereby repealed. III. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining por- tions of this ordinance. IV. All of the regulations provided in this ordinance are hereby declared to be governmental and for the health, safety and welfare of the general public. Any member of the City Council or any City official or employee charged with the enforcement of this ordinance, acting for the City of College Station in the discharge of his duties, shall not thereby render himself personally liable; and he is hereby relieved from all person liability for any damage that might accrue to persons or prop- erty as a result of any act required or permitted in the dis- charge of his said duties. This ordinance shall become effective and be in full force and effect from and after its passage and approval by the City Council and duly attested by the Mayor and City Secretary. PASSED, ADOPTED and APPROVED this 12th day of November, 1992. A~EST: City Secretary APPROVED: