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COUNCIL MEMBER HALL INTRODUCED THE FOLLOWING ORDINANCE:
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 4, ARTICLE 5 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF
THE CITY OF BLAIR, NEBRASKA, BY AMENDING SECTION 4-502 NUISANCES;
SPECIFICALLY DEFINED, SECTION 4-503.01 NUISANCES IN STREAMS; ABATEMENT
PROCEDURE, SECTION 4-504 NUISANCES; JURISDICTION, SECTION 4-506
NUISANCES, WEEDS, GRASSES, WORTHLESS VEGETATION AND LITTER; AND
SECTION 4-509 NOTICE TO ABATE AND REMOVE; AND DELETING SECTION 4-503
NUISANCES; ABATEMENT PROCEDURE; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS
OF ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH AND PROVIDING WHEN THIS
ORDINANCE SHALL BE IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
BLAIR, NEBRASKA:
SECTION 1. Section 4-502 of the Municipal Code of the City of Blair, Nebraska is hereby
added as follows, to wit:
Sec. 4-502 NUISANCES; SPECIFICALLY DEFINED. The maintaining, using, placing,
depositing, leaving, or permitting of any of the following specific acts, omissions, places,
conditions, and things are hereby declared to be nuisances:
1. Any odorous, putrid, unsound or unwholesome grain, meat, hides, skins, feathers,
vegetable matter, or the whole or any part of any dead animal, fish, or fowl.
2. Privies, vaults, cesspools, dumps, pits or like places which are not securely protected
from flies or rats, or which are foul or malodorous.
3. Filthy, littered or trash -covered cellars, houseyards, barnyards, stable -yards,
factory -yards, mill yards, vacant areas in rear of stores, granaries, vacant lots, houses,
buildings, or premises.
4. Animal manure.
5. Liquid household waste, human excreta, garbage, butcher's trimmings and offal, parts of
fish or any waste vegetable or animal matter in any quantity. Provided, nothing herein
contained shall prevent the temporary retention of waste in receptacles in a manner
provided by the Municipality.
6. Tin cans, bottles, glass, cans, ashes, small pieces of scrap iron, wire metal articles, bric-a-
brac, broken stone or cement, broken crockery, broken glass, broken plaster, and all trash
or abandoned material, unless the same be kept in covered bins or galvanized iron
receptacles.
7. Trash, litter, rags, accumulations of barrels, boxes, crates, packing crates, mattresses,
bedding, excelsior, packing hay, straw or other packing material, lumber and or fire
wood not neatly piled, scrap iron, tin or other metal not neatly piled, old automobiles or
parts thereof, or any other waste materials when any of said articles or materials create a
condition in which flies or rats may breed or multiply, or which may be a fire danger or
which are so unsightly as to depreciate property values in the vicinity thereof.
8. Any unsightly building, billboard, or other structure, or any old, abandoned or partially
destroyed building or structure or any building or structure commenced and left
unfinished, which said buildings, billboards or other structures are either a fire hazard, a
menace to the public health or safety, or are so unsightly as to depreciate the value of
property in the vicinity thereof.
9. All places used or maintained as junk yards, or dumping grounds, or for the wrecking
and dissembling of automobiles, trucks, tractors, or machinery of any kind, or for the
storing or leaving of worn-out, unlicensed, inoperable, unregistered, wrecked or
abandoned automobiles, trucks, tractors, or machinery of any kind, or of any of the parts
thereof, 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 maintained so as to
essentially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by others, or
which are so unsightly as to tend to depreciate property values in the vicinity thereof.
10. Stagnant water permitted or maintained on any lot or piece of ground.
11. Stockyards, granaries, mills, pig pens, cattle pens, chicken pens or any other place,
building or enclosure, in which animals or fowls of any kind are confined or on which
are stored tankage or any other animal or vegetable matter, or on which any animal or
vegetable matter including grain is being processed, when said places in which said
animals are confined, or said premises on which vegetable or animal matter is located,
are maintained and kept in such a manner that foul and noxious odors are permitted to
emanate therefrom, to the annoyance of inhabitants of the Municipality, or are
maintained and kept in such a manner as to be injurious to the public health.
12. Rock, gravel, stone, pebbles or other loose rock like material that moves or travels from
a private driveway and/or real estate and comes to rest or is deposited on any public
street or public right of way within the City Limits.
13. All other things specifically designated as nuisances elsewhere in this Code. (Neb. Rev.
Stat. §16-240, 184720) (Ord. No 1369, 2/24/76).
(Penalties refer to Sections 4-601 through 4-603 or Addendum to Code Violations Bureau Fee
Schedule) (Amended by Ordinance 2082 08/22/2006) (Amended by Ordinance 2140
06/10/2008) (Amended by Ordinance 2306 6/14/2016).
SECTION 2. Section 4-503.01 of the Municipal Code of the City of Blair, Nebraska is
hereby amended as follows, to wit:
Sec. 4-503.01 NUISANCES IN STREAMS; ABATEMENT PROCEDURE. Whenever the
City Administrator, or his authorized representative, determines that any litter deposited or
existing within a stream causes imminent danger to the public health, safety or welfare,
particularly where such litter is determined to cause an obstruction to the channel, stream,
watercourse, or flood way affected, then the City Administrator, or his designated agent, may
remove such litter at the expense of the owner or person in control of the land on which such
litter is found and the land immediately adjacent thereto, if such land was used as the source of
such litter or as the place of access for the disposition of such litter. In cases where the City
Administrator, or his designated agent, determines that such danger is less remote than
imminent, he/she may notify, in writing, such owner or person in control of such land to remove
the litter within a reasonable time period, not less than ten (10) days from notification. If the
owner or person in control of such land fails or refuses to so remove the litter, the City
Administrator, or his designated agent, may remove it at the expense of the owner or person in
control of the land; provided, further, that the reasonable expense associated with the removal or
abatement of such litter shall be levied, equalized and assessed as are other special assessments
as provided by law. The remedy provided to the City for the removal or abatement of such litter
and assessment of the cost thereof shall not be deemed the exclusive remedy to the City for such
violations but all of said acts shall remain enforceable as other violations of this Code and the
penalties described or applicable thereto may be applied in lieu of or in addition to the remedies
provided herein (Amended by Ordinance 2306 6/14/2016).
SECTION 3. Section 4-504 of the Municipal Code of the City of Blair, Nebraska is hereby
amended as follows, to wit:
Sec. 4-504 NUISANCES; JURISDICTION. The City Administrator and the Chief of Police
of the Municipality or their designated agents are directed to enforce this Municipal Code
against all nuisances. The jurisdiction of the City Administrator, Chief of Police, and court shall
extend to, and the territorial application of this Chapter shall include, all territory adjacent to the
limits of the Municipality within the two (2) mile zoning jurisdiction thereof and all territory
within the corporate limits. (Neb. Rev. Stat. §18-1720) (Ord. No. 1181, 2/24/76) (Amended by
Ordinance 2306 6/14/2016).
SECTION 4. Section 4-506 of the Municipal Code of the City of Blair, Nebraska is hereby
amended as follows, to wit:
Sec. 4-506 NUISANCES, WEEDS, GRASSES, WORTHLESS VEGETATION AND
LITTER. In addition to the definitions as provided in Sections 4-501 to 4-504 inclusive, a
nuisance is hereby declared to be and defined as permitting, allowing, or maintaining any
growth of eight (8) inches or more in height of weeds, grasses, or worthless vegetation, or to
litter or cause litter to be deposited or remain on any premises in the municipality except in
proper receptacles.
1. For the purposes of this section, litter shall include but not be limited to: (i) trash,
rubbish, refuse, garbage, paper, rags, and ashes; (ii) wood, plaster, cement, brick, or
stone building rubble; (iii) grass, leaves, and worthless vegetation; (iv) offal and dead
animals; and (v) any machine or machines, vehicle or vehicles that are unlicensed,
inoperable, unregistered, wrecked or abandoned, or parts of a machine or vehicle,
appliances, electronics and household goods and furnishings which have lost their
identity, character, utility, or serviceability as such through deterioration, dismantling, or
the ravages of time, are inoperative or unable to perform their intended functions, or are
cast off, discarded, or thrown away or left as waste, wreckage, or junk.
2. For the purposes of this section, weeds shall include but not be limited to: bindweed
(convolvulus arvensis), puncture vine (tribulus terrestris), leafy spurge (euphorbia esula),
Canada thistle (cirsium arvense), perennial peppergrass (lepidium draba), Russian
knapweed (centaurea picris), Johnson grass (sorghum halepense), nodding or musk
thistle, quack grass (agropyron repens), perennial sow thistle (sonchus arvensis), horse
nettle (solanum carolinense), bull thistle (cirsium lanceolatum), buchthorn (rahmnus sp.)
(tourn), hemp plant (cannabis sativa), and ragweed (ambrosiaceae).
3. Any owner or occupant of a lot or piece of ground shall, upon conviction of violating
such ordinance, be guilty of a Class V misdemeanor.
(Amended by Ordinance 2306 6/14/2016)
SECTION 5. Section 4-509 of the Municipal Code of the City of Blair, Nebraska is hereby
amended as follows, to wit:
Sec. 4-509 NOTICE TO ABATE AND REMOVE. Notice to abate and remove a nuisance
shall be given to each owner or owner's duly authorized agent and to the occupant, if any, by
conspicuously posting the notice on the lot or ground upon which the nuisance is to be abated
and removed or by personal service or certified mail. Within five (5) days of such notice, the
owner or occupant of the lot or piece of ground may request a hearing with the city to appeal the
decision to abate or remove a nuisance by filing a written appeal with the city clerk. A hearing
on the appeal shall be held within fourteen (14) days and the hearing officer shall render a
decision within five (5) business days following the conclusion of the hearing. If the owner or
occupant of the lot or piece of ground does not request a hearing with the city or fails to comply
with the order to abate and remove the nuisance, the city may have such work done at the
expense of the owner. If the expense from the work performed by the city pursuant to this
section remains unpaid for a period of two (2) months after such work is completed, the city
may either (a) levy and assess the costs, processing fees and expenses of the work upon the lot
or piece of ground so benefited in the same manner as other special taxes for improvements are
levied and assessed or (b) recover in a civil action the costs and expenses of the work upon the
lot or piece of ground. (Amended by Ordinance No. 2245 4/14/2013) (Amended by Ordinance
2306 06/14/2016).
SECTION 6. That all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby
repealed.
SECTION 7. That this ordinance shall be in force and take effect from and after its passage,
approval and publication as provided by law.
PASSED AND APPROVED THIS 14TH DAY OF JUNE, 2016.
CITY OF BLAIR, NEBRASKA
By
ESS E. REALPH, MAYOR
ATTEST: YY,
BRENDA R. WHEELER, CITY CLERK
(SEAL)
STATE OF NEBRASKA )
): ss:
WASHINGTON COUNTY )
BRENDA R. WHEELER hereby certifies that she is the duly appointed, qualified and acting
City Clerk of the City of Blair, Nebraska, and that the above and foregoing ordinance was passed
at a regular meeting of the Mayor and City Council of said City held on the 14th day of June,
2016.
BRENDA R. WHEELER, CITY CLERK