HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975-1796 PROPERTY OWNERS TO CORRECT HAZARDS CREATED BY VEGETATION OVERHANGING OR INTERFERING WITH PUBLIC WAYS. ORDINANCE NO. /
AN ORDINANCE relating to streets and sidewalks; requiring property
owners to correct hazards created by vegetation over-
hanging or interfering with the use of public ways;
specifying procedures for removal by the City of
such hazards and creating a lien for costs thereof;
410 authorizing the summary removal of hazardous vegeta-
tion; amending Sections 8.80.010, 8.80.020 and 8.80.030,
and enacting Section 8.80.080, all of the City of
Yakima Municipal Code.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF YAKIMA:
Section 1. Section 8.80.010 of the City of Yakima Municipal
Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
"8.80.010 Duty to remove vegetation overhanging or
interfering with use of public way. The owner of any property
within the City of Yakima upon which any tree, plant, shrub
or other vegetation, or any part thereof, grows or has grown
and died in such a manner so as to overhang any public street,
alley or sidewalk, or so as to obscure, endanger or impair the full
and free use thereof by the public, or grows or has grown
and Aied in such a manner so as to damage or interfere with
the use or maintenance of any water pipe line or sewer pipe
line, shall be required to remove such tree, plant, shrub
or other vegetation, or any part thereof, upon notice provided
by this chapter."
Section 2. Section 8.80.020 of the City of Yakima Municipal
Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
"8.80.020 Notice to property owner to remove vegeta-
tion.
A. Preliminary notice. Proceedings to require the removal
of any tree, plant, shrub or other vegetation, or part thereof,
as required by Section 8.80.010 of this chapter, shall be
commenced by a written notice given by the Director of Public
Works of the City to the owner of the property involved, which
notice shall specify the legal description and street address
of the property involved and describe the condition to be
corrected, and shall notify the owner to correct the condition
within ten days from the date such notice is given. The
notice shall further specify a date, no less than ten days
subsequent to the date of giving the preliminary notice,
on which the matter will be reported to the City Council
for formal action in the event of non compliance with the
preliminary notice. Service of the notice shall be made in
person on the owner, or by United States mail addressed to
the owner at his last known address. In the event the occupant
of the premises is someone other than the owner, a copy of
such notice shall also be mailed to that occupant at the address
of the property involved.
B. Final notice--City Council action. In the event the
condition described in a preliminary notice is not corrected
within the ten day period provided by such notice, the Direc-
tor of Public Works shall report to the City Council, on the
date specified in the preliminary notice, the fact of the
giving of the preliminary notice and of non compliance there-
with. The report shall include the legal description and
street address of the property involved and a description
of the condition sought to be corrected. On the receipt
of such report, the City Council may, by resolution, require
the owner to remove the tree, plant, shrub or other vegetation,
or part thereof, as may be necessary for compliance with
the preliminary notice. The resolution shall further provide
for a final notice to be given to the same persons and in
the same manner as provided for giving a preliminary notice,
which final notice shall require that the condition be cor-
rected within fen days from the date such final notice is
given; and the notice shall further include notification
that in the event of the failure of the owner to comply with
the notice, the tree, plant, shrub or other vegetation des-
cribed in the notice will be removed by the City with the
actual cost of such removal to be charged to the owner, with
such charge to constitute a lien on the property."
Section 3. Section 8.80.030 of the City of Yakima Municipal
Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
"8.80.030 Refusal to comply with notice--Removal by
City--Lien. In the event an owner fails to comply with a
final notice given in accordance with Section 8.80.020 of
this chapter, the removal work required by that notice may
be performed by the City. Upon such removal, the actual
cost thereof shall be a charge against the property owner
and shall constitute a lien against the property. Notice
of the lien hereby created shall be substantially in the
same form as liens for labor and material under the laws
of the State of Washington and shall be filed with the County
Auditor of Yakima County within the time and shall be fore-
closed and enforced in the manner and time as provided by
the laws of the State of Washington pertaining to liens for
labor and material."
Section 4. Section 8.80.080 is hereby enacted as a new sec-
tion of the City of Yakima Municipal Code to read as follows:
"8.80.080 Summary removal of hazardous vegetation from
public right-of-way. Notwithstanding the provisions for
notice and procedures contemplated by Sections 8.80.020,
8.80.030, 8.80.060 and 8.80.070 of this chapter, the Director
of Public Works is hereby authorized to trim or remove any
shrub, tree, plant or other vegetation which grows or has
grown and died within, along or above any public street, alley
or sidewalk in such a manner so as to actually or potentially
obscure any traffic control sign or signal or so as to other-
411 wise constitute an actual or potential hazard to persons on
such public street, alley or sidewalk. Such trimming or
removal is hereby authorized without the necessity for prior
notice to the owner or occupant of property adjacent to such
public street, alley or sidewalk on which such shrub, tree,
plant or other vegetation is growing or has grown; provided,
such trimming or removal shall be performed only to the
extent deemed necessary by the Director of Public Works to
abate an actual or potential traffic control sign or signal
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obstruction or other actual or potential hazard to persons
on such public street, alley or sidewalk; and provided fur-
ther, the cost of trimming and removal work performed pur
suant to the authority of this section, without the notices
and procedure contemplated by Sections 8.80.020, 8.80.030,
8.80.060 and 8.80.070 of this chapter, shall not be charged
to the owner of, nor constitute a lien against, the property
on which any such shrub, tree, plant or other vegetation
grows or has grown and died."
Section 5. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect
thirty days after its passage, approval and publication as pro-
vided by law and by the City Charter.
PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL, signed and approved this-2-6a
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day of ANF , 1975.
Mayor
ATTEST:
A4 0 1 01.2
0,74.c.;cd 404„6„.14/
City elerk
410
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