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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975-1785 DUTY OF PROPERTY OWNERS TO REMOVE HAZARDOUS VEGETATION & DEBRIS/ ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE ORDINANCE relating to fire prevention; requiring_property' owners to remove growing or dead vegetation and debris which constitutes an existing or potential fire hazard or menace to public health, safety or welfare; providing for the giving of notice and establishing a procedure for the removal of such vegetation and debris; creating a lien for costs of such removal performed by. the City; enact- ing Section 10.05.100 as a new section of the City of Yakima Municipal Code; and declaring an emer- gency. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF YAKIMA: Section 1. Section 10.05.100 is hereby enacted as a new section of the City of Yakima Municipal Code to read as follows: "10.05.100 Duty to remove hazardous vegetation and debris--Procedure. A. Duty to remove hazardous vegetation and debris. The owner of any property within the City of Yakima shall remove from such property or destroy any grass, weeds, shrubs, bushes, trees or vegetation growing, or which has grown and died, thereon, and shall remove all debris there- from, when such growing or dead grass, weeds, shrubs, bushes, 410 trees or vegetation, or such debris, constitute an existing or potential fire hazard or a menace to public health, safety or welfare as determined by the Yakima City Council in accordance with the procedure provided by this section. Provided, in lieu of the foregoing requirement to remove or destroy a hazardous or potentially hazardous condition on parcels of property two acres or larger in size and separated by fifty feet or more from any structure, it shall constitute compliance with requirements of this sec- tion to remove or destroy hazardous or potentially hazardous grass, weeds, shrubs, bushes, trees, vegetation and debris around the perimeter of such a parcel so as to provide and maintain a fire break in accordance with requirements of the Fire Marshal. B. Notice to remove--Preliminary notice. Proceedings to require the removal or destruction of any grass, weeds, shrubs, bushes, trees, vegetation or debris or part thereof, as required by Subsection A of this section, shall be com- menced by a written notice given by the Fire Marshal of the City to the owner of the property involved, which notice shall specify the legal description and street address of 111 the property involved and describe the condition to be cor- rected, and shall notify the owner to correct the condition fifteen days from the date such notice is given. The notice shall further specify a date, no less than fifteen 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 certified 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. C. Final notice--City Council action. In the event the condition described in a preliminary notice is not corrected within the fifteen day period provided by the notice given pursuant to Subsection B of this section, the Fire Marshal 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 therewith. The report shall include the legal description and street address of the property involved and a descrip- tion of the condition •sought to be corrected with an esti- mate of the cost of performing that work. On the receipt of such report, the City Council may, by resolution, require the owner to remove the grass, weeds, shrubs, bushes, trees, vegetation or debris, or part thereof, as may be necessary for compliance with requirements of this section. The resolution shall further provide that in the event of non compliance with that final notice, then the Fire Marshal shall thereby be authorized to remove, or cause the removal of, the grass, weeds, shrubs, bushes, trees, vegetation or debris, or part thereof, growing or existing on the property involved. 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 ten 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 City will remove, or cause to be removed, the grass, weeds, shrubs, bushes, trees, vegetation or debris; and the notice shall include an estimate of the cost of such removal. The notice shall further indicate that the actual cost of such removal will be charged to the property owner, with such charge to constitute a lien on the property. D. 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 this section, the City may perform, or cause to be performed, the removal work. 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 sub- stantially 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 foreclosed and enforced in the manner and time as provided by the laws of the State of Washington pertain- ing to liens for labor and material." -2- Section 2. This ordinance is one to provide for the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health, safety and welfare of the people of the City of Yakima and an emergency is 410 hereby declared to exist and this ordinance shall be in full force and effect immediately upon its passage, approval and publication as provided by law and by the City Charter. PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL, signed and approved this s day of 77). , 1975. 411 Mayor ATTEST: Cityrk 411 -3-