7.16.020 Conditions constituting a public nuisance.
Each of the following conditions, unless otherwise permitted by law, is declared to constitute a public nuisance in the city of Stanwood, and whenever the enforcement officer determines that any of these conditions exist upon any premises or in any lake, river, stream, drainage way or wetlands, the officer may require or provide for the abatement thereof pursuant to this section:
(1) The existence of any dead, diseased, infested or dying tree that may constitute a danger to street trees, streets or portions thereof;
(2) The existence of any tree, shrub or foliage, unless by consent of the city, which is apt to destroy, impair, interfere or restrict:
(a) Streets, sidewalks, sewers, utilities or other improvements,
(b) Visibility on, or free use of, or access to such improvements;
(3) The existence of any vines or climbing plants growing into or over any street tree, or any public hydrant, pole or electrolier, or the existence of any shrub, vine or plant growing on, around or in front of any hydrant, standpipe, sprinkler system connection or any other appliance or facility provided for fire protection purposes in such a way as to obscure the view thereof or impair the access thereto;
(4) The existence of any accumulation of materials or objects in a location when the same endangers property, safety or constitutes a fire hazard, or interferes with access to any public utility connection, drain, outlet or other use needed by those responsible to check, service, repair or use;
(5) The existence of any obstruction to a street, alley, crossing or sidewalk, and any excavation in or under any street, alley, crossing or sidewalk, which is by ordinance prohibited, or which is made without lawful permission, or which, having been made by lawful permission, is kept and maintained after the purpose thereof has been accomplished, and for an unreasonable length of time;
(6) The erecting, maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remain in or upon any private lot, building, structure or premises, or in or upon any street, alley, sidewalk, park, parkway, or other public or private place in the city, any one or more of the following disorderly, disturbing, unsanitary, fly-producing, rat-harboring, disease causing places, conditions, or things:
(a) Any putrid, unhealthy or unwholesome bones, meat, hides, skins, the whole or any part of any dead animal, fish or fowl, or waste parts of fish, or animal matter in any quantity; but nothing herein shall prevent the temporary retention of waste in approved covered receptacles;
(b) Any privies, vaults, cesspools, sumps, pits or like places which are not securely protected from flies and rats, or which are foul or malodorous;
(c) Any poison oak or poison ivy, Canadian thistle, night shade, water hemlock or other noxious weeds, whether growing or otherwise; but nothing herein shall prevent the temporary retention of such weeds in approved covered receptacles;
(d) Accumulation of bottles, cans, glass, ashes, small pieces of scrap iron, wire, metal articles, bric-a-brac, broken stone or cement, broken crockery, broken glass, broken plaster and all such trash, or abandoned material, unless it is kept in covered bins or galvanized iron receptacles;
(e) Accumulation of trash, litter, rags, empty barrels, boxes, crates, packing cases, mattresses, bedding, excelsior, packing hay, straw or other packing material, lumber not neatly piled, scrap iron, tin or other metal not neatly piled, or anything whatsoever in which flies or rats may breed or multiply or which may be a fire hazard;
(7) The depositing or burning or causing to be deposited or burned in any street, alley, sidewalk, park, parkway or other public place which is open to travel, of any hay, straw, paper, wood, boards, boxes, leaves, lawn clippings, manure or other rubbish or material;
(8) The existence of any fence or other structure or thing on private property which is in a sagging, leaning, fallen, decayed or other dilapidated or unsafe condition;
(9) The existence on any premises of any abandoned, unusable trailer, house trailer, automobile, boat or other vehicle or major parts thereof;
(10) The existence on any premises of any abandoned or unused well, cistern or storage tank without first demolishing or removing from the city such storage tank or securely closing and barring any entrance or trapdoor thereto or without filling any well or cistern or capping the same with sufficient security to prevent access thereto by children;
(11) The existence on any premises, in a place accessible to children, of any unattended and/or discarded icebox, refrigerator, other large appliances and attractive nuisances;
(12) The existence on any premises of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles which are not properly cared for, stored, licensed, or maintained and which constitute an attractive nuisance to children on public or private property except as provided for elsewhere in this chapter are declared a public nuisance and may be abated. It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to place or keep an abandoned vehicle, abandoned automobile hulk, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle or parts thereof upon any public or private property in the city or as owner, occupier or partly in control of any real property within the city to permit or allow any such automobile or portion thereof to be placed or kept on said property;
(13) The existence on any premises of any items of personal property which are not properly stored and maintained and which constitute junk and trash;
(14) Buildings which are in a state of disrepair which do not meet state, county or city codes for habitability, use, or occupancy and which could constitute an attractive nuisance to children;
(15) Any weeds growing on lots within the city, including blackberry bushes, which the law enforcement officer determines to be unsightly, harbor vermin or present a fire hazard:
(16) Any toxic substance or hazardous waste as defined in Chapter 70.105 RCW et seq., Hazardous Waste Management, and in WAC 173-303-080, 173-303-081, 173-303-082, 173-303-083 and 173-303-084, Dangerous Waste Regulations, and as hereinafter amended, which is improperly stored or discharged upon the ground, into the air or into the water within the city limits;
(17) Smoke, odors and/or noxious fumes which may be detrimental to the health of a number of people within the city limits;
(18) Any unlawful obstruction of the city streets or sidewalks, curbs, gutters or parking strips;
(19) Fruit trees or other trees, bushes, or shrubs which are infested with insects;
(20) Deposit of Unwholesome Substance. Every person who shall deposit, leave or keep on or near a highway, street or route of public travel on land or water any unwholesome substance or who shall establish, maintain or carry on, upon or near a highway, street or route of public travel on land or water, any business, trade or manufacture which is noisome or detrimental to the public health or who shall deposit or cast into or near any lake, creek, drainage ditch, road, or river wholly or partly in this city the offal from or the dead body of any animal shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor. (Ord. 863 § 1, 1993; Ord. 671 § 1, 1985).