Forestburgh City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XI
Violations and Enforcement
§ 180-49 Enforcement of chapter.
The Code Enforcement Officer appointed by the Town Board pursuant to Chapter 68 of this Code shall ordinarily be the official charged with primary responsibility for the enforcement of this chapter and have authority to enforce or cause to be prosecuted violations of this chapter, Town Law § 268, and all other zoning regulations applicable to any property located in the Town of Forestburgh. The authority and responsibility of the Code Enforcement Officer set forth in this article shall be in addition to the authority and duties set forth in other chapters of this Code. The Code Enforcement Officer may delegate his or her duties and enforcement authority to any other Code Enforcement Personnel as defined in § 68-2.
§ 180-50 Enforcement discretion.
The Code Enforcement Officer shall not possess any discretionary authority with regard to this article except that explicitly given him by specific language herein, but he or she shall have the authority to make interpretations as to the meaning and applicability of the text of this chapter, subject only to the authority of the ZBA to review the same under the provisions of Article X hereof.
§ 180-51 Authority and responsibilities.
In addition to the duties assigned to him in Chapter 68 of this Code, the Code Enforcement Officer shall:
A.
Violations. Immediately investigate every alleged or potential violation of any provision of this chapter, all other local laws and zoning regulations applicable to any property located in the Town of Forestburgh, or any alleged violation or potential violation of any permit requirements and approval applicable to any project approved within the Town of Forestburgh, either by complaint or otherwise, and take those actions necessary to abate or prevent same, including:
(1)
Personally inspecting the site of the alleged violation and/or making inquiries by telephone and letter of the landowner, person in control or other persons having knowledge or interest therein. Site inspections to investigate an alleged or prospective violation may be made with or without notice to the property owner. Such inspections shall normally be made during routine business hours except in instances where the alleged unlawful activity is occurring outside of normal business hours.
(2)
Advising any person by telephone or letter of violations or potential violations in or on a building, structure, lot or land owned or controlled by such person or advising such person of the applicability to him of specific provisions of this chapter or other information calculated to assist such person in complying herewith.
(3)
Informing other local, state or federal officials of violations or potential violations of laws or regulations bearing upon the same subject matter or conduct as this chapter and over which such officials have jurisdiction.
(4)
Issuing to any person reasonably believed to be in violation of this chapter a notice of violation, a stop-work order, compliance order, or signing and filing a complaint or information against such person and obtaining a criminal summons from a court under the Criminal Procedure Law, or a civil summons or order under the Civil Procedure Law.
(5)
Issuing to any person who has either violated any provision of this chapter in Code Enforcement Officer's presence or is maintaining a structure, building or use personally observed by the Code Enforcement Officer to be in violation of any provision of this chapter an appearance ticket as provided for in Article 150 of the Criminal Procedure Law.
(7)
Suspending or revoking at any time any certificates previously issued under § 68-7, or site plan approvals, special use permits, or variances granted by other Town of Forestburgh municipal boards.
(8)
Applying in the name of the Town to an appropriate judicial officer for the issuance of an administrative search warrant.
B.
Records and reports, complaints and violations. Keep a record of every identified violation of any provision of this chapter and of every identifiable complaint of such violation and of the disposition of each such violation and each such complaint, which records shall be public records open for public inspection. All letters, notices, summons and other documents sent or received by the Building Department in connection with violations or alleged violations of the Code, as well as the current status or disposition thereof shall be submitted to the Town Board and to the Town Attorney upon request.
C.
Records and reports, applications and permits. Maintain files of applications made, referrals of same made to other local agencies and building permits and certificates of occupancy issued.
D.
Informational materials. Maintain and make available to the public copies of:
(1)
A current schedule of fees as prescribed by the Town Board to be charged for applications made to local agencies for approvals pursuant to this chapter.
(2)
The official forms required to be completed by applicants for such approvals, including environmental assessment forms required under SEQRA.
(3)
Any other informational brochure or literature which the Town Board, by resolution, requires be distributed to building permit applicants or other members of the public having dealings with the Building Department.
E.
Notification to other officials. The Code Enforcement Officer's duty to inform other officials of violations or potential violations of this chapter, as described in Subsection A(3) above, shall include but not be limited to notifying the following officials or agencies:
(1)
The Town Assessors, with regard to any violation or potential violation of a conservation easement for which the property owner is receiving a tax abatement.
(2)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, with regard to any violation or potential violation of a provision of this Code affecting development in the Flood Hazard Overlay District.
(3)
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, with regard to any violation or potential violation of a provision of this Code which may constitute a violation of the Environmental Conservation Law or the regulations thereunder.
§ 180-52 Penalties for offenses.
A.
Violations. Where a violation of any provision of this chapter, or any other applicable zoning regulation, including the terms or conditions of the Planning Board, ZBA, or other local agency approval granted hereunder, the duly adopted rules of such municipal board or agency adopted hereunder, or any other similar law, rule or regulation which is expressly and specifically incorporated by reference herein, has been committed or shall exist, the owner and person in control of the building, structure or lot where such violation has been committed or shall exist shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter and subject to the Code Enforcement Officer's enforcement authority herein.
B.
Criminal and civil penalties.
(1)
Any person, firm, corporation or other entity that commits a violation of this chapter shall be punishable in the following manner:
(a)
For the conviction of a first offense, the imposition of a fine not exceeding $350 or imprisonment for a period not to exceed six months, or both. In addition, such person shall also be subject to a further civil penalty of not more than $1,000 collectible by and in the name of the Town for each violation.
(b)
For conviction of a second offense, both of which were committed within a period of five years, the imposition of a fine not less than $350 nor more than $700 or imprisonment for a period not to exceed six months, or both. For the conviction of a second offense, both of which were committed within a period of five years, such person shall also be subject to a further civil penalty of not more than $5,000 collectible by and in the name of the Town for each violation.
(c)
For conviction of a third or subsequent offense, all of which were committed within a period of five years, the imposition of a fine not less than $700 nor more than $1,000 or imprisonment for a period not to exceed six months, or both. For the conviction of a third offense, all of which were committed within a period of five years, such person shall also be subject to a further civil penalty of not less than $5,000 or more than $10,000 collectible by and in the name of the Town for each violation.
(2)
For the purpose of conferring jurisdiction upon courts and judicial officers in general, violations of this chapter shall be deemed misdemeanors, and, for such purpose only, all provisions of law relating to misdemeanors shall apply to such violations.
C.
Administrative penalty. In addition to any other remedy available hereunder for violations of this chapter, in those cases where the Code Enforcement Officer shall have determined a violation to exist and shall have provided written notice of the same to one or more persons responsible under Subsection A hereof, after a period of 90 days shall have elapsed and said violation shall have continued to exist, the Building Inspector may certify the violation in writing to all other local agencies responsible for the issuance of approvals and permits hereunder. Such certification shall set forth the owner of the property on which the violation is located and the name of the person in control committing or maintaining the alleged violation and responsible for the same under Subsection A hereof, if other than the owner and known to the Building Inspector, the nature of the violation and the efforts made by the Building Inspector to obtain compliance. After receipt of any such certification of violation, no local agency, including the Building Inspector, shall accept, determine to be complete or otherwise process or further process any application for approval made for such identified property or by any such identified person or persons or by any partnership, corporation or other organizational applicant of which any such identified person is an associate, partner or majority shareholder. Every such application shall be deemed to be defective, incomplete and not suitable for processing by the local agency, and any time period for such processing or for action on the application which is contained in the Town Law or in this chapter shall be deemed tolled for all purposes. This subsection shall not apply to an application brought to the ZBA for an interpretation or for a variance which would remove or render legal the alleged violation. Upon removal of the violation or the granting of a variance therefor by the ZBA or upon the dismissal by a competent court of all charges which may have been brought by the Building Inspector against such person as a named defendant in relation to such violation or upon acquittal of the defendant by such court, the Building Inspector shall immediately revoke the certification of violation previously issued and notify all local agencies in writing of the same, at which time the disability imposed hereunder shall be removed.
D.
Other remedies. In addition to other remedies provided for by law, including Town Law § 268, any appropriate action or proceeding, whether by legal process or otherwise, may be instituted or taken by the Town of Forestburgh to prevent unlawful erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, conversion, change, demolition, razing, moving, maintenance or use of any building, structure, lot or land or any activity in violation of this chapter, or any other zoning regulation applicable to the subject property, being undertaken or carried out therein or thereon; to restrain, correct or abate such violation; to prevent the occupancy of such building, structure or lot; or to prevent any illegal act, conduct, business, trade or use in or about such premises.
E.
Continuing violations. After the date on which the Code Enforcement Officer, or other responsible Town official shall have provided notice of a violation to the offender, each seven calendar days of continued violation shall constitute a separate and additional offense for all purposes hereof.
F.
Notice of a zoning violation shall be issued by the Code Enforcement Officer, and a ten-day period for compliance shall be provided from the date of such issuance. Nothing herein shall prevent the Code Enforcement Officer from taking immediate enforcement action under § 180-52D or Town Law § 268 for noncompliance with a stop-work order issued under §§ 180-51A(4) or 68-6.