Ordinance No. 1062

WHEREAS, the Town of Speedway, Indiana (the "Town") has received complaints or identified numerous concerns over the use or a sale of illegal drugs or controlled substances and other illegal activities; and

WHEREAS, the Town desires to provide for the abatement, removal and/or penalty for or creating or permitting the continued existence of a public nuisance resulting from illegal activities or othercircumstances as provided herein; and

WHEREAS, the Town Council has taken numerous steps to provide for increased code enforcement and increased presence of police and other public safety personnel throughout the Town; and

WHEREAS, under I.C. § 36-8-2-4, the Town Council may regulate conduct, or use or possession of property, that might endanger the public health, safety, or welfare; and

WHEREAS, under I.C. § 36-1-6-2, as amended, if a condition violating a Town ordinance exists on real property, employees or contractors of the Town are authorized to follow certain procedures and take appropriate action to bring the property into compliance with such ordinance; and

WHEREAS, the Town Council now finds it necessary to provide additional legislative authority to address the growing concerns over instances of illegal activities within the Town.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Town Council of the Town of Speedway, Indiana, as follows:

Section 1. Title 9 of the Speedway Municipal Code (the "Code") is hereby amended by the addition of new Chapter 9.80, concerning Public Nuisances, to read as follows:

"Chapter 9.80. Public Nuisances.

9.80.010 Definitions. For purposes of this title and unless otherwise defined in the Code, "public nuisance" shall mean the doing of an unlawful act, or the omitting to perform a duty, or the suffering or permitting of any condition or thing to be or exist, which act, omission, condition or thing either:

(1) Injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others; or

(2) Offends decency; or

(3) Is offensive to the senses; or

(4) Unlawfully interferes with, obstructs or tends to obstruct or renders dangerous for passage any public or private street, highway, sidewalk, stream, ditch or drainage; or

(5) In any way renders other persons insecure in life or the use of property; or

(6) Essentially interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property, or tends to depreciate the value of the property of others.

9.80.020 Illustrative Enumeration. The maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remain on any public or private property of the following items, conditions or actions are hereby declared to be and constitute a nuisance; provided, however, this enumeration shall not be deemed or construed to be conclusive, limiting or restrictive in any way:

(1) Vegetation or construction debris which constitutes an environmental public nuisance under Section 6.03.030 of the Code.

(2) A condition which causes property to become a health or safety hazard, unless specifically authorized under existing laws and regulations.

(3) Accumulation of rubbish, trash, refuse, junk and other abandoned materials, metals, lumber or other things.

(4) Any condition which provides harborage for rats, mice, snakes and other vermin.

(5) Any building or other structure which is in such a dilapidated condition that it is unfit for human habitation, kept in such an unsanitary condition that it is a menace to the health of people residing in the vicinity thereof, or presents a more than ordinarily dangerous fire hazard in the vicinity where it is located.

(6) All unnecessary or unauthorized noises and annoying vibrations, including noises.

(7) All disagreeable or obnoxious odors and stenches, as well as the conditions, substances or other causes which give rise to the emission or generation of such odors and stenches.

(8) The carcasses of animals or fowl not disposed of within a reasonable time after death.

(9) The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal or body of water by sewage, industrial wastes or other substances.

(10) Any building, structure or other place or location where any activity which is in violation of any Town ordinance, or state or federal law is conducted, performed or maintained.

(11) Any accumulation of stagnant water permitted or maintained on any lot or piece of ground.

(12) Dense smoke, noxious fumes, gas, soot or cinders, in unreasonable quantities.

(13) The unauthorized obstruction of any public street, road or sidewalk.

(14) Any abandoned vehicle.

(15) Those offenses which are known in common law and state statutes as public nuisances.

9.80.030 PUBLIC NUISANCES PROHIBITED. It shall be unlawful for any property owner, occupant, or other person to allow a Public Nuisance to exist. Nothing in this chapter should be construed to encourage or authorize the discrimination by lessors against any person based upon race, creed, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender, veteran status or national origin.

9.080.040 NOTICE TO ABATE; CONTENTS OF NOTICE.

(1) Whenever a Public Nuisance is found to exist within the Town, the Town Manager, Code Enforcement Officer, Police Chief, and/or planning and building administrator may give written notice to the owner, occupant, and/or any person holding a beneficial interest in the property upon which such Public Nuisance exists or upon the person causing or maintaining the nuisance.

(2) The notice shall give the owner, occupant, and/or any person holding a beneficial interest in the property, at least ten (10) days from the date of receipt of the notice to bring the property into compliance as set forth in the notice.

(3) The notice shall (i) give a statement of the nature and location of the alleged Public Nuisance; (ii) give a statement of acts deemed necessary to correct the condition; (iii) fix a date not sooner than ten (10) days from the date of the receipt of the notice when said property owner, occupant, and/or any person holding a beneficial interest in the property, may appear before the Town Council to be heard on the question of the alleged Public Nuisance; and (iv) give a statement that if the alleged Public Nuisance is not abated as directed and no request for a hearing is made within the prescribed time, the Town may abate the Public Nuisance and assess the cost thereof against the owner, occupant, or person having a beneficial interest in the property, and that such costs will constitute a lien against the property.

(4) All notices as herein required shall be sent by first class U.S. mail, postage prepaid, to the occupant or owner at the address of the property, if it be a dwelling, and to the last known address of the owner as reflected in the tax rolls of the Town, the township, or the county.

9.80.050 FAILURE TO ABATE; ABATEMENT BY TOWN .

(1) Upon the failure of the property owner, occupant, and/or any person holding a beneficial interest in the property upon whom notice to abate a Public Nuisance was served, to cause the abatement of the Public Nuisance as required by the notice, and after notice and opportunity for hearing before the Town Council, the Town Council or its designee shall proceed at once to cause the Public Nuisance to be abated and shall prepare a statement of any and all costs incurred in the abatement thereof.

(2) In the event that the Town Council, or its designee, shall cause a Public Nuisance to be abated on any property within the Town, then as compensation to the Town for its services in causing the abatement, the owner, occupant, and/or any person having a beneficial interest in the property shall be charged a fee determined by the Town Council based upon the amount of time spent in abating the Public Nuisance.

(3) In accordance with I.C. 36-1-6-2(a), the expenses incurred by the Town to bring compliance constitute a lien against the property. The lien attaches when notice of the lien is recorded in the office of the county recorder. The lien is superior to all other liens except liens for taxes.

9.80.060 COLLECTION OF FEES; LIEN ON PROPERTY.

(1) The Town Council shall, upon completion of all acts necessary to abate the Public Nuisance, send a statement to the owner, occupant, and/or any person having a beneficial interest in the property, notifying said owner, occupant, and/or person having a beneficial interest in the property of the fees and charges, including all administrative and removal costs of the abatement, owing to the Town for its services.

(2) All statement of expenses, as herein required, shall be sent by first class U.S. mail, postage prepaid, to the occupant or owner at the address of the property, if it be a dwelling, and to the last known address of the owner as reflected in the tax rolls of the Town, the township, or the county.

(3) Upon the failure of the owner, occupant, and/or person having a beneficial interest in the property to pay said fees and charges in full within thirty (30) days or to appeal to the Town Council, as set forth herein, the Town Council, or its designee, then may cause such charges and fees to be placed upon the tax duplicate and collected in the same as delinquent taxes are collected. The Town Council, or its designee, may, in the alternative, refer said charges and fees to the Town attorney who shall forthwith collect the fees and charges by civil process. The board may also obtain a lien for such services, in accordance with Section 9.80.050(3) and I.C. § 36-1-6-2.

9.80.070 RIGHT TO CONTEST BILL FOR FEES.

Any person upon whom a statement for costs and expenses to abate a Public Nuisance was served pursuant to the provisions of this article shall have the right to appeal such statement to the Town Council within thirty (30) days of receipt of the statement.

9.80.080 VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES.

(1) When a Public Nuisance is found to exist and after all persons known to have a substantial interest in the property have been given notice under Section 9.80.040, and given reasonable opportunity to bring the property into compliance and have not done so, the Town Council, Police Chief, Fire Chief, and/or Town Manager may request that the Code Enforcement Officer issue a town ordinance violation citation to the record owner of the property or to the person shown to have right of exclusive possession of the property. Such citation shall impose a fine in conformance with Section 9.80.090.

(2) Each subsequent day of violation shall be considered a separate violation for which a citation may be issued. No fine shall be imposed for the ten (10) day period immediately following receipt of the required notice to abate.

(3) Any person served with a citation for violating the provisions of this article may appear before the ordinance violations clerk, pursuant to Chapter 1.12 of the Code, to admit the violation and pay the civil penalty. If a person does not appear within seven (7) days of issuance of the citation, it will be filed with a court of competent jurisdiction and processed accordingly.

9.80.090 PENALTIES.

(1) Except as otherwise provided, any person found in violation of a provision of this Article shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) for a first offense, and not less than two hundred fifty hundred dollars ($250.00) for a second and all subsequent offenses, but no fine for any individual offense shall exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00).

(2) The amount of fine shall be determined by the Town Council, or its designee.

(3) Each day after the expiration date of the time limit ordered for abatement stated in the notice to abate a Public Nuisance under this article shall constitute a distinct and separate offense.

9.80.100 ARTICLE TO BE SUPPLEMENTAL.

The provisions of this article are hereby declared to be supplemental to all other ordinances of the Town."

Section 2. Title 9 of the Code is hereby further amended by the addition of new Chapter 9.90, regarding Prohibited Conduct on Real Property, to read as follows:

"CHAPTER 9.90. PROHIBITED CONDUCT ON REAL PROPERTY; DISORDERLY HOUSES:

9.90.010 PURPOSE. The Town Council finds it to be in the best interests of the residents of the town and the general public to provide for the regulation of conduct it deems to be offensive; to prevent vice, disorder, and immorality; and to promote public peace, health, and safety, and to this end, the Town Council enacts this section.

9.90.020 DEFINITIONS. The following words and phrases have the meaning set forth herein:

(1) "Disorderly House" means a building, dwelling, establishment, premises or place where Prohibited Conduct occurs, and it includes the outside area contiguous to and surrounding the structure such as a yard or lot under the same ownership. If the building, dwelling, establishment, premises or place is a multiple-unit dwelling or residence, hotel or motel, or commercial or office building, this definition applies only to that dwelling unit, room or suite of rooms in the hotel or motel, office rooms or suite, store, lot or yard in or on which Prohibited Conduct occurs.

(2) "Owner" owner means:

(a) The recorded owner of the property, as determined by the records of the Marion County Assessor's Office;

(b) Any party with an equitable interest in the property, provided that such equitable interest is recorded; and

(c) The trustee of a land trust, if the land trust holds title to such property.

(a) Use or Sale of Illegal Drugs or Controlled Substances, as defined in IC 35-48.

(b) Prostitution, Patronizing a Prostitute, or Promoting Prostitution, as defined in IC 35-45-4.

(c) Gambling, as defined in IC 35-45-5-1;

(d) Battery, as defined in IC 35-42-2-1;

(e) Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, as defined in IC 35-46-1-8;

(f) Resisting law enforcement, as defined in IC 35-44-3-3;

(g) Disorderly conduct, as defined in IC 35-45-1-3;

(h) Criminal recklessness, as defined in IC 35-42-2-2;

(i) Discharge of firearms, as prohibited by Section 9.08.010 of the Code;

(j) Unlawfully Concealing a Firearm, as prohibited by Section 9.08.020 of the Code;

(k) Unnecessary Noises, as prohibited by Section 9.12.010 of the Code;

(l) Failure to keep vacant property secured against entry, in violation of Section 15.32.030 of the Code, or IC 36-7-9 (Unsafe Building Law) or any other fire or property maintenance codes constitutes Prohibited Conduct regardless of whether the Town has issued a citation for the violation, issued an order to secure, or taken action to abate the condition.

(m) Failure to comply with Section 9.80.030, (Prohibition on Public Nuisances), or Section 6.03.030, (Prohibition on Environmental Public Nuisances) of the Code constitutes Prohibited Conduct whenever the Town has verified with the Town Manager or Code Enforcement Officer that such violation has occurred at the property three (3) or more times within a calendar year. Such violation constitutes Prohibited Conduct regardless of whether the Town has taken action to abate the condition or conduct and regardless of whether the Town has issued a citation for the violation.

(n) Violations of any of the following Indiana statutes governing the sale, possession, delivery or receipt of alcoholic beverages:

(i) Sales, delivery or possession in violation of IC 7.1-5-1-1;

(ii) Illegal possession by a minor in violation of IC 7.1-5-7-7;

(iii) Furnishing alcohol to a minor in violation of IC 7.1-5-7-8;

(iv) Inducing a minor to possess alcohol in violation of IC 7.1-5-7-15;

(v) Sale or delivery of alcoholic beverages to intoxicated persons in violation of IC 7.1-5-10-15;

(vi) Receipt of alcoholic beverages from a person who does not hold a permit in violation of IC 7.1-5-10-5;

(vii) Purchase of alcoholic beverages from a person who does not hold a permit in violation of IC 7.1-5-10-7; or

(viii) Visiting or maintaining a common nuisance in violation of IC 7.1-5-10-21.