The following words, terms, and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Brush
means scrub vegetation or dense undergrowth.
Carrion
means the dead and putrefying flesh of any animal, fowl, or fish.
Cultivated
means vegetation that is deliberately grown and currently and continuously maintained by the owner, occupant, or agent of the property.
Filth
means any matter in a putrescent state.
Garbage
means all decayable waste.
Impure or unwholesome matter
means any putrescible or nonputrescible condition, object, or matter which tends, may, or could produce injury, death, or disease to human beings.
Junk
means scrapped, broken, or neglected items and materials. Junk includes items such as plastic, cloth, glass, rags, paper or metals that can be converted into usable articles or stock, or articles that have outlived their usefulness in their original form. Examples of “junk” include, but are not limited to, empty bottles and jars; empty metal, plastic or paper products; stoves, refrigerators, iceboxes, and other discarded, broken, or neglected electrical, gas or hand-operated appliances; pieces of metal scrap; feathers; furniture; dead animals; rocks; shingles and other discarded and/or pre-used building materials; discarded and/or pre-used electrical and plumbing materials; junk; trash; refuse; worn-out, wrecked, or dismantled machinery, tractors, and automobiles; discarded engine or motor parts; automobile and truck parts of all descriptions; used tires, wheels and inner tubes; discarded batteries; cardboard; broken pieces of concrete; previously used packing materials; discarded, broken, or neglected household goods and furnishings; or any household item, including plumbing fixtures and materials, located outdoors, that is designed for indoor use; as well as parts and pieces of any of the foregoing.
Maintained,
when referring to vegetation, means watered, pruned, trimmed, treated, and controlled in such a manner as to enhance the use or enjoyment of one’s property, without interfering with the enjoyment or use of neighboring property or public access.
Nuisance
means anything which is injurious to the health or morals, or indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.
Objectionable, unsightly, or unsanitary matter
means any matter, condition, or object which is or should be objectionable, unsightly, or unsanitary to a person of ordinary sensitivities.
Owner
means a person having some interest in title to real property.
Person
includes a firm, association, organization, partnership, trust, company, or corporation, as well as an individual.
Refuse
means a heterogeneous accumulation of worn-out, used, broken, rejected, or worthless materials, and includes garbage, rubbish, paper, or litter, and other decayable or nondecayable waste.
Rubbish
means both garbage and trash and shall include all animal, vegetable and inorganic matter subject to discard which is generated from within a household, residence, or business, such as, but not limited to, coffee grounds, tin cans, bottles, paper bags, plastic items, boxes, glass, and food articles, and additionally, shall include all animal, vegetable, and inorganic matter subject to discard which is not typically generated from within a household, residence, or business, such as shrubbery, grass clippings, brush, yard cleaning materials, leaves, tree trimmings, and other similar wastes.
Trash
means all non-decayable waste.
Undeveloped property
means tracts of land or lots upon which no structure exists.
Vegetation or vegetative
means or refers to any grass, weeds, shrubs, trees, brush, bushes, or vines.
Weeds
means vegetation that because of its height is objectionable, unsightly, or unsanitary, but excluding cultivated crops, shrubs, bushes, trees, flowers, and vines.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; Ordinance 2017-009, sec. 2, adopted 3/27/17; 1988 Code, sec. 17-21)
It shall be unlawful for any person owning, leasing, claiming, occupying, or having supervision or control of any real property, occupied or unoccupied, improved or unimproved, developed or undeveloped, within the corporate limits of the city, to suffer, permit, or allow:
(1) 
Uncultivated grass, weeds, or brush to grow to a greater height than twelve (12) inches on any lot, tract, or parcel of land within the corporate limits of the city, five (5) acres in size or less (including any right-of-way, easement, or drainage ditch); for purposes of this provision, the city may rely upon the acreage of any lot as shown in the official records of the appraisal district for the county where the property is located;
(2) 
On tracts of land more than five (5) acres (including any right-of-way, easement, or drainage ditch), uncultivated grass, weeds, or brush to grow to a greater height than twelve (12) inches within one hundred (100) feet adjacent to or along any dedicated public street within the corporate limits of the city, or within one hundred (100) feet on any side of the boundary line of any lot upon which a structure that is used for a residence, business, or public or private facility is located; for purposes of this provision, the city may rely upon the acreage of any lot as shown in the official records of the appraisal district for the county where the property is located;
(3) 
Refuse, rubbish, junk, litter, trash, debris (vegetative, building, or other), garbage, discarded items, carrion, filth, animal or human feces, or any other unsightly or unsanitary matter to accumulate or remain on any lot or tract of land within the corporate limits of the city, regardless of the size of said lot or tract of land, whether developed or undeveloped, commercial or residential, occupied or unoccupied;
(4) 
Any holes, places, objects, or matter on any lot, tract, or parcel of land where water accumulates and becomes stagnant, or to permit same to remain; or
(5) 
Any condition to exist that constitutes any threat to the public health or safety, or constitutes a nuisance.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; Ordinance 2001-001, sec. 2, adopted 1/8/01; 1988 Code, sec. 17-22)
It shall be the duty of any person owning, leasing, claiming, occupying, or having supervision or control of any real property, occupied or unoccupied, improved or unimproved, developed or undeveloped, within the corporate limits of the city to maintain that property in full compliance with this article.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; 1988 Code, sec. 17-23)
All grass, weeds, or vegetation or brush not regularly cultivated and which exceeds twelve (12) inches in height as prohibited herein, and all rubbish, and stagnant water, shall be presumed to be objectionable, unsightly, and unsanitary, and are hereby declared a public nuisance.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; Ordinance 2001-001, sec. 2, adopted 1/8/01; 1988 Code, sec. 17-24)
(a) 
Notice required.
Except as provided by sections 7.04.006 and 7.04.007 of this article, in the event that any person owning any real property, occupied or unoccupied, improved or unimproved, developed or undeveloped, within the corporate limits of the city fails or refuses to comply with the provisions of this article, the city shall give seven (7) days’ notice of the violation to the owner prior to abating the violation, as provided herein.
(b) 
Manner of notice.
The notice shall be given:
(1) 
Personally to the owner in writing; or
(2) 
By letter addressed to the owner at the owner’s address as recorded in the appraisal district records of the appraisal district in which the property is located; or
(3) 
If personal service cannot be obtained or the owner’s address is unknown:
(A) 
By publication at least once;
(B) 
By posting notice on or near the front door of each building on the property to which the violation relates; or
(C) 
By posting notice on a placard attached to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the violation relates.
(4) 
Any notice forwarded to the owner by mail as provided in subsection (b)(2) of this section and returned by the United States Postal Service as “refused” or “unclaimed” shall not affect the validity of the notice, and the notice shall be considered as delivered.
(5) 
The city, in the notice provided herein, may inform the owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, or regular mail and a posting on the property, that if the owner commits another violation of the same kind or nature that poses a danger to the public health and safety on or before the first anniversary of the date of such notice, the city, without further notice, may correct the violation at the owner’s expense and assess the expense against the property. If the violation, covered by a notice under this subsection, occurs within said one (1) year period, and the city has not been informed in writing by the owner of an ownership change, then the city, without notice, may take any action permitted by section 7.04.008(a), and assess its expenses as provided by section 7.04.008(b).
(c) 
Contents of notice.
The notice shall contain:
(1) 
The name and address of the record owner;
(2) 
An identification, which is not required to be a legal description, of the property upon which the violation is located;
(3) 
A statement in conformance with section 54.005 of the Texas Local Government Code affording a former property owner the opportunity, by sworn affidavit, to disavow current ownership and responsibility for the property;
(4) 
A statement describing the violation and the work necessary to correct the violation;
(5) 
A statement advising the owner that, if the work is not completed within seven (7) days, the city will perform the work and assess the cost of the work to the owner, including as a minimum the city’s administrative fee as provided in section 7.04.008(b) of this article;
(6) 
A statement that, if the city performs the work and the owner fails to pay the cost, a priority lien may be placed on the property;
(7) 
A statement that the owner may, within five (5) days of the date of the notice of a violation, submit a written request to the appropriate person named in the notice for an informal hearing before the city manager or his designee to contest whether the violation exists;
(8) 
A statement that the city may, at any time, file a criminal misdemeanor complaint in municipal court with a fine in accordance with the general penalty provided in section 1.01.009 for each day the violation exists, in addition to or in lieu of any other remedy provided by law; and
(9) 
A statement that, if the owner commits another violation of the same kind or nature that poses a danger to the public health and safety on or before the first anniversary of the date of notice, the city, without further notice, may correct the violation at the owner’s expense and assess the expense against the property.
(d) 
Informal hearing.
If a written request is received according to subsection (c)(7) of this section, an informal hearing shall be held before the city manager or his designee. Unless the owner requests and is granted an immediate hearing and waives the right to notice, notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be sent to the owner by certified mail. At the hearing, the city manager or his designee may consider all facts relating to the existence of a violation. After the hearing, the city manager or his designee may determine that a violation requiring abatement does or does not exist.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; Ordinance 2005-022, sec. 2, adopted 5/23/05; 1988 Code, sec. 17-25; Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
(a) 
Authority.
The city may abate, without prior notice, weeds that:
(1) 
Have grown higher than forty-eight (48) inches; and
(2) 
Are an immediate danger to the health, life, or safety of any person.
(b) 
Notice of abatement.
Not later than the tenth day after the date the city abates weeds under this section, the city shall give notice to the property owner in the manner required by section 7.04.005(b). The notice shall contain the items specified in section 7.04.009(a).
(c) 
Hearing.
The city shall conduct an administrative hearing under this section if not later than the thirtieth day after the date of the abatement of the weeds the property owner files with the city a written request for a hearing. If a hearing is requested, it shall be conducted according to section 7.04.009(c), except that the hearing shall be conducted by the municipal court judge not later than the twentieth day after the date a request for hearing is filed.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; Ordinance 2017-009, sec. 3, adopted 3/27/17; 1988 Code, sec. 17-26(a)–(c))
The city may abate junk and rubbish, as defined herein, as follows:
(1) 
All junk and rubbish [that] shall constitute a menace to the health, morals, safety, or general welfare of their occupants or of the general public are declared to be public nuisances and shall be ordered to be removed or stored.
(2) 
The building and standards commission may, upon due notice as set forth in article 4.03, conduct public hearings and other proceedings to implement and enforce the provisions of this section. In any event, public hearings as set out herein shall be conducted as otherwise provided in article 4.03.
(3) 
After a hearing on an affected property, the commission shall reduce any order it issues to writing. Each such order shall specify the action to be taken as part of the notice and shall order the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee of the building to, within thirty (30) calendar days, remove the junk or rubbish or otherwise store it in a secure, safe, enclosed, and appropriate storage area or facility, designed and built for said purpose, within thirty (30) calendar days. If the commission allows the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee more than thirty (30) calendar days to remove or store the junk or rubbish, the commission shall set forth specific time schedules for the commencement and performance of the work and shall require the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee to secure the property in a reasonable manner from unauthorized entry while the work is being performed. In no case shall the commission allow the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee more than ninety (90) calendar days to remove or store the junk or rubbish.
(4) 
If junk or rubbish is not removed or stored in accordance with an order of the building and standards commission within the time periods set forth therein, the city may remove or store the junk or rubbish on its own initiative.
(5) 
The building and standards commission may also assess civil penalties in cases brought under this section in the same manner as set forth in section 4.03.004.
(6) 
If the city incurs expenses under this section, the city may assess the expenses on, and the city has a lien against (unless it is a homestead as protected by the Texas Constitution), the property on which the junk or rubbish was or is located. The lien is extinguished if the property owner or another person having an interest in the legal title to the property reimburses the city for the expenses. The lien arises and attaches to the property at the time the notice of the lien is recorded and indexed in the office of the county clerk. The notice must contain the name and address of the owner if that information can be determined with a reasonable effort, a legal description of the real property on which the building was located, the amount of expenses incurred by the city, and the balance due.
(7) 
If the notice is given and the opportunity to remove or store the junk or rubbish is afforded to each mortgagee and lienholder as authorized herein, the lien is a privileged lien subordinate only to tax liens.
(8) 
Orders of the building and standards commission shall be filed, published and mailed in accordance with the requirements of section 4.03.004 in the same manner as any other order of the commission.
(9) 
Appeals from orders of the building standards commission issued under the authority of this section shall be taken in the same manner and subject to the same requirements as appeals under section 4.03.006 (Judicial review). Any order of the commission which is not timely appealed as set forth in that section is in all things final and binding.
(Ordinance 2017-009, sec. 3, adopted 3/27/17; 1988 Code, sec. 17-26(d))
(a) 
City may perform work.
If such person fails or refuses to comply with the provisions of this article within seven (7) days after the date of notification as provided in section 7.04.005 of this article or after an informal hearing is held pursuant to section 7.04.005(d) of this article, whichever is later, or if the weeds are dangerous according to section 7.04.006 of this article, the city may go upon such property, or authorize another to go upon such property, and do or cause to be done the work necessary to obtain compliance with this article, and may charge the expenses incurred in having same done to the owner of such property as provided hereafter. The remedy provided in this subsection (a) is in addition to the remedy provided for in section 7.04.012 of this article.
(b) 
Assessment of costs; administrative fee.
If the city performs the work to obtain compliance with this article, there shall be assessed an administrative fee in the amount set forth in the fee schedule in appendix A of this code in addition to any cost incurred in doing the work or causing it to be done. The administrative fee shall be subject to an annual adjustment after the first calendar year proportionate to any increases in the “CPI” (as defined below), with the adjusted fee to be obtained by multiplying the “base fee” (as defined below) by a number equal to one plus the quotient of the following formula:
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In applying the above formula for the administrative fee adjustment, the following definitions shall be used:
(1) 
Base fee
shall mean the administrative fee assessed during the calendar year immediately preceding the calendar year for which adjustment is being computed.
(2) 
CPI
shall mean the monthly indexes of the Consumer Price Index issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics or any successor agency of the United States that shall issue such indexes or data.
(3) 
CPI/1
shall mean the average of the monthly CPI for the twelve (12) consecutive calendar months ending sixty (60) days before the commencement of the calendar year immediately preceding the calendar year for which the adjustment of charges is being computed.
(4) 
CPI/2
shall mean the average of the monthly CPI for the twelve (12) consecutive calendar months ending sixty (60) days before the commencement of the calendar year for which the adjustment of charges is being computed.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; Ordinance 2005-022, sec. 3, adopted 5/23/05; 1988 Code, sec. 17-27; Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)
(a) 
Notice.
After the city abates a violation of this article, the city shall give notice to the property owner in the manner required by section 7.04.005(b) of this article. The notice shall contain:
(1) 
The name and address of the owner;
(2) 
An identification, which is not required to be a legal description, of the property;
(3) 
A statement in conformance with section 54.005 of the Texas Local Government Code affording a former property owner the opportunity, by sworn affidavit, to disavow current ownership and responsibility for the property;
(4) 
A description of the violations that occurred on the property;
(5) 
A statement that the city abated the violation(s);
(6) 
The amount of expenses (including the administrative fee) incurred by the city and owed by the property owner;
(7) 
A statement that, if the owner fails to pay the expenses within thirty (30) days of receipt of the notice or fails to timely request a hearing as authorized herein, a priority lien may be placed on the property to secure payment; and
(8) 
An explanation of the property owner’s right to request in writing an administrative hearing about the city’s abatement of the violation and the time period in which a written request must be submitted to the city.
(b) 
Administrative hearing.
The city shall conduct an administrative hearing on the abatement of a nuisance under this article if, not later than the tenth day after the date of notice, the property owner files with the city a written request for a hearing.
(c) 
Conduct of hearing.
The following shall apply to the conduct of the hearing:
(1) 
An administrative hearing shall be conducted by the municipal court judge not later than the forty-fifth day after the date a request for hearing is filed.
(2) 
The owner and the city may testify or present witnesses or written information related to the city’s abatement of the nuisance.
(3) 
The city has the burden to show, based on a preponderance of the evidence, that a violation of this article existed, notice was given in substantial compliance with this article, and costs incurred to abate the violation (other than the administrative fee) were reasonable. The administrative fee established by this article shall be presumed reasonable.
(4) 
At the close of the hearing, the municipal court judge shall approve the assessment, deny the assessment, or adjust the amount of the assessment and approve it as adjusted.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; 1988 Code, sec. 17-28)
The charges provided for in this article shall be levied, assessed, and collected by the city. In the event the owner of said premises upon which the work was done and charges were incurred fails or refuses to pay such charges and expenses within thirty (30) days after the written notification to pay, there shall be assessed the charges and expenses incurred against the real estate on which the work was done. After such time, or after an administrative hearing if one is requested by the owner, whichever is later, the mayor, the city manager, city attorney, city clerk, or code inspector, as the mayor’s designee, the municipal health authority, or other municipal official designated by the mayor shall file a statement with the county clerk of the expenses incurred in the abatement of the above-described condition, including administrative fees as described herein, and the city shall have a privileged lien on any lot or lots upon which such expenses were incurred, second only to tax liens and liens for street improvements. The lien statement shall state the name of the owner, if known, and the legal description of the property. A copy of the lien statement filed with the county clerk shall be mailed to the owner, if the owner is known. Said privileged lien shall bear interest at the rate of ten (10) percent per annum from the date the work was performed (if the work was performed by the city) or from the date payment therefor was made by the city (if the work was performed by a contractor retained by the city). For any such expenditures and interest as aforesaid, suit may be instituted and foreclosure had in the name of the city and the statement so made as aforesaid, or a certified copy thereof, shall be prima facie proof of the amounts expended for any such work or improvement.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; Ordinance 2002-028, sec. 2, adopted 5/13/02; 1988 Code, sec. 17-29)
Upon the payment of the charges described in section 7.04.008 and the interest accrued thereon, or such lesser amount as the city manager shall deem appropriate and in the best interest of the city, the city manager is authorized to execute on behalf of the city a release of lien in the form approved by the city attorney.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; 1988 Code, sec. 17-30)
Each individual violation of this article is hereby declared a misdemeanor and, upon adjudication of guilt thereof, any person who violates, disobeys, omits, neglects or refuses to comply with or who resists the enforcement of any of the provisions of this article shall be assessed a fine for each offense in accordance with the provisions of section 1.01.009 of the Code of Ordinances. Each day that a violation is permitted to exist shall be deemed a separate offense for which a separate fine may be assessed.
(Ordinance 2000-020, sec. 3, adopted 4/10/00; 1988 Code, sec. 17-31; Ordinance adopting 2021 Code)