(a) The term “Junk” - shall mean old scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber debris, waste, or junked, dismantled, or wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, iron, steel, and other old or scrap ferrous or nonferrous material.
(b) “Automobile graveyard” - shall mean any establishment which is maintained, used or operated, for storing, keeping, buying, or selling three (3) or more wrecked, scrapped, mined, dismantled or inoperative motor vehicles;
(c) “Junkyard” - shall mean an establishment which is maintained, operated, or used for storing, keeping, buying, or selling junk, or for the maintenance or operation of an automobile graveyard, and the term shall include garbage dumps.
(d) “Person” – shall mean any individual, firm, agency, company, association, partnership, business, trust, joint stock company or corporation.
(Code 2007)
Junkyards and automobile graveyards which are licensed and certificated by the City of Greensburg, in accordance with 5-401 and the Sustainable Land Development Code, may operate provided the following:
(a) Those which are screened by lawful natural objects, planting, fences, or other appropriate means as not to be visible from the main traveled way of streets, alleys, or highways or otherwise removed from sight.
(b) Those located within areas which are zoned for industrial use under authority of the City of Greensburg code.
(Code 2007; Code 2014)
The governing body shall have the authority to adopt rules or regulations and approve the location, planting, construction and maintenance, including the materials used in screening or fencing required by this Article. Any plantings, fencing or other screening facilities located on public land or easements shall be public property.
(Code 2007)
The public officer has the right of access and entry upon private property at any reasonable time for the purpose of making inquiry and inspection to determine if a nuisance exists.
(Code 2007)
(a) The governing body shall serve upon the owner, any agent of the owner of the property of any other person, corporation, partnership or association found by the public officer to be in violation of section 8-502 an order stating the violation. The order shall be served on the owner or agent of such property by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by personal service. If the property is unoccupied and the owner is nonresident, then by mailing the order by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the last known address of the owner.
(b) If the owner or the agent of the owner of the property has failed to accept delivery or otherwise failed to effectuate receipt of a notice or order sent pursuant to this section during the preceding 24 month period, the governing body of the city may provide notice of the issuance of any further orders to abate or remove a nuisance from such property or provide notice of the order by such methods including, but not limited to, door hangers, conspicuously posting notice of such order on the property, personal notification, telephone communication or first class mail.
(K.S.A. 12-1617e; Code 2007; Code 2014)
The order shall state the condition(s) which is (are) in violation of section 8-502. The notice shall also inform the person, corporation, partnership or association that:
(a) He, she or they shall have 10 days from the date of serving the order to abate the condition (s) violation of section 8-502; or
(b) He, she or they have 10 days from the date of serving the notice to request a hearing before the governing body or its designated representative of the matter as provided by section 8-312;
(c) Failure to abate the condition (s) or to request a hearing within the time allowed may result in prosecution as provided by section 8-508 and/or abatement of the condition(s) by the city as provided by section 8-310.
(Code 2007; Code 2014)
Should the person, corporation, partnership or association fail to comply with the order to abate the nuisance or request a hearing the public officer may file a complaint in the municipal court of the city against such person, corporation, partnership or association and upon conviction of any violation of provisions of section 8-502, be fined in an amount not less than $250.00 but not to exceed $1,000.00, or be imprisoned not to exceed 30 days, or to be both fined and imprisoned, and assessed court costs. Each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues after notice has been served shall constitute an additional or separate offense.
(Code 2007; Ord. 991; Code 2014)
In addition to, or as an alternative to prosecution as provided in section 8-507, the public officer may seek to remedy violations of this article in the following manner, if a person to whom an order has been served pursuant to section 8-505 has neither alleviated the conditions causing the alleged violation nor requested a hearing before the governing body within the time periods specified in section 8-506, the public officer may present ,a resolution to the governing body for adoption authorizing the public officer or other agents of the city to abate the conditions causing the violation at the end of 10 days after passage of the resolution. The resolution shall further provide that the costs incurred by the city shall be charged against the lot or parcel of ground on which the nuisance was located in section 8-511. A copy of the resolution shall be served upon the person in violation in one of the following ways;
(a) Personal service upon the person in violation;
(b) Certified mail, return receipt requested; or
(c) In the event the whereabouts of such person are unknown and the same cannot be ascertained in the exercise of reasonable diligence, an affidavit to that effect shall be made by the public officer and filed with the city clerk, and the serving of the resolution shall be made by publishing the same once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official city newspaper and by posting a copy of the resolution on the premises where such condition exists.
(d) If the owner or the agent of the owner of the property has failed to accept delivery or otherwise failed to effectuate receipt of a notice or order sent pursuant to this section during the preceding 24 month period, the governing body of the city may provide notice of the issuance of any further orders to abate or remove a nuisance from such property or provide notice of the order by such methods including but not limited to door hangers, conspicuously posting notice of such order on the property, personal notification, telephone communication or first class mail. If the property is unoccupied and owner is a nonresident, notice provided by this section shall be given by telephone communication or first class mail.
(Code 2007; Code 2014)
Disposition of any motor vehicle removed and abated from property pursuant to this article shall be as provided by K.S.A. Supp. 8-1102, as amended.
(Code 2007)
If a hearing is requested within the 10 day period as provided in section 8-506 such request shall be made in writing to the governing body. Failure to make a timely request for a hearing shall constitute a waiver of the person’s right to contest the findings of the public officer. The hearing shall be held by the governing body or its designated representative as soon as possible after the filing of the request therefore, and the person shall be advised by the city of the time and place of the hearing at least five days in advance thereof. At any such hearing, the person may be represented by counsel, and the person and the city may introduce such witnesses and evidence as is deemed necessary and proper by the governing body or its designated representative. The hearing need not be conducted according to the formal rules of evidence. Upon conclusion of the hearing, the findings of the governing body or its designated representative shall be prepared in resolution form, adopted by the governing body, and the resolution shall be served upon the person in the matter provided in section 8-508.
(Code 2007; Code 2014)
If the city abates or removes the nuisance pursuant to section 8-508, the city shall give notice to the owner or his or her agent by certified mail, return receipt requested, of the total cost of the abatement or removal incurred by the city. The notice shall also state that the payment is due within 30 days following receipt of the notice. The city also may recover the cost of providing notice, including any postage, required by this section. The notice shall also state that if the cost of the removal or abatement is not paid within the 30-day period, the cost of the abatement or removal shall be collected in the manner provided by K.S.A. 12-1,115, and amendments thereto, or shall be assessed as special assessments and charged against the lot or parcel of land on which the nuisance was located and the city clerk, at the time of certifying other city taxes, shall certify the unpaid portion of the costs and the county clerk shall extend the same on the tax rolls of the county against such lot or parcel of land and it shall be collected by the county treasurer and paid to the city as other city taxes are collected and paid. The city may pursue collection both by levying a special assessment and in the manner provided by K.S.A. 12-1,115, and amendments thereto, but only until the full cost and applicable interest has been paid in full.
(Code 2007; Code 2014)