It shall be unlawful for any owner, agent, lessee, tenant, or other person occupying or having charge or control of any premises to permit weeds to remain upon said premises or any area between the property lines of said premises and the centerline of any adjacent street or alley, including but not specifically limited to sidewalks, streets, alleys, easements, rights-of-way and all other areas, public or private. All weeds as hereinafter defined are hereby declared a nuisance and are subject to abatement as hereinafter provided.
(Ord. 1125, Sec. 1)
Weeds as used herein, means any of the following:
(a) Brush and woody vines shall be classified as weeds;
(b) Weeds and grasses which may attain such large growth as to become, when dry, a fire menace to adjacent improved property;
(c) Weeds which bear or may bear seeds of a downy or wingy nature.
(d) Weeds or grasses which are located in an area which harbors rats, insects, animals, reptiles, or any other creature which either may or does constitute a menace to health, public safety or welfare;
(e) Weeds and grasses on or about residential property which, because of its height, has a blighting influence on the neighborhood. Any such weeds and indigenous grasses shall be presumed to be blighting if they exceed 12 inches in height.
(Ord. 1125, Sec. 2; Ord. 1428)
The mayor shall appoint a public officer to be charged with the administration and enforcement of this ordinance. The public officer or an authorized assistant, or in the event of a fire hazard, the Fire Chief, shall notify in writing the owner, occupant, or agent in charge of any premises in the city upon which weeds exist in violation of this ordinance, by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by personal service, once per calendar year. Such notice shall include the following:
(a) That the owner, occupant, or agent in charge of the property is in violation of the city weed control law.
(b) That the owner, occupant, or agent in charge of the property is ordered to cut the weeds within 10 days of the receipt of notice.
(c) That the owner, occupant, or agent in charge of the property may request a hearing before the governing body or its designated representative within five days of the receipt of notice.
(d) That if the owner, occupant, or agent in charge of the property does not cut the weeds, the city or its authorized agent will cut the weeds and assess the cost of the cutting, including a reasonable administrative fee, against the owner, occupant, or agent in charge of the property.
(e) That the owner, occupant, or agent in charge of the property will be given an opportunity to pay the assessment, and, if it is not paid, it will be added to the property tax as a special assessment.
(f) That no further notice shall be given prior to removal of weeds during the current calendar year.
(g) That the public officer should be contacted if there are any questions regarding the order.
(Ord. 1263; Code 2005; Ord. 1429)
(a) If the owner, occupant or agent in charge of the property has neither alleviated the conditions causing the alleged violation nor requested a hearing within the time periods specified section 8-403, the public officer or an authorized assistant shall abate or remove the conditions causing the violation.
(b) If the city abates or removes the nuisance pursuant to this section, 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 mailing of the notice. The city also may recover the cost of providing notice, including any postage, required by this section.
(c) 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.
(K.S.A. 12-1617(f); Ord. 1125, Sec. 4)
The public officer, and the public officer’s authorized assistants, employees, contracting agents or other representatives are hereby expressly authorized to enter upon private property at all reasonable hours for the purpose of cutting, destroying and/or removing such weeds in a manner not inconsistent with this article.
(Ord. 1125, Sec. 5)
It shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with or to attempt to prevent the public officer or the public officer’s authorized representative from entering upon any such lot or piece of ground or from proceeding with such cutting and destruction. Such interference shall constitute a code violation.
(Ord. 1125, Sec. 6)
(a) Nothing in this article shall affect or impair the rights of the city under the provisions of Chapter 2, Article 13 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, relating to the control and eradication of certain noxious weeds.
(b) For the purpose of this section, the term noxious weeds shall mean kudzu (Pueraria lobata), field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), Russian knapweed (Centaurea picris), hoary cress (Lepidium draba), Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), quackgrass (Agropyron repens), leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula), burragweed (Franseria tomentosa and discolor), pignut (Hoffmannseggia densiflora), musk (nodding) thistle (Carduus nutans L.), and Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense), and sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata).
(K.S.A. 2- 1314; Ord. 1125, Sec. 7; Code 2002)