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CITY OF STEINBACH
By-Law No. 1663
A BY-LAW OF THE CITY OF STEINBACH
CONCERNING THE CONTROL OF JUNK, WEEDS AND NUISANCE
AND STAGNANT WATER
WHEREAS Section 232 of The Municipal Act reads as follows:
"(1)
A council may pass by-laws for municipal purposes respecting the following
matters:
(c)
subject to section 233, activities or things in or on private property;"
AND WHEREAS Section 233 of The Municipal Act reads as follows:
"A by-law under clause 232(1)(c) (activities or things in or on private property) may
contain provisions only in respect of
(a)
the requirement that land and improvements be kept and maintained in a
safe and clean condition;
(d)
activities or things that in the opinion of the council are or could become a
nuisance, which may include noise, weeds, odours, unsightly property, fumes and
vibrations."
NOW THEREFORE the Council of the City of Steinbach in session duly assembled,
enacts as follows:
1.0
DEFINITIONS - In this By-Law:
1.1
"junk" means iron, brass, copper, tin, lead or other base metals; ropes, rags, fibres
or fabrics; old bottles or other glass; rubber or rubber products; machinery, motor vehicle parts,
tools, appliances, fixtures, lumber, unstacked firewood, utensils, cartons, containers, pipe and
pipe fittings, conduit and conduit fittings; wastepaper; or other waste or discarded goods.
1.2
"a nuisance" is a substance, act, occupation, condition or use of property which, in
the opinion of a designated officer of the City, is of such nature and continues for such length of
time as to:
(i) substantially annoy, injure or endanger the comfort, health, repose or safety of
the public; or
(ii) in any way render the public insecure in life or in the use of property; or,
(iii) unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct or tend to obstruct or
render dangerous for passage any street, alley, highway or other public way.
Any substance, act, occupation, condition or use of property which does not fall
within subsection 1.2 (i), (ii) or (iii), but is a nuisance as known under the common law of the
land or the Statutes of Manitoba as nuisances may, in case the same exist within the City and are,
in the opinion of the designated officer of the City, a nuisance, shall be treated as such and
proceeded against as provided in this Section or in accordance with any other provision of law.
1.3
"Person" means any natural person, firm, association, joint venture, joint stock
company, partnership, organization, club, company, corporation, business trust (or any of their
officers or directors).
1.4
"Public view" means an observation from any location exterior to the property.
1.5
"Rubbish" includes, but is not limited to, all solid and liquid waste and litter,
whether combustible or non-combustible, and includes but is not limited to ashes, cans, paper,
rags, fibre, refuse, fabric, wrappings, cigarettes, cardboard, yard clippings, leaves, dead plant
material, branches, wood, waste-building materials, glass, crockery, abandoned or unsafe
household furnishings and appliances, discarded clothes or wearing apparel, carcasses of dead
animals and other like materials, and human feces. Liquid waste includes, but is not limited to
oil, paint, solvents and other toxic substances.
1.6
"Storage" is maintaining or allowing an item to remain unused or unmoved on the
property for ten days.
1.7
"City" means the City of Steinbach.
2.0
PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES
2.1
No person having or being entitled to the ownership and/or possession of any
land, residence, apartment building, store, building or other premises ("the premises") within the
City, or any part thereof, shall permit or allow:
(a)
the existence or storage of junk and/or rubbish, and/or a nuisance upon a
premises, or part thereof, or on the sidewalk or the alleys abutting such premises, except as
otherwise provided in this Section.
(b)
except as hereinafter provided, the growth of grasses or weeds in excess of
six (6) inches upon land occupied by a habitable structure, or twelve (12) inches upon land
without a habitable structure or in irrigation and drainage ditches. These mowing requirements
do not apply to flower gardens, vegetable gardens, plots of shrubbery, grain plots, or pastures
used for feed, fodder or forage, or to City-owned areas kept in their natural state or to grasses or
weeds which grow more than one hundred (100) feet from any street or habitable structure.
Grasses or weeds which are located within one hundred (100) feet of a street, and on which no
habitable structure is located within said one hundred (100) feet, shall be mowed to a height no
greater than twelve (12) inches.
(c)
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, noxious plants
or designated undesirable plants as defined in The Noxious Weeds Act shall be mowed to a
height no greater than six (6) inches if located within one hundred (100) feet of a habitable
structure or twelve (12) inches if located farther than one hundred (100) feet from a habitable
structure.
3.0
METHOD OF ABATEMENT
In order to abate or remove any grasses or weeds, junk, rubbish or nuisance, the
City may elect to:
3.0.1. Initiate legal action; or,
3.0.2. Cause abatement or removal by means of a notice and demand, pursuant
to Section 3.2.
3.1
INITIATE LEGAL ACTION IN COURT - If the City elects to initiate legal
action, notwithstanding Section 3.2, no prior notice regarding the abatement or removal need be
given to the Defendant.
3.2
ABATEMENT PROCEDURE - The City shall give Notice, as set forth in
Section 3.3, that grasses or weeds, junk, rubbish or nuisance, or stagnant water must be abated or
rectified. If such grasses or weeds, junk, rubbish or nuisance or stagnant water are not removed
or abated as required in the notice, or if an appeal has not been commenced to the Council of the
City, within the time set out in the Notice, the City is authorized and empowered to cause such
grasses or weeds, rubbish or nuisance or stagnant water to be removed or abated and add all
costs thereof to the realty taxes for the property.
3.3
(a) NOTICE - Grasses or Weeds, Junk, Rubbish, Nuisance, Stagnant Water
Any person in violation of this By-law shall be given written notice of such fact,
by the posting of a Notice on the property in a conspicuous place, directing the cutting of grasses
or weeds, or the removal of junk, rubbish or nuisance, or stagnant water. A copy of the Notice
shall also at the same time be mailed to the owner of such property as of that date to the address
shown on the latest revised City tax roll. The Notice shall inform the addressee that if such
grasses or weeds are not cut or if such junk, rubbish or nuisance, or stagnant water is not
removed within twenty-one (21) days of the date of the notice, the City can cause such junk,
rubbish or nuisance, or stagnant water to be removed and assess the costs of such removal as a
property tax account against the affected property. The Notice shall also state the date by which
the decision of the designated officer of the City can be appealed to the Council of the City.
(b)
NOTICE - Noxious Weeds
In the case of noxious weeds, notice shall be placed in the local newspaper
annually in spring, outlining notice procedure and assessments of costs and the removal of
noxious weeds shall be dealt with in the manner provided in The Noxious Weeds Act.
3.4
COSTS and CHARGES - The person or persons responsible for any weeds,
rubbish, junk or nuisance, or stagnant water within the City shall be liable for and bear all costs
and expense of the abatement or removal of same, including legal costs, which cost may be
collected by the City by adding the amount to the realty tax account for the affected property and
collecting in a like manner as a debt due to the City.
3.5
RIGHT OF ENTRY - It shall be lawful for the City designate to go upon private
property to ascertain the existence of weeds, junk, rubbish or nuisance, or stagnant water.
SECTION II - DECLARED NUISANCES
The following matters are declared to be nuisances:
(1)
OFFENSIVE ODOURS. It is unlawful and constitutes a nuisance for any
person to allow a compost pile to become unmaintained or to allow animal feces to accumulate,
which substantially annoys, injures, or endangers the comfort, health or safety of the public.
Such annoyance includes, but is not limited to, strong offensive odours or the presence of mice,
rats or other vermin.
(2)
INTERIOR OF STRUCTURE. It is unlawful and constitutes a nuisance for any
person to allow junk or rubbish to accumulate inside a residence or other structure to the extent it
is a health and safety hazard to the occupants or the public.
(3)
POLLUTING STORM SEWERS. It is unlawful and constitutes a nuisance to
pollute a municipal storm sewer.
(4) OFFENSIVE AND DANGEROUS BUSINESS OR TRADE OR
CONDITION. Any business where people congregate, which tolerates or permits a disturbance
of the peace, or where the conduct of persons in or about that place is such as to disturb the
peace of the occupants of or persons attending such place, or the residents in the vicinity, or the
passersby on the street, highway or sidewalk, constitutes a nuisance.
(5)
SCATTERING DEBRIS. Dumping, throwing, placing or allowing any rubbish,
junk, cans, boxes, debris, grass clippings or other waste materials on any public place in the City
is a nuisance and is prohibited. Dumping of waste materials in a public area specifically
designated by order of the City shall not be deemed a violation of this section.
(6)
BURNING OF WASTE MATERIAL. It is unlawful to burn waste materials
within the limits of the City, except as allowed in this by-law.
Any person may burn, only during the months of May and October in each year,
garden refuse, grass cuttings, hedge clippings, leaves and like materials from that piece of land,
and only in an open fire on the bare ground or in an incinerator suitable for the purpose thereof,
and only between the hours of 12:00 o'clock Noon and 9:00 o'clock in the afternoon, on Monday
through Saturday each week.
(7)
VIOLATIONS OF BY-LAWS. It is unlawful and constitutes a nuisance for any
person to maintain any property or building or any other structure in the City in a condition
which is in violation of the by-laws of the City.
(8)
WATER WELLS
(a) Every owner, tenant, occupant, lessee or other person in possession of any
premises or any part thereof within the City, upon which there is located a well containing
contaminated, impure or unwholesome water, or where the location of the well is dangerous,
shall abandon the use of the same, and cause the same to be filled with earth or such other
material as may be deemed necessary.
(b) Any well on any property within the City, which flows continuously and is
deemed to be a nuisance by a designated officer of the City, shall be permanently capped.
(9)
OBSCENITY. Any activity which takes place in or on any structure shall be
deemed a nuisance and prohibited when such structure is used to promote or display with intent
to promote or display obscene material or obscene performances.
(10)
STAGNANT WATER. Any pond of water that is greater than two inches in
depth, in any one location, and that exists at least at that depth for more than 36 hours and is
entirely surrounded by land shall, for the purposes of this By-Law, be deemed to be stagnant
water.
SECTION III
By-Law 1464 (enacted on August 8th, 1995) of the City of Steinbach is hereby repealed.
SECTION IV
This By-Law shall take effect immediately upon enactment.
DULY ENACTED as a By-Law of the City of Steinbach, on the 3rd day of June, 2003.
_____________________________
Mayor
_____________________________
City Manager
Read a first time this 20th day of May, 2003.
Read a second time this 3rd day of June, 2003.
Read a third time this 3rd day of June, 2003.