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Consolidated By-law 65-2009
of The Corporation of the City of Oshawa
This consolidated by-law is made available for information and convenience purposes
only. For accuracy, By-law 65-2009 along with amending By-laws 63-2013, 37-2017,
37-2020, 104-2020, 78-2021, 43-2022, 127-2022 and 23-2024 should be reviewed.
Being a by-law to prohibit and abate public nuisances in public places within the City of
Oshawa.
Now therefore the Council of The Corporation of the City of Oshawa enacts as follows:
1.
Short Title
1.1.
The short title of this By-law is the "Nuisance By-law".
2.
Interpretation
2.1.
In this By-law:
(a)
City means The Corporation of the City of Oshawa.
(b)
Defecate means to discharge excrement from the human body.
(c)
Director means the City's Director, Municipal Law Enforcement and
Licensing Services, or his or her designate.
(c.1) Donation Box means a container used for the purpose of the collection of
used goods or clothing.
(37-2020)
(d)
Highway, for the purposes of this By-Law, includes a common and public
highway, street, avenue, parkway, driveway, square, place, viaduct or
trestle, any part of which is intended for or used by the general public for
the passage of vehicles or persons, and includes the area between the
lateral property lines thereof, including sidewalks and boulevards.
(e)
Littering means throwing, dropping, placing or otherwise depositing or
permitting to be deposited any garbage, paper, plastic, paper products,
plastic products, cans, rubbish, other debris or objects on public or private
property, unless so authorized by the property owner or the City's Waste
Collection By-Law.
(f)
Loitering means the lingering in a public place without due cause.
(g)
Nuisance includes:
(i)
soliciting, including, without limitation,
(1)
soliciting a person who is using, waiting to use, or departing
from an automated teller machine;
(2)
soliciting a person who is using or waiting to use a pay
telephone or a public toilet facility;
(3)
soliciting a person who is waiting at a taxi stand or a public
transit stop;
(4)
soliciting a person who is in or on a public transit vehicle;
(5)
soliciting a person who is in the process of getting in, out of,
on or off a vehicle or who is in a parking lot;
(6)
while on a roadway, solicit a person who is in or on a
stopped, standing or parked vehicle.
Page 2
(ii)
loitering in any public place after having been requested by an
officer to move on;
(iii)
fighting, screaming, yelling or using profane or abusive language or
gestures;
(iv)
carrying open liquor;
(v)
obstructing, interfering with or otherwise impeding the movement of
persons or vehicles;
(vi)
remaining in or refusing to leave a public place after it is closed
and/or when ordered to leave by an officer;
(vii)
littering;
(viii)
defacing, damaging or vandalizing public or private property;
(ix)
expectorating in a public place;
(x)
obstructing an officer in the course of his or her duties;
(xi)
anything which is injurious to the health, 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; and
(xii)
any other activity or conduct that is disorderly, annoying,
unpleasant or obnoxious.
(h)
Officer means a Municipal Law Enforcement Officer appointed to enforce
the By-laws of the City.
(i)
Deleted by By-law 63-2013.
(j)
Person includes an individual, association, firm, partnership, corporation,
trust, organization, trustee, or agent, and their heirs, executors, or legal
representatives.
(k)
Public Place includes a highway and any place to which the public has
access as of right or invitation, express or implied, and private property
that is exposed to public view, whether or not the property is owned by the
person contravening the by-law.
(l)
Solicit means to request, in person, the immediate provision of money or
another thing of value, regardless of whether consideration is offered or
provided in return, using spoken, written or printed word, a gesture or
other means.
(m)
Urinate means to discharge urine from the human body.
(n)
Vehicle includes automobile, motorcycle, van, truck, trailer, bus, mobile
home, traction engine, farm tractor, road-building machine, bicycle,
motor-assisted bicycle, motorized snow vehicle, street car and any other
vehicle drawn, propelled or driven by any kind of power, including
muscular power.
(o)
Vomit means to throw up the contents of the stomach by mouth.
(p)
Wild Animal means an animal that belongs to a species that is wild by
nature, but does not include:
(i) an animal permitted to be kept in accordance with the Responsible Pet
Owners By-law 14-2010, as amended; and,
(ii) a Feral Cat that is part of a registered Feral Cat Colony as defined in the
Responsible Pet Owners By-law 14-2010, as amended.
(78-2021)
Page 3
(q)
Young Person means a person who is or, in the absence of evidence to
the contrary, appears to be less than eighteen years old.
(78-2021)
2.2.
The Nuisance described in clause 2.1(g)(viii) of this By-law does not include
artwork, including graffiti, that is authorized pursuant to a program administered
by the City's Community Services Department.
(37-2017)
3.
Prohibited Activity
3.1.
No person shall cause, create or permit a nuisance in any public place in the
City.
3.2.
(a)
No person shall, without reasonable excuse, urinate, vomit or defecate in
a public place.
(b)
For the purposes of this section, reasonable excuse means:
(i)
the contravention of this by-law must be inevitable, unavoidable
and afford no reasonable opportunity for an alternative course of
action that does not contravene this by-law; and
(ii)
where the contravention of this by-law is the consequence of
illness, the person did not contemplate or, acting reasonably ought
not to have contemplated, that the person's actions would likely
cause the illness or give rise to the contravention of this by-law.
3.3.
No person shall knock over, attempt to knock over, deface, attempt to deface,
remove or attempt to remove a Canada Post mailbox, relay box, newspaper box,
Blue Box, garbage container, traffic or street sign, utility pole or any other public
or private property. This section shall not apply to City employees, or any person
under contract with the City, acting under the City's Waste Collection By-Law.
3.4.
No person shall place or cause to be placed any donation box on a property
without the express permission of the property owner.
(37-2020)
3.5.
No person shall feed a Wild Animal or leave food or attractants of any type or in
any form in any place in such a manner as to attract, or be accessible by a Wild
Animal, feral or stray domestic animal which results in one or more of the
following occurring so as to constitute a public nuisance:
(a)
excessive accumulation of food, including bird seed and seed casings;
(b)
accumulation of wildlife excrement;
(c)
unreasonable interference with the normal use and enjoyment of nearby
premises;
(d)
attraction of rodents (including mice or rats) or predatory wildlife (including
coyotes) to the premises.
(78-2021)
3.6.
Section 3.5 does not apply in the following situations:
(a) the leaving of food as bait in a trap by a property owner to capture a
nuisance animal inhabiting or habituating their property; or
(b) baiting by pest control companies
(78-2021)
4.
Order to Discontinue Activity
4.1.
Where an officer is satisfied that a person has contravened this By-law, the
officer may make an order requiring the person who contravened the By-law or
who caused or permitted the contravention or the owner or occupier of the land
on which the contravention occurred to discontinue the contravening activity.
Page 4
4.2.
An order under subsection 4.1 shall set out:
(a)
reasonable particulars of the contravention adequate to identify the
contravention and the location of the land on which the contravention
occurred; and
(b)
the date by which there must be compliance with the order.
4.3.
Any person who contravenes an order issued under subsection 4.1 is guilty of an
offence.
4.4.
Where a person contravenes an order an Officer may, without notice or
compensation to any person, cause any donation box placed contrary to section
3.4 to be removed from a property and disposed of by the City.
(37-2020)
5.
Administrative Penalties
5.1.
No Person shall fail to comply with any provision or standard of this By-law.
(127-2022)
5.2.
No Person shall fail to comply with an order issued pursuant to this By-law.
(127-2022)
5.3.
Administrative Penalty Process By-law 63-2013 applies to each administrative
penalty issued pursuant to this By-law.
(127-2022)
5.4.
Each person who contravenes any provision of this By-law shall, upon issuance
of a penalty notice in accordance with Administrative Penalty Process By-law 63-
2013, be liable to pay to the City an administrative penalty. If a Person receives a
penalty notice in accordance with the City's Administrative Penalty Process By-
law for a contravention of this By-law, and the Person has not received a penalty
notice for the same contravention within one (1) calendar year or less, the
Person shall be liable to pay to the City a tier one (1) administrative penalty
amount for that contravention in the amount of $250. If a Person receives an
additional penalty notice for the same contravention of the By-law within one (1)
calendar year or less from the date of the penalty notice containing a tier one (1)
administrative penalty amount, the Person shall be liable to pay to the City a tier
two (2) administrative penalty amount for that contravention in the amount of
$350. If the Person receives a subsequent penalty notice for the same
contravention of the By-law within one (1) calendar year or less from the date of
the penalty notice containing a tier two (2) administrative penalty amount, the
Person shall be liable to pay to the City a tier three (3) administrative penalty
amount for that contravention in the amount of $450. If the Person receives any
subsequent penalty notices for the same contravention of the By-law within one
(1) calendar year or less from the date of the penalty notice containing a tier
three (3) administrative penalty amount, the Person shall be liable to pay to the
City a tier three (3) administrative penalty amount for that offence in the amount
of $450.
(127-2022)
6.
Deleted by By-law 63-2013.
7.
Offences
7.1.
Each Person who contravenes any provision of this By-law is guilty of an offence
and on conviction is liable to a fine of:
(a)
not less than $300 and not more than $5,000;
(b)
not less than $400 and not more than $10,000 for a second conviction of
the same offence; and
(c)
not less than $500 and not more than $25,000 for a third or subsequent
conviction of the same offence.
Page 5
7.2.
Prosecution under this By-law shall not preclude any other legal actions required
to recover damages required to repair, replace or restore damaged real or
personal property, as the case may be.
8.
Notice
8.1.
Any notice or document respecting this By-law may be given in writing in any of
the following ways and is effective:
(a)
on the date a copy is personally delivered to the Person to whom it is
addressed;
(b)
on the third (3rd) day after a copy is sent by regular mail or by registered
mail to the Person's last known address;
(c)
upon confirmation of the successful transmission of a copy by facsimile
transmission to the Person's last known facsimile transmission number;
(d)
upon sending a copy by e-mail transmission to the Person's last known e-
mail address;
(e)
upon a copy being posted on the door of any building or structure on the
Person's property or, where no building or structure exists, on a stake
erected by the Officer on the Person's property; or
(f)
when the notice or document relates to a donation box, upon a copy being
posted by the Officer on the donation box.
(43-2022)
8.2.
Subject to section 8.3, if a notice or any other document is issued in respect of a
young person, the person who issued the notice or document shall as soon as
possible give or cause to be given to a parent of the young person notice in writing
of the notice or other document.
8.3.
If the whereabouts of the parents of a young person are not known or it appears
that no parent is available, a notice or any other document given under this By-law
may be given to an adult relative of the young person who is known to the young
person and is likely to assist the young person or, if no such adult relative is
available, to any other adult who is known to the young person and is likely to assist
the young person and who the person giving the notice considers appropriate.
9.
General
9.1.
For the purpose of section 23.2(4) of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25, as
amended, it is the opinion of Council that the powers delegated to the Hearing
Officer and to the Director pursuant to this By-law are of a minor nature. (23-2024)
10.
Conflict
10.1. This By-law shall not be construed to reduce or mitigate any restrictions or
regulations
lawfully imposed by the City or by any governmental authority
having jurisdiction to make such restrictions or regulations.
10.2. If there is a conflict between a provision of this By-law and a provision of any
other City By-law, the provision that establishes the higher standard to protect
the health and safety of the public and to maintain clean and tidy condition on
land shall apply.
11.
Severability
11.1. If any provision or part of a provision of this By-law is declared by any court or
tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be illegal or inoperative, in whole or in part, or
inoperative in certain circumstances, the balance of the By-law, or its application
in other circumstances, shall not be affected and shall continue to be in full force
and effect.
Page 6
12.
Effective Date
12.1. This By-law is effective on the date of its passing.
12.2. By-laws 61-79, 72-94 and 32-2002 are hereby repealed.
By-law passed this eighth day of September, 2009.
__________________________
___________________________
Mayor
City Clerk
2013 06 14