City of Langford Nuisance Abatement Bylaw No. 1501, 2016 (attachment)

A BYLAW TO REGULATE, ABATE AND PROHIBIT NUISANCES AND PROVIDE FOR THE COST RECOVERY OF ABATEMENT OF NUISANCES

WHEREAS under sections 8 and 64 of the Community Charter, Council may, by bylaw, regulate, prohibit and impose requirements in relation to nuisances;

AND WHEREAS under sections 17 and 194 of the Community Charter Council may impose costs and recover the costs of taking action in the event of a default by a person who fails to take action as Council directs.

NOW THEREFORE, the Council of the City of Langford, in open Meeting assembled, enacts as follows:

1. This Bylaw may be cited for all purposes as the "City of Langford Nuisance Abatement Bylaw No. 1501, 2016".

Interpretation

2. In this Bylaw, unless the context otherwise requires:

"City" means the City of Langford;

"Nuisance" means an activity which substantially and unreasonably interferes with a person's use and enjoyment of a public area or of land he or she occupies or which causes injury to the health, comfort or convenience of an occupier of land and, if it does so, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, may include, an activity such as a noisy party, a group of people making noise, loud music, illegal car racing, revving engines, yelling, shouting, screaming, fighting, littering and trespassing.

Prohibition

3. No person shall cause a nuisance or permit the land he or she owns or occupies to be used so as to cause a nuisance.

Nuisance Abatement

4. (1) A person who causes a nuisance or permits the land he or she owns or occupies to be used so as to cause a nuisance, shall abate or cause to be abated an activity which causes a nuisance.

(2) The City may, by its employees, contractors and agents, abate or cause to be abated an activity which causes a nuisance if the person who caused the nuisance or permitted the land that he or she owned or occupied to be used so as to cause a nuisance failed to comply with a direction from Council to abate the nuisance.

Cost Imposition

5. The City may impose the costs of abating a nuisance on one or more of the following:

(1) a person causing the nuisance;

(2) the occupier of land from which the nuisance emanates; and

(3) the owner of land from which the nuisance emanates.

Collection

6. The City may recover the costs imposed under Section 5 in accordance with:

a) Section 231 of the Community Charter as a debt due and recoverable in a court of competent jurisdiction; or

b) Section 258 of the Community Charter as property taxes.

Costs

7. The costs recoverable for nuisance abatement shall be those set out in Schedules "A" and "B" to this Bylaw. Schedules "A" and "B" form a part of this Bylaw and are enforceable in the same manner as this Bylaw.

Offences

8. A person who contravenes, violates or fails to comply with any provision of this Bylaw, or who suffers or permits any act or thing to be done in contravention or violation of this Bylaw, or who fails to do anything required by this Bylaw, commits an offence and shall be liable, upon conviction, to a fine of not more than $10,000.00 and not less than $200.00, the cost of prosecution and any other penalty or order imposed pursuant to the Community Charter or the Offence Act (British Columbia). Each day that an offence against this Bylaw continues or exists shall be deemed to be a separate and distinct offence.

Severability

9. Each section of this Bylaw shall be severable. If any provision of this Bylaw is held to be illegal or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the provision may be severed and the illegality or invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this Bylaw.

READ A FIRST TIME this 6th day of September, 2016.

READ A SECOND TIME this 6th day of September, 2016.

READ A THIRD TIME this 6th day of September, 2016.

ADOPTED this 19th day of September, 2016.

MAYOR

(Certified Correct)
CORPORATE OFFICER

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SCHEDULE "A"

Nuisance Abatement Bylaw No. 1501, 2016

The costs referred to in Section 7 of this Bylaw are to be determined in part by multiplying the following hourly rates for any of the following individuals involved in the abatement of a nuisance by the time spent by those individuals in the abatement of the nuisance and if there is more than one individual the amounts for each individual are added together to determine the cost imposed under this Schedule "A".

The following hourly rates apply for every hour or 1/4 hour portion thereof which any of the following City employees, RCMP or Fire/Rescue Personnel use to deal with the abatement of a nuisance and depending upon the day of the week, the time of day or the holiday status of when such services are required, the hourly rate may be increased by one and a half or two times.

City Employees

RCMP

Fire/Rescue

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SCHEDULE "B"

Nuisance Abatement Bylaw No. 1501, 2016

The costs referred to in Section 7 of this Bylaw are to be determined in part by multiplying the following hourly rates for any equipment or vehicles used by the City in abating a nuisance by the time spent using the equipment or vehicles. If there is more than one piece of equipment or vehicle used in the nuisance abatement then the amounts for each are added together to determine the cost imposed under this Schedule "B".

The following hourly rates apply for every hour or 1/4 hour portion thereof where any of the following equipment and vehicles are used by City employees, RCMP or Fire/Rescue personnel to deal with the abatement of a nuisance and depending upon the day of the week, the time of day or the holiday status of when such services are required, the hourly rate may be increased by one and a half or two times.

Equipment and Vehicles

For any work carried out by a contractor of the City to abate a nuisance on behalf of the City the costs imposed will be the actual cost of the contract plus 10% of the contract value.