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1985-0481033L NO -9 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 12 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, BY REPEALING AND REENACTING ARTICLE VI THEREOF DECLARING THE ROOSTS OF PROTECTED MIGRATORY BIRDS A PUBLIC NUISANCE WITH CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS, PROVIDING FOR IDENTIFICATION OF SUCH BIRD ROOSTS WITH PROCEDURES FOR ABATEMENT AND APPEAL, ADDING A NEW ARTICLE VII TO BE RESERVED FOR FUTURE USE, ADDING A NEW ARTICLE VIII TO PROVIDE FOR A PENALTY, AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY ORDAINS SECTION I That Article VI of Chapter 12 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton, Texas, heretofore relating to penalties, is hereby repealed in its entirety and reenacted to hereafter read as follows ARTICLE VI PROTECTED MIGRATORY BIRD ROOSTS Sec 12-31 Definition A protected migratory bird roost shall mean any place where migratory birds, whose species is protected by applicable law or treaty, live, gather or nest for a period of at least seven (7) consecutive days, congregating in numbers of fifty (50) or more and returning to such habitat annually Sec 12-32 Declared a Nuisance Protected migratory bird roosts are hereby determined to be a health hazard which constitutes a public nuisance Sec 12-33 Elimination of Roosts (a) It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, owner, agent, lessee, occupant, or anyone having control or supervision of any lot, tract, or parcel of land, or portion thereof, occupied or unoccupied, improved or unimproved, within the corporate limits of the City to suffer or permit trees to exist within fifteen (15) feet of one another, measured from trunk to trunk, on premises which has been used as a protected migratory bird roost or to leave debris or remains of vegetation upon the premises after the same has been cut to eliminate the roost (b) It shall be a defense to any proceeding to enforce the provisions of this Article that protected migratory birds are presently occupying the roost or that the premises upon which the roost is located is a lot, tract or parcel of land of four (4) or more acres, is zoned agricultural, is under signle ownership, and the roost is located more than two hundred (200) feet from any adjacent property under different ownership on which habitable dwellings exist and more than two hundred (200) feet from any public street or right of way (c) It shall be the duty of any person referred to in paragraph (a) hereof to cut, or cause to be cut, and remove, or cause to be removed, such trees as may be necessary to comply with the provisions of this Article PAGE 1 Sec 12-34 Notice to Owner of Violations, Abatement by City, Collection of Costs In the event that the owner of any lot, tract or parcel of land or portions thereof shall fail or refuse to comply with Section 12-33 the City Manager or his designee shall notify such owner by letter addressed to him at his post office address, or by publication in the newspaper at least two (2) times within ten (10) consecutive days, if service by mail may not be had as aforesaid or if the owner's address be not known, and at the expiration of ten (10) days after notification as provided herein, the city may enter upon such premises and may do such work as necessary, or cause the same to be done, in order that the premises may comply with the requirements of this Article A statement of the cost incurred by the city to abate such condition shall be mailed to the owner of said premises, which statement shall be paid within thirty (30) days of the date of the mailing thereof Such costs shall include an administrative fee of eighty dollars ($80 00), in addition to the actual cost of cutting and removing such trees as may be necessary to comply with this Article In the event that said statement has not been paid within such period, the City Manager or his designee may file a statement with the County Clerk of the expenses incurred to abate such condition on said premises, and the city shall have a privileged lien on any lot, tract or parcel of land upon which such expense is incurred second only to tax liens and liens for street improvements, together with ten (10) percent on the delinquent amount from the date such payment is due For any such expenditure and interest suit may be instituted and recovery and foreclosure had in the name of the city and the statement so made, or a certified copy thereof, shall be prima facie proof of the amount expended in any such work performed by the City Sec 12-35 Appeals from Amount Billed Within fifteen (15) days of the date a statement of costs is mailed to the owner of the premises, such owner may appeal the reasonableness of the charges billed for abating the condition to the City Council by filing a written statement with the City Manager or his designee stating why such charges are unreasonable Such appeal shall be submitted to the City Council within a reasonable time after filing The City Council shall review the charges and may, upon finding such charges unreasonable, assess such costs as it deems reasonable The administrative fees shall not be appealable Sec 12-36 to 12-39 Reserved SECTION II That Chapter 12 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton is hereby amended by adding a new Article VII, Sections 12-40 to 12-50, to be reserved for future use SECTION III That Chapter 12 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton is hereby amended by adding a new Article VIII, heretofore codified and published as Article VI, to read as follows ARTICLE VIII PENALTIES Sec 12-51 Penalties (1) Any person who shall violate a provision of this chapter, or fails to comply therewith or with any of the requirements PAGE 2 thereof, or of a permit, license or certificate issued thereunder, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not less than ten dollars ($10 00) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200 00) Each such person shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each and every day or portion thereof during which any violation of any of the provisions of this chapter is committed, or continued, and upon conviction of any such violation such person shall be punished within the limits provided above (2) The imposition of the penalties herein prescribed shall not preclude the City Attorney from instituting an appropriate action or proceeding to prevent an unlawful accumulation, collection and/or movement or garbage within the terms of the chapter stated above, or to restrain, correct or abate a violation of said ordinance, or prevent an illegal act, conduct, business or use in or about any premises or any public nuisance or health hazard SECTION IV That this ordinance shall become effective fourteen (14) days from the date of its passage, and the City Secretary is hereby directed to cause the caption of this ordinance to be published twice in the Denton Record-Chronicle, the official newspaper of the City of Denton, Texas, within ten (10) days of the date of its passage PASSED AND APPROVED this the 15" day of March, 1985 ~ D CIT OF DE TON, TEXAS ATTEST 6&4Z?L ZHAKOTTE Z ALLEN, C1TY S'L CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM JOE D MORRIS, ACTING CITY ATTORNEY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS BY V d ) wr~ PAGE 3