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1983-008262L AN ORDINANCE REPEALING ARTICLE V OF CHAPTER 12 ("WEEDS ON PRIVATE PREMISES") OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF DENTON AND ENACTING A NEW ARTICLE V REGULATING THE HEIGHT OF, AND REQUIRING THE CUTTING OF CERTAIN WEEDS, GRASS AND UNCULTIVATED VEGETATION, PROVIDING FOR NOTICE OF VIOLATIONS, ABATEMENT BY THE CITY, ASSESSMENT OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE FEE AND COLLECTION OF COSTS, PROVIDING FOR A LIEN FOR DELINQUENT COST, INTEREST THEREON AND FORECLOSURE THEREOF, PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY NOT TO EXCEED TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS (~200 00) FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF, REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT, PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY ORDAINS SECTION I That the Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton, Texas is hereby amended by repealing in its entirety Article V of Chapter 12 of said Code and enacting a new Article V of Chapter 12 which shall hereafter read as follows ARTICLE V GRASS AND WEEDS Sectlon 12-26 Height l~mltat~ons on certain weeds, grass and uncultivated vegetation A It shall be unlawful for any person, f~rm, 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, wlth~n the corporate l~m~ts of the City to suffer or permit grass or weeds or other vegetation, except agricultural crops, trees, shrubs, flowers or other decorative or ornamental plants under cultivation, to grow on an average to a greater height then twelve inches (12") upon said premises, or to leave such weeds or grass upon any premises after the same have been cut B W~th respect to lots, tracts or parcels of land of two or more acres under single ownership, the provisions of this section shall not be applicable to the area in excess of one hundred feet (100') from any open public street or way, or to the area in excess of one hundred feet (100') from any adjacent PAGE 1 property under different ownership on which habitable dwellings are located C The provisions of this Article shall be applicable to all railroad rights-of-way within the City D It shall be the duty of any person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, owner, agent, lessee, occupant or anyone having supervision or control of any lot, tract, parcel of land or port,on thereof, occupied or unoccupied, improved or unimproved, within the corporate limits of the City to cut, or cause to be cut, and remove, or cause to be removed, if necessary, to comply with this section, all such grass, weeds, and/or other vegetation as often as may be necessary to comply with the provisions of this section Sectlon 12-27 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 fall or refuse to comply w~th Section 12-26, then the City Manager or his designee shall notify such owner by letter addressed to him at his post office address, or by publlcatlon as many as two (2) times within ten (10) consecutive days, if personal service 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 C~ty 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 w~th 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 cost shall ~nclude an administrative fee of Thlrty-F~ve Dollars ($35 00), in addition to the actual cost of cutting or removing such vegetation 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 PAGE 2 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 lmens for street ~mprovements, together with ten (10%) percent on the delinquent amount from the date such payment is due For any such expenditure and interest, as aforesaid, suit may be instituted and recovery and foreclosure had xn the name of the City and the statement so made, as aforesaid or a certified copy thereof shall be prima fac~e proof of the amount expended In any such work performed by the Cxty Section 12-28 to 12-30 Reserved SECTION II That any person v~olatlng any of the provisions of thxs ordinance shall, upon conviction, be fined a sum not less than Ten Dollars (~10 00) nor exceeding Two Hundred Dollars (~200 00), and each day and every day that the provisions of this ordinance are v~olated shall constitute a separate and d~stlnct offense Th~s penalty ~s in addition to and cumulative of, any other remedles as may be available at law and equity SECTION III All ordxnances or parts of ordxnances in force when the provisions of th~s ordmnance become effective which are ~nconslstent or in conflict with the terms or provisions contained ~n this ordmnance are hereby repealed to the extent of any such conflxct SECTION IV That ~f any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or word ~n th~s ordmnance, or applxcat~on thereof to any person or circumstance is held ~nvalld by any court of competent jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of the remalnmng portions of th~s ordinance, and the C~ty Council of the City of Denton, Texas, hereby declares ~t PAGE 3 would have enacted such remaining portions despite any such invalidity SECTION V That th~s 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, w~thln ten (10) days of the date of · ts passage PASSED AND APPROVED th~s the /~- day of ~ , ATTEST CHA~0TTE ALLEN, CITY SEC~TARS CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FO~ C J TAYLOR, JR , CITY ATTO~EY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS PAGE 4