Shafter Municipal Code Ch. 8.38 Property Maintenance

Any individual, firm, association, corporation, organization, partnership, or any other group acting as a unit that owns, leases, occupies, or has charge or possession of any property in the city shall be in violation of this section if any of the following conditions relating to maintenance of property are permitted to exist:

A. Any building or structure which has been partially destroyed or demolished for at least one hundred eighty days to the extent of more than twenty-five percent of the value of the building as it appears on the current tax roll of the Kern County assessor's office, or left in an "unreasonable state of partial construction." For purposes of this chapter, "left in an unreasonable state of partial construction" means left, after initiation of construction, for a period of one year or more without completion of a phase warranting an initial building inspection or without completion of a successive phase warranting a subsequent building inspection, as required under Title 15 of this code, where the appearance or other conditions of said unfinished building or structure substantially detracts from the appearance of the immediate neighborhood.

B. Any doorway, window or other opening into a vacant structure not closed and maintained by means or materials approved by the building official.

C. Any broken window constituting a hazardous condition and facilitating trespass or malicious mischief, or constituting a shelter for vagrants or criminals or enabling persons to resort thereto for the purpose of committing unlawful acts.

D. Any building exterior, wall, fence, driveway, sidewalk, walkway, or parking lot which is maintained in such condition of deterioration or disrepair as to be unsafe or which is so defaced as to substantially detract from the appearance of the immediate neighborhood.

E. Abandoned or discarded furniture, stove, refrigerator, freezer, sink, toilet, cabinet or other household fixture or equipment visible from a public right-of-way.

F. Any fill dirt containing pieces of concrete, asphalt, or rubbish or any fill dirt brought to the property or excavated from the property that is not wetted and compacted in accordance with the requirements of Appendix Chapter 33 of the Uniform Building Code and graded to within eighteen inches of the adjacent grade within thirty days of delivery or excavation.

(Ord. 508 § 1 (part), 1998)

It is unlawful and is declared a public nuisance for any individual, firm, association, corporation, organization, partnership, or any other group acting as a unit that owns, leases, occupies, or has charge or possession of any property in the city to maintain such property in such a manner that any of the conditions listed in Section 8.38.010 of this chapter exist thereon. The general penalty for violation of any provision of this chapter shall constitute an infraction which is punishable by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for the first violation, two hundred dollars for the second violation and five hundred dollars for each additional violation of the same provision within one year.

(Ord. 508 § 1 (part), 1998)