Source: https://building.arlingtonva.us/resource/article-ii-condition-of-private-property/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 23:52:40+00:00

Document:
The purpose of Code Enforcement is to protect the public health, safety and welfare in existing buildings used for dwelling purposes. We seek to comply and enforce sections of the Arlington County’s Zoning Ordinance pertaining to Condition of Private Property.
This section below allows users of this Code to quickly and accurately determine how Article II. Condition of Private Property directly affects the residents and have been considered for codification in each supplement.
§10-13. Duty of Property Owner to Cut Grass, Weeds, Maintain Lawns, Etc.
§10-14. Duty of Either the Property Owner, Occupant or Both to the Properly Maintain Property.
§10-15. Duty of Each Property Owner or Occupant of Property to Cut Back Obstructing Vegetation.
§10-16. Duty of Either Property Owner, Occupant or Both to Keep the Property Free from Rat Harborage.
§10-18. Failure to Perform Duties Relating to Property upon Violation Notice from the County Manager.
§10-19. Right to Property Owner or Occupant to Appeal Violation Notice.
§10-21. Penalties for Failure to Comply with this Article.
§10-22. Duty of Property Owner to Remove Stored, Wrecked, Abandoned or Inoperative Vehicles.
*Editors Note: Portions of Art II. were adopted or amended on May 27, 1950, June 17, 1961 and Sept. 21, 1968. See the County Board minutes for details.
“Danger or hazard to public health or safety” means a condition, as determined by the County Manager or his designee, in which it is reasonably certain or foreseeable that the healthful or sanitary condition or safety of the general body of people in the County is being or will be reduced or that the healthful or sanitary conditions or safety of persons whom it is in the general County interest to protect is being reduced. Dangers to health or safety may way or other public lands, and conditions which may cause disease (including allergic reactions), harbor vermin and other animals, provide shelter or cover for unlawful activities, or be a source for the spread of litter or weeds to the property of others.
“Infestation” means the presence within or around property of any rats.
“Inoperative motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer” means any motor vehicle which is not in operating condition or which, for a period of ninety (90 days or longer, has been partially or totally disassembled by the removal of tires and wheels, the engine, or other essential parts required for operation of the vehicle. An inoperative vehicle shall also be considered a vehicle with an observable condition which indicates a state such that it is economically impractical to make such vehicle operative within a reasonable period of time, or which constitutes a health, fire or safety hazard.
“Occupant” means any person who has possessory rights or exercises the right to possession of any dwelling unit or rooming unit and who has the right to control or exercises control over the physical conditions of such dwelling unity or rooming unity.
(2) Shall have charge, care, or control of property, dwelling or dwelling unit, as owner, lessee, agent executor, administrator, trustee, or guardian.
“Property” means any land, whether unimproved or improved with buildings or other structures and whether unoccupied or occupied by any person.
“Rodent proofing” means a form of construction which will prevent the ingress or egress of rodents to or from a given building and their access to food, water, or harborage. It consists of the closing and keeping closed every opening in foundations, basements, cellars, exterior and interior walls, ground or first floors, attics, roofs, sidewalk gratings, sidewalk openings, and other places that may be reached and entered by rodents by climbing, burrowing or other methods, and by the use of materials impervious to rodent gnawing and other methods approved by the County Manager.
It shall be the duty of each owner of vacant property to cut grass, weeds, and other foreign growth (which may include trees or parts thereof) on such property when such growth on such property creates a health or safety hazard.
§10-14. Duty of Either the Property Owner, Occupant or Both to Properly Maintain Property.
§10-16. Duty of Ether Property Owner, Occupant or Both to Keep the Property Free from Rat Harborage.
Editor’s note — Former § 10-20 was repealed by Ord. No. 90-26, adopted Aug. 11, 1990. The repealed provisions pertained to the authority of the County to require removal, repair, etc., of dangerous structures and derived from legislation of Feb. 21, 1981 and April 24, 1982.
Except as provided for below, violations of § 10-14 may be pursued as civil penalties. In case of the violation of any provisions of this chapter, the owner, lessee, tenant or agent shall be subject to a civil penalty of one hundred dollars ($100.00) for the first violation. This penalty shall be imposed after a warning has been issued that gives the owner, lessee, tenant or agent a specified time within which to comply with the chapter. Any person who continues to violate such provision of this chapter shall be subject to a civil penalty of one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00) for each subsequent violation. No person shall be cited for a violation more than once in any ten (10) day period, and no person shall be fined more than a total of three thousand dollars ($3,000.00) for all violations arising out of the same set of facts.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to keep, except within a fully enclosed building, on any property zoned for residential or commercial purposes, any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer, as such is defined in § 46.2-100 of the Virginia Code, whose condition makes them inoperative; provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to a licensed business which on June 26, 1970, was regularly engaged in business as an automobile dealer, salvage dealer or scrap processor.

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