ORDINANCE NO. 930091

 

Amending Chapter 20, Code of General Ordinances of Kansas City, Missouri, commonly referred to as the Property Maintenance Code, by repealing Sections 20.3, 20.62, and 20.65 and adopting in lieu thereof three new sections of like number and subject matter which would allow authorized police officers to issue orders to vacate buildings or structures containing Property Maintenance Code violations which may endanger its occupants; state when an order to vacate becomes effective; specify in the order that police officers may arrest violators; and adopting one new section which provides for an expedited appeal procedure.

 

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:

 

Section 1. That Chapter 20, Code of General Ordinances of Kansas City, Missouri, commonly referred to as the Property Maintenance Code, is hereby amended by repealing Sections 20.3, 20.62, and 20.65 and enacting three new Sections to read as follows:

 

Sec. 20.3. Definitions.

 

For the purpose of this article, the following terms shall have the meanings assigned to them by this section:

 

(1) Accessory building or structure shall mean a detached building or structure used in a secondary or subordinate capacity from the main or principal building or structure on the same premises.

 

(2) Approved shall mean approved by the Director of Neighborhood and Community Services or her predecessor and defined in promulgated rules and regulations.

 

(3) Basement and cellar shall be construed to have the same meaning, that being any space located partially or totally below the surface of the ground.

 

(4) Board shall be the Property Maintenance Appeals Board.

 

(5) City shall mean the City of Kansas City, Missouri.

 

(6) Department shall mean the Neighborhood and Community Services Department of Kansas City, Missouri.

 

(7) Deterioration shall mean the condition of a building or part thereof, characterized by holes, breaks, rot, crumbling, cracking, peeling, rusting, or other evidence of physical decay or neglect, lack of maintenance or excessive use.

 

(8) Director shall mean the Director of Neighborhood and Community Services or an authorized representative.

 

(9) Dwelling shall mean a building or structure or portion of a building or structure designed for or used for human habitation.

 

(10) Dwelling, multiple shall mean a dwelling designed for more than two (2) dwelling units or occupied by more than two (2) families.

 

(11) Dwelling unit shall mean any room or group of rooms located within a dwelling and forming a single habitable unit with cooking, living, sanitary and sleeping facilities.

 

(12) Extermination shall mean the control and extermination of insects, rodents or other pests by eliminating their harborage places; by removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by poisoning, spraying, fumigating or trapping; or by any other recognized and legal pest elimination method.

 

(13) Family shall be an individual; or two (2) or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption; or a group of not more than five (5) persons (excluding servants) who need not be related by blood or marriage, living together and subsisting in common as a separate nonprofit housekeeping unit.

 

(14) Fire hazard shall mean any device, material or condition likely to cause a fire and which is so situated as to endanger persons or property.

 

(15) Floor area shall mean the total area of a habitable room which has a minimum ceiling height of seven (7) feet.

 

(16) Garbage shall mean the animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, serving and nonconsumption of food.

 

(17) Habitable room shall mean every room in any building or structure in which persons sleep, eat or carry on their usual domestic or social vocations or avocations. It shall not include private laundries, bathrooms, toilet rooms, pantries, storerooms, closets, halls, corridors, rooms for mechanical equipment for service in the building or other similar spaces not used by persons frequently or during extended periods. No room shall be considered a habitable room which contains less than seventy (70) square feet of floor area.

 

(18) Hot water shall be water at a temperature of not less than one hundred twenty (120) degrees Fahrenheit.

 

(19) Inspector shall be an authorized representative of the Director.

 

(20) Kitchen shall mean any room used for the preparation of foods.

 

(21) Occupant shall mean any person, over one (1) year of age, living, sleeping, cooking or eating in, or actually having possession of, a dwelling unit or a rooming unit.

 

(22) Owner shall mean any person who, alone or jointly or severally with others:

 

(a) Shall have legal title to any building with or without accompanying actual possession thereof; or

 

(b) Shall have charge, care or control of any building or structure, or part thereof, as agent or personal

representative of the person(s) having legal title to the

building or structure, or part thereof.

 

(23) Person shall mean and include any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, cooperative, or governmental agency.

 

(24) Plumbing shall mean and include all of the following supplied facilities and equipment: Gas pipes, gas-burning equipment, water pipes, garbage disposal units, waste pipes, water closets, sinks, installed dishwashers, lavatories, bathtubs, shower baths, installed clothes-washing machines, catch basins, drains, vents and any other similar supplied fixtures, together with all connections to water, sewer or gas lines.

 

(25) Premises shall mean a lot, plot or parcel of land, including the building or structures thereon.

 

(26) Refuse shall mean unwanted or discarded waste materials in a solid or semisolid state consisting of garbage, rubbish or a combination thereof.

 

(27) Rooming house is any building or portion thereof, containing not more than nine (9) sleeping rooms which are used by not more than nine (9) occupants where rent is paid in money, goods, labor or otherwise.

 

(28) Rooming unit shall mean any room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping, but not for cooking purposes.

 

(29) Rubbish shall mean solid wastes consisting of combustible and noncombustible waste materials from residential, apartment, commercial, industrial and institutional establishments, including yard wastes and items commonly referred to as "trash."

 

(30) Sleeping room shall mean a room whose principal use is for sleeping purposes only.

 

(31) Ventilation shall mean the process of supplying and removing air by natural or mechanical means to or from any space.

 

(32) Weathering shall mean deterioration, decay or damage caused by exposure to the elements.

 

Sec. 20.62. Order to vacate.

 

Whenever the director finds that any occupied building or structure contains a condition(s) which may endanger or materially impair the health, safety or well-being of an occupant and which violates this code, she may declare such structure unfit for human occupancy and order it to be vacated immediately and remain so until a certificate of reoccupancy is issued. Such order shall list the conditions which render the premises unfit for human occupancy and establish a time within which the building shall be repaired. The order to vacate shall become effective as soon as the order is posted as set out in Section 20.65, Code of General Ordinances.

 

Sec. 20.65. Posting.

 

Every order to vacate issued in accordance with this code shall be posted at or upon each exit of the building or structure and shall include the list of conditions which render the premises unfit for human occupancy. The order shall be substantially in the following form:

 

DO NOT ENTER

UNSAFE TO OCCUPY

 

The following conditions render these premises unfit for human occupancy:

 

It is an ordinance violation to occupy or permit any person to occupy this building or to remove or deface this notice. Any person violating an order to vacate is subject to immediate arrest.

 

This order has been issued by the Director of Neighborhood and Community Services Department of the City of Kansas City, Missouri.

 

Such order shall not be removed or defaced after it is posted except with the knowledge and consent of the director. The order to vacate shall become effective as soon as the order is posted.

 

Sec. 20.65.5. Appeal of order to vacate.

 

a) Any person entitled to be served with an order to vacate under Section 20.64, Code of General Ordinances, shall have the right to appeal in writing to the director. Only those matters or issues specifically raised by the appellant shall be considered in the hearing of the appeal.

 

b) Every appeal shall be in writing and shall be filed by delivery to the office of the director within five (5) days from the date of posting of the order. The appeal shall be heard within ten (10) days of its receipt by the director.

 

c) Failure of a person entitled to appeal under this code, either to make appeal or to timely file his/her appeal, shall constitute a waiver of his/her right to an administrative hearing and adjudication of his/her complaint and such person shall be estopped to deny the validity of any order to vacate.

 

d) There will not be a stay of enforcement of an order to vacate after an appeal has been filed. ____________________________________________

 

Approved as to form and legality:

 

 

 

__________________________________

Assistant City Attorney