2006 Nebraska Revised Statutes - § 16-230 — Drainage; nuisance; weeds; litter; removal; notice; action by city council; violation; penalty; civil action.

Section 16-230
Drainage; nuisance; weeds; litter; removal; notice; action by city council; violation; penalty; civil action.

(1) A city of the first class by ordinance may require lots or pieces of ground within the city or within two miles of the corporate limits of the city to be drained or filled so as to prevent stagnant water or any other nuisance accumulating thereon. It may require the owner or occupant of all lots and pieces of ground within the city to keep the lots and pieces of ground and the adjoining streets and alleys free of any growth of twelve inches or more in height of weeds, grasses, or worthless vegetation, and it may prohibit and control the throwing, depositing, or accumulation of litter on any lot or piece of ground within the city.

(2) Any city of the first class may by ordinance declare it to be a nuisance to permit or maintain any growth of twelve inches or more in height of weeds, grasses, or worthless vegetation or to litter or cause litter to be deposited or remain thereon except in proper receptacles.

(3) Any owner or occupant of a lot or piece of ground shall, upon conviction of violating such ordinance, be guilty of a Class V misdemeanor.

(4) Notice to abate and remove such nuisance shall be given to each owner or owner's duly authorized agent and to the occupant, if any, by personal service or certified mail. If notice by personal service or certified mail is unsuccessful, notice shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or by conspicuously posting the notice on the lot or ground upon which the nuisance is to be abated and removed. Within five days after receipt of such notice or publication or posting, whichever is applicable, if the owner or occupant of the lot or piece of ground does not request a hearing with the city or fails to comply with the order to abate and remove the nuisance, the city may have such work done. The costs and expenses of any such work shall be paid by the owner. If unpaid for two months after such work is done, the city may either (a) levy and assess the costs and expenses of the work upon the lot or piece of ground so benefited in the same manner as other special taxes for improvements are levied and assessed or (b) recover in a civil action the costs and expenses of the work upon the lot or piece of ground and the adjoining streets and alleys.

(5) For purposes of this section:

(a) Litter includes, but is not limited to: (i) Trash, rubbish, refuse, garbage, paper, rags, and ashes; (ii) wood, plaster, cement, brick, or stone building rubble; (iii) grass, leaves, and worthless vegetation; (iv) offal and dead animals; and (v) any machine or machines, vehicle or vehicles, or parts of a machine or vehicle which have lost their identity, character, utility, or serviceability as such through deterioration, dismantling, or the ravages of time, are inoperative or unable to perform their intended functions, or are cast off, discarded, or thrown away or left as waste, wreckage, or junk; and

(b) Weeds includes, but is not limited to, bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), puncture vine (Tribulus terrestris), leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula), Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), perennial peppergrass (Lepidium draba), Russian knapweed (Centaurea picris), Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense), nodding or musk thistle, quack grass (Agropyron repens), perennial sow thistle (Sonchus arvensis), horse nettle (Solanum carolinense), bull thistle (Cirsium lanceolatum), buckthorn (Rhamnus sp.) (tourn), hemp plant (Cannabis sativa), and ragweed (Ambrosiaceae).

Source:

Laws 1901, c. 18, § 48, XXXVII, p. 255

R.S.1913, § 4846

Laws 1915, c. 84, § 1, p. 222

C.S.1922, § 4014

C.S.1929, § 16-231

R.S.1943, § 16-230

Laws 1975, LB 117, § 1

Laws 1988, LB 934, § 2

Laws 1991, LB 330, § 1

Laws 1995, LB 42, § 2

Laws 2004, LB 997, § 1

Annotations:

City owes no duty to provide drainage for property within its limits, where another due to a change in street grade caused inundation of plaintiff's premises. City of Beatrice v. Knight, 45 Neb. 546, 63 N.W. 838 (1895).

~Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2006