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02-75 EMERGENCY ORDINANCE NO. 2-75. AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF 'DELRAY BEACH TO BE DESIGNATED AS THE LETHAL YELLOWING ORDINANCE DECLARING PALM TREES IN THE CITY OF DELRAY BEACH IN- ' FECTED WITH THE BLIGHT OF LETHAL YELLOWING TO BE A PUBLIC NUISANCE; AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND RECREATION TO INVESTIGATE AND TO ABATE SAID NUISANCE; PROVIDING A SAVING CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF ORDI- NANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Delray Beach has the author- ity under Section 30 of the City Charter to meet public emergencies affectin¢ life, health, property or the public peace by adopting emergency ordinances; and, WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Delray Beach is authorized under Section 7(13) of the City Charter to compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances within the City; and, WHEREAS, the onslaught of the blight known as Lethal Yellowing threat- ~ens the survival of thousands of Jamaica Palms and other species of palm' trees in the City of Delray Beach which necessitates a City-wide program of identification o~ diseased trees, inoculation and, when beyond treatment, the removal and safe disposition of contaminated trees, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DEL~_~Y B~CH, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS: -- Section 1. Short Title. This ordinance shall be known and may be cited as "The Lethal Yellowing Ordinance". Section 2. Declaration of Legislatige Intent. The City Council of' the City of DelraY Beach finds that the palm blight disease known as Lethal Yellowing has reached epidemic proportions within the City limits, that the disease is a highly infectious one and that all trees susceptible to Lethal Yellowing in the City of Delray Beach shall be inoculated except those trees which are beyond treatment which shall be quickly r.emoved so as to reduce the spreading of the disease. ~Section 3. Public Nuisance Declared. The existence of the palm blight known as Lethal Yellowing is hereby declared to be a public nuisance. The existence of palm trees infected with Lethal Yellowing are declared to be a public nuisance as those trees continue to be infectious and are a threat to. healthy palm trees in the area. Section 4. Inspections. The Director of Parks and Recreation, or his designate, is authorized and empowered to enter upon any lot or parcel of land in the city at.any reasonable hour for the purpose of inspecting any palm tree(s) situated thereon and he may remove such specimens from any such trees as are required for the purpose of the laboratory analysis refer- red to in this ordinance, or to determine whether such tree(s) is beyond treatment because it is dead, or substantially dead, may serve to spread or be a carrier of Lethal Yellowing disease. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm o~' corporation to take any action to prevent the Director of Parks and Recreation from entering on any lot or parcel of land in the City for the purpose of such inspection or to interfere with the Director in the performance of any of his duties provided for under the provisions of this ordinance. Section 5. Inoculation. The Director of Parks and Recreation, or his designate, shall inoculate all palm trees within the City of Delray Beach susceptible to Lethal Yellowing with an antibiotic approved and recommended by the Department of Agriculture of the State of Florida. The expense and cost of the inoculation program shall be borne by the City of Delray Beach. Section 6. Removal of Trees. Whenever the Director of Parks and Recreation, or his designate, determines that a particular tree infected with Lethal Yellowing is beyond treatment and said tree poses a threat of infecting other healthy trees, the Director, or his designate, shall so notify the record owner of the offending property in writing and demand that such owner cause the condition to be remedied by removal within ten (10) days. The notice shall be given by first class mail addressed to the owner or owners of the property described as their names and addresses are shown upon the record of the County Tax Assessor and'shall be deemed complete and effective when so addressed and deposited in the United States mail with proper postage prepaid. If, after the expiration of ten (10) days from the posting of said notice, the owner or owners of said property have not caused said tree cr trees to be removed, the Director of Parks and Recrea- tion, or his designate, shall enter upon the premises of said owner or owners and remove the infected trees at the owner's expense. Section 7. Notice. The notice required in Section 6 above Shall be in substantially the following form: NOTICE OF PUBLIC NUISANCE Name of Owner Address of Owner Our records indicate that you are the owner(s) of the .following property in the City of Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida: (Describe property) An inspection of this property discloses, and I have found and determined, that a public nuisance exists thereon so as to constitute a violation of the Delray Beach Lethal Yellowing Ordinance in that there exists on the above described property one or more palm tree(s) which are infected with "Lethal Yellowing", which trees have been appropriately designated for your information by the use of standard flagging. It has been determined that the trees upon your property which have been flagged are so infected with Lethal Yellowing that inoculation or treatment of the trees would be of no benefit to their preservation or survival. You are hereby notified that unless the above described trees a~e removed within ten (10) days from the date hereof, the City of Delray Beach will proceed to remove said tree(s) and the cost of all such work, including advertising costs and other expenses, will be imposed as a lien on the property if not otherwise paid within, sixty (60) days after I have certified to the Director of Finance the cost thereof. CITY OF DELRAY BEACH By, Director of Parks and Recreation -2- Emer. Ord. No. 2-75. Section 8. Lien. After the removal of the tree or trees, the Directoz of Parks and Recreation, or his designate, shall certify to the Director of Finance the expense incurred in such removal. Such expense shall become payable within sixty (60) days after which a lien and charge will be made upon the property which shall be payable with.interest at the rate of eight per cent (8%) per annum from the date such payment has become delinquent. Such lien shall be enforceable in the'same manner as a special assessment lien in favor of the City of Delray Beach except that the City of Delray Beach may file suit to foreclose such lien at. any time after the expiration of sixty (60) days from the date the assessment was certified by the Director of Parks and Recreation, or his designate, to the Director of Finance. Notice of such lien shall be filed in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court and recorded among the public records of Palm Beach County, Florida. Section 9. Penalty. Any one who shall resist or obstruct in carrying out the provisions ~f this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200.00) for each offense. A separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues. Section 10. Severabili~y. Should any part or provision~of this ordi- nance be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the same shall not affect the validity of the ordinance as a whole or any part thereof other than the part declared to be invalid. Section 11. This ordinance is declared an emergency ordinance and shall become effective upon first and final reading~ Section 12. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict here- with be and the same are hereby repealed. PASSED AND ADOPTED in regular session on first and final reading on this .10th day of ..February , 1975. MAY~ P~? ATTEST: ~? ~ City Clerk -3- Emer. Ord. No. 2-75.