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Texas Statutes (Last Updated: January 4, 2014) |
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HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE |
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Title 5. SANITATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY |
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Subtitle A. SANITATION |
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Chapter 343. ABATEMENT OF PUBLIC NUISANCES |
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Subchapter B. PUBLIC NUISANCE PROHIBITED |
Sec. 343.011. PUBLIC NUISANCE
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(a) This section applies only to the unincorporated area of a county.
(b) A person may not cause, permit, or allow a public nuisance under this section.
(c) A public nuisance is:
(1) keeping, storing, or accumulating refuse on premises in a neighborhood unless the refuse is entirely contained in a closed receptacle;
(2) keeping, storing, or accumulating rubbish, including newspapers, abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, stoves, furniture, tires, and cans, on premises in a neighborhood or within 300 feet of a public street for 10 days or more, unless the rubbish or object is completely enclosed in a building or is not visible from a public street;
(3) maintaining premises in a manner that creates an unsanitary condition likely to attract or harbor mosquitoes, rodents, vermin, or disease-carrying pests;
(4) allowing weeds to grow on premises in a neighborhood if the weeds are located within 300 feet of another residence or commercial establishment;
(5) maintaining a building in a manner that is structurally unsafe or constitutes a hazard to safety, health, or public welfare because of inadequate maintenance, unsanitary conditions, dilapidation, obsolescence, disaster, damage, or abandonment or because it constitutes a fire hazard;
(6) maintaining on abandoned and unoccupied property in a neighborhood a swimming pool that is not protected with:
(A) a fence that is at least four feet high and that has a latched and locked gate; and
(B) a cover over the entire swimming pool that cannot be removed by a child;
(7) maintaining on any property in a neighborhood in a county with a population of more than 1.1 million a swimming pool that is not protected with:
(A) a fence that is at least four feet high and that has a latched gate that cannot be opened by a child; or
(B) a cover over the entire swimming pool that cannot be removed by a child;
(8) maintaining a flea market in a manner that constitutes a fire hazard;
(9) discarding refuse or creating a hazardous visual obstruction on:
(A) county-owned land; or
(B) land or easements owned or held by a special district that has the commissioners court of the county as its governing body;
(10) discarding refuse on the smaller of:
(A) the area that spans 20 feet on each side of a utility line; or
(B) the actual span of the utility easement;
(11) filling or blocking a drainage easement, failing to maintain a drainage easement, maintaining a drainage easement in a manner that allows the easement to be clogged with debris, sediment, or vegetation, or violating an agreement with the county to improve or maintain a drainage easement; or
(12) discarding refuse on property that is not authorized for that activity.
(d) This section does not apply to:
(1) a site or facility that is:
(A) permitted and regulated by a state agency for the activity described by Subsection (c); or
(B) licensed or permitted under Chapter 361 for the activity described by Subsection (c); or
(2) agricultural land.
(e) In Subsection (d), "agricultural land" means land that qualifies for tax appraisal under Subchapter C or D, Chapter 23, Tax Code.