Nuisance Abatement

Under Section 343.011 of Health and Safety Code the following violations are considered nuisances enforceable by the office of the Collin County Fire Marshal:

Violators will have 30 days from date of notification, to bring the property into compliance.

  • Keeping, storing, or accumulating refuse on premises in a neighborhood unless the refuse is entirely contained in a closed receptacle
  • Keeping, storing, or accumulating rubbish, including newspapers, abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, stoves, furniture, tires, and cans, on premises in a neighborhood for 10 days or more, unless the rubbish or object is completely enclosed in a building or is not visible from a public street
  • Maintaining premises in a manner that creates an unsanitary condition likely to attract or harbor mosquitoes, rodents, vermin, or disease-carrying pests;
  • Allowing weeds to grow on premises in a neighborhood if the weeds are located within 300 feet of another residence or commercial establishment;
  • 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;
  • 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 gate that cannot be opened by a child; or
    • (B) a cover over the entire swimming pool that cannot be removed by a child; or
  • Maintaining a flea market in a manner that constitutes a fire hazard.

Definitions

Abate - means to eliminate by removal, repair, rehabilitation, or demolition.

Building - means a structure built for the support, shelter, or enclosure of a person, animal, chattel, machine, equipment, or other moveable property.

Garbage - means decay able waste from a public or private establishment or restaurant. The term includes vegetable, animal, and fish offal and animal and fish carcasses, but does not include sewage, body waste, or an industrial by-product.

Neighborhood- means a platted subdivision; or property contiguous to and within 300 feet of a platted subdivision.

Platted Subdivision- means a subdivision that has its approved or unapproved plat recorded with the county clerk of the county in which the subdivision is located.

Premises - means all privately owned property, including vacant land or a building designed or used for residential, commercial, business, industrial, or religious purposes. The term includes a yard, ground, walk, driveway, fence, porch, steps, or other structure appurtenant to the property.

Public Street - means the entire width between property lines of a road, street, way, thoroughfare, or bridge if any part of the road, street, way thoroughfare, or bridge is open to the public for vehicular or pedestrian traffic.

Receptacle - means a container that is composed of durable material and designed to prevent the discharge of its contents and to make its contents inaccessible to animals, vermin, or other pests.

Refuse - non-decayable waste from a public or private establishment or residence.

Weeds - means all rank and uncultivated vegetable growth or matter that:

  • has grown to more than 36 inches in height; or
  • may create an unsanitary condition or become a harborage for rodents, vermin, or other disease-carrying pests, regardless of the height of the weeds.

Flea Market - means an outdoor or indoor market, conducted on non-residential premises, for selling secondhand articles or antiques, unless conducted by a religious, educational, fraternal, or charitable organization.