§1374. Enforcement of health, safety, and welfare ordinances of Orleans Parish

A. In addition to the authority for criminal prosecutions provided in R.S. 14:107.3 and other authority provided by law or home rule charter for civil enforcement of health, safety, and welfare ordinances, including but not limited to the authority provided in R.S. 13:2575, for administrative adjudication for violations of public health, housing, fire code, environmental, building code, zoning, historic district, permitting, vegetation, and nuisance ordinance, in Orleans Parish the public authority may enforce health, safety, and welfare statutes or ordinances or otherwise seek to eliminate blighted property, unsafe structures and equipment, unlawful structures and structures unfit for human occupancy, housing violations, or public nuisances in any court of competent jurisdiction in accordance with this Section.

B. The following terms, whenever used or referred to in any proceedings pursuant to this Section or in R.S. 13:2575, shall have the following respective meanings, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:

(1) "Blighted property" means commercial or residential premises, including lots, which are vacant, uninhabitable, and hazardous and because of their physical condition, are considered hazardous to persons or property, or have been declared or certified blighted, and have been declared to be a public nuisance by a court of competent jurisdiction or by an administrative hearing officer acting pursuant to competent jurisdiction or by an administrative hearing officer acting pursuant to R.S. 13:2575 et seq., or any other applicable law.

(2) "Deleterious premises" means any property, including any yard, garden, outhouses, accessory structures, and appurtenances belonging thereto, upon which is located any structure which is deemed an "unsafe structure", an "unlawful structure", a "structure unfit for human occupancy", or a structure that contains "unsafe equipment" or "housing violations", or is otherwise defined as "blighted property", or a "public nuisance".

(3) "Housing violations" means those conditions in privately owned structures which contravene the provisions of state statute or local ordinances and are determined to constitute a threat or danger to the public health, safety, and welfare or to the environment by a court of competent jurisdiction or by an administrative hearing officer acting pursuant to R.S. 13:2575 et seq., or any other applicable law.

(4) "Owner" means the holder of the title or a mortgagee of premises, whose interest is shown on the public record, or any person who is in possession of premises, or in control of the premises, including a tenant or the agent of any such person.

(5) "Parties in interest" means a person(s) who has an interest in premises as shown on the public record or who is in possession of premises or in control of the premises, including a tenant or the agent of any such person.

(6) "Public authority" means state or local government or any department, agency, or branch thereof charged with the enforcement of health, fire, permitting, or building regulations, or otherwise charged with the regulation of activities concerning property maintenance.

(7) "Public nuisance" means any garage, shed, barn, house, building, or structure, that by reason of the condition in which it is permitted to remain, may endanger the health, life, limb, or property of any person, or cause any hurt, harm, damages, injury, or loss to any person in any one or more of the following conditions:

(a) The property is dilapidated, decayed, unsafe, or unsanitary, is detrimental to health, morals, safety, public welfare and the well-being of the community, endangers life or property, or is conducive to ill health, delinquency, and crime.

(b) The property is a fire hazard.

(c) The conditions present on the property and its surrounding grounds are not reasonably or adequately maintained, thereby causing deterioration and creating a blighting influence or condition on nearby properties and thereby depreciating the value, use, and enjoyment to such an extent that it is harmful to the public health, welfare, morals, safety, and the economic stability of the area, community, or neighborhood in which such public nuisance is located.

(8) "Public officer" means any officer, public officer, public employee, or agent authorized by the state or local government to exercise the powers prescribed in the laws and ordinances governed by the provisions of this Section.

(9) "Unfit for human occupancy structure" means any structure which is an unsafe structure, an unlawful structure, or otherwise is in such a degree of disrepair, lack of maintenance, is unsanitary, vermin or rat infested, contains filth and contamination, or lacks ventilation, illumination, sanitary or heating facilities, or other essential equipment required by state statute or local ordinances, or because of the location of the structure constitutes a hazard to the occupants of the structure or to the public.

(10) "Unlawful structure" means any structure, in whole or in part, that is occupied by more persons than permitted under state statute or local ordinances or was erected, altered or occupied contrary to state statute or local ordinances.

(11) "Unsafe equipment" means any unsafe equipment, including but not limited to any boiler, heating equipment, elevator, moving stairway, electrical wiring or device, flammable liquid containers, or other equipment on the premises or within a structure which is in such disrepair or condition that such equipment is a hazard to life, health, property, or safety of the public or occupants of the premises or structure.

(12) "Unsafe structure" means a structure that is found to be dangerous to the life, health, property, or safety of the public or the occupants of the structure by not providing the minimum safeguards to protect or warn occupants in the event of fire, or because such structure contains unsafe equipment, or because such structure is so damaged, decayed, dilapidated, structurally unsafe, or of such faulty construction or unstable foundation, that a partial or complete collapse is possible.

C. Local ordinances in Orleans Parish may authorize public officers to exercise any powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of ordinances governed by this Section. Additionally, public officers shall have the authority pursuant to this Section to:

(1) Investigate the conditions of premises to determine whether said premises are unfit for human habitation and to request and obtain search warrants for entry if necessary.

(2) Obtain and receive evidence.

(3) Enter upon any premises for the purpose of making examinations provided the entries are made in such manner as to cause the least possible inconvenience to the persons in possession.

D. Any civil judicial proceeding instituted in accordance with this Section that is on the environmental docket of the Forty-First Judicial District Court or the Municipal Court of New Orleans may be heard by summary proceeding.

E. The court may order remedial action be taken, including but not limited to repair of the premises to appropriate standards, securing premises from entry by others, and demolition of any unsafe structures unfit for human occupancy.

Acts 2008, No. 792, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; Acts 2010, No. 472, §2.