A. Public Nuisance. Public nuisance means a thing, act, occupation, condition or use of property which continues for such length of time as to:

1. Substantially annoy, injure or endanger the comfort, health, repose or safety of the public;

2. In any way render the public insecure in life or in the use of property;

3. Greatly offend the public morals or decency;

4. Unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct or render dangerous for passage any street, alley, highway, navigable body of water or other public way or the use of public property.

B. Public Nuisances Affecting Health. The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are specifically declared to be public health nuisances, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other health nuisances coming within the definition of subsection A of this section:

1. All decayed, harmfully adulterated or unwholesome food or drink sold or offered for sale to the public;

2. Carcasses of animals, birds or fowl not intended for human consumption or food which are not buried or otherwise disposed of in a sanitary manner within twenty-four (24) hours after death;

3. Accumulations of decayed animal or vegetable matter, trash, rubbish, rotting lumber, bedding, packing material, scrap metal or any material in which flies, mosquitos, disease-carrying insects, rats or other vermin may breed;

4. All stagnant water in which mosquitoes, flies or other insects can multiply;

5. Privy vaults and garbage cans which are not flytight;

6. All noxious weeds and other rank growth of vegetation;

7. All domestic animals running at large;

8. The escape of any smoke, cinders, fly-ash, soot, fumes, dust, noxious gases, or other waste discharged from fuel burning equipment, internal combustion engines, premises, open fires, any stack or chimney, or from any other source which results in air pollution to a degree which causes injury, detriment, nuisance or annoyance to any considerable number of persons, or the public, or which endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of any such persons or the public, or which causes or has a natural tendency to cause injury or damage to business or property;

9. The escape or emission of smoke into open air from any stack or chimney, fuel burning equipment, internal combustion engine, premises, open fire, or any other source, the shade of which is equal to or greater than No. 2 of the Ringlemann Chart--the Ringlemann Chart, as published by the United States Bureau of Mines, is the standard by which the shade or density of smoke is measured for the purposes of this chapter--except as follows:

a. Smoke, the shade of density of which is equal to but not exceeding No. 2 of the Ringlemann Chart, may be emitted from a stack or chimney for a period not to exceed two minutes in any thirty (30) minute period.

b. When the fire-box or furnace, of which such stack or chimney is the outlet, is being cleaned out or a new fire is being built therein, in which case smoke the shade or density of which is equal to but does not exceed No. 3 of the Ringlemann Chart may be emitted for a continuous period not to exceed five minutes in any sixty (60) minute period.

c. The exception in this section covers only smoke, and is not meant to include cinders, fly-ash, soot, fumes, dust, noxious gases, or other waste;

10. The pollution of any public well or cistern, stream, lake, canal or other body of water by sewage, creamery or industrial wastes or other substances;

11. Any use of property, substances or things within the city emitting or causing any foul, offensive, noisome, nauseous, noxious or disagreeable odors, gases, effluvia or stenches extremely repulsive to the physical senses of ordinary persons which annoy, discomfort, injure or inconvenience the health of any appreciable number of persons within the city;

12. All abandoned wells not securely covered or secured from public use;

13. Any use of property which shall cause any nauseous or unwholesome liquid or substance to flow into or upon any street, gutter, alley, sidewalk or public place within the city;

14. The operation of a slaughterhouse or the commercial slaughtering of animals.

C. Public Nuisances Affecting Peace and Safety. The following acts, omissions, places, conditions and things are declared to be public nuisances affecting peace and safety, but such enumeration shall not be construed to exclude other nuisances affecting public peace or safety coming within the provisions of subsection A of this section:

1. All signs and billboards, awnings and other similar structures over or near streets, sidewalks, public grounds or places frequented by the public, so situated or constructed as to endanger the public safety;

2. All buildings erected, repaired or altered within the city in violation of the provisions of the ordinances of the city, relating to materials and manner of construction of buildings and structures within the district;

3. All unauthorized signs, signals, markings or devices placed or maintained upon or in view of any public highway or railway crossing which purport to be or may be mistaken as an official traffic control device, railroad sign or signal or which because of its color, location, brilliance or manner of operation interferes with the effectiveness of any such device, sign or signal;

4. All trees, hedges, billboards or other obstructions which prevent persons driving vehicles on public streets, alleys or highways from obtaining a clear view of traffic when approaching an intersection or pedestrian crosswalk;

5. All limbs of trees which project over and less than ten feet above the surface of a public sidewalk or street or other place;

6. All use or display of fireworks except as provided by the laws of the state of Wisconsin and ordinances of the city;

7. All buildings or structures so old, dilapidated or out of repair as to be dangerous, unsafe, unsanitary or otherwise unfit for human use;

8. All wires over streets, alleys or public grounds which are strung less than eighteen (18) feet above the surface thereof;

9. All loud, discordant and unnecessary noises or vibrations of any kind;

10. All obstructions of streets, alleys, sidewalks or crosswalks and all excavations in or under the same, except as permitted by the ordinances of the city or which, although made in accordance with such ordinances, are kept or maintained for an unreasonable or illegal length of time after the purpose thereof has been accomplished;

11. All open and unguarded pits, wells, excavations or unused basements freely accessible from any public street, alley or sidewalk;

12. All abandoned refrigerators, iceboxes or other containers which have air-tight doors from which the doors and other covers have not been removed or which are not equipped with a device for opening from the inside;

13. Any unauthorized or unlawful use of property abutting on a public street, alley or sidewalk or of a public street, alley or sidewalk which causes large crowds of people to gather, obstructing traffic and free use of the streets or sidewalks;

14. Repeated or continuous violations of the ordinances of the city or laws of the state of Wisconsin relating to the storage of flammable liquids;

15. All snow and ice not removed or sprinkled with ashes, sawdust or sand as provided in Section 12.08.090 of this code;

16. The keeping or harboring of any animal or fowl which, by frequent or habitual howling, yelping, barking, crowing or making of other noises shall greatly annoy or disturb a neighborhood or any considerable number of persons within the city. (Prior code § 9-1-2)