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SUBJECTS › LEGAL › NUISANCES › Nuisances - Unsightly Areas "Clean City" Ordinances
Updated 06/09

Nuisances - Unsightly Areas

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About Unsightly Areas

Excessive amounts of rubbish, overgrown vegetation, and objects accumulated on private property are usually regulated as "public nuisances" by cities and counties. However, there is a limit on how far a city or county may go in regard to regulating "unsightly areas." It is an open question in this state whether our courts would uphold an ordinance if the regulation is based purely on aesthetic grounds. Washington court cases, such as Lenci v. City of Seattle , 63 Wn.2d 664 (1964) and Duckworth v. City of Bonney Lake , 91 Wn.2d 19 (1978) indicate that municipal regulations may be based in part on aesthetic considerations. However, these cases seem to imply that there must also be public health, safety, or welfare issues in order to justify a municipal regulation under the police power. Ordinances must indicate a public health and safety concern as a justification for the regulation of unsightly areas as nuisances. However, such conditions as peeling paint on a house, cracked windows, or fences in disrepair may be difficult to regulate unless there is a true public health and safety concern involved. If a building actually constitutes an unsafe structure, then there does exist statutory authority for a city to regulate and abate the building.

Ordinances allowing local authorities to undertake clean-up on private property where the property owner fails to do so and recover costs from the property owner (including placing a lien on the property if necessary) are limited to situations where the unsightly debris becomes a public nuisance or safety hazard. The procedural requirements of RCW 35.21.310 must be followed. Legal counsel should be sought about the legal sufficiency of the definition of "unsightly areas" as a public nuisance and the procedural requirements of RCW 35.21.310.

Accumulation of Machinery and Junk

  • Leavenworth Ordinance No. 1138 Prohibiting the Accumulation of Junk, Garbage or Debris on Private Property (adopted 7/11/00)
  • Tacoma Municipal Code Section 8.30.040(C) (5) and (6) ( 1 MB) -   Nuisances Specifically Defined -   (C) (5) All places used or maintained as dumps, junk yards, or automobile or machinery disassembly yards or buildings, not licensed and/or located in an improper use zone, or which are operating outside of specific conditions set forth for the operation of such businesses. (C)(6) Inoperable, abandoned, disassembled, or dilapidated appliances, machinery, or vehicles. These provisions shall not apply to vehicle storage areas as defined in Chapter 13.06.... (Ord. 27002 § 2; passed Nov. 12, 2002)

Accumulation of Trash see also Litter

  • Grandview Municipal Code Section 8.24.020 -  Nuisances Designated - B.Unsightly Areas – Property Maintenance and Vegetation.
  • Lynnwood Ordinance No. 2284 (Adobe Acrobat Document 796 KB) - Remedies for maintaining a nuisance or failure to remove accumulations of refuse, 11-99 
  • Mercer Island Municipal Code Section 8.24.020 ( I.6.-7) - Nuisance Control Code  - ( I.) The erecting, maintaining, using, placing, depositing, leaving or permitting to be or remain in or upon any private lot, building, structure or premises, or in or upon any street, alley, sidewalk, park, parkway or other public or private place in the city, any one or more of the following disorderly, disturbing, unsanitary, fly-producing, rat-harboring, disease-causing places, conditions or things:  (6.) Any inherently offensive or dangerous accumulation of bottles, cans, glass, ashes, paper or paper products, small pieces of scrap iron, wire, metal articles, household appliances, bric-a-brac or cement, broken concrete, broken glass, broken plaster and all such trash or abandoned material unless it is kept in approved covered bins or appropriate containers, ( 7.) Any trash, litter, rags, accumulations of empty barrels, boxes, crates, packing cases, mattresses, bedding, excelsior, packing hay, straw or other packing materials, lumber not neatly piled, scrap iron, tin or other metal not neatly piled, or anything whatsoever in which flies or rats may breed or multiply or which may be a fire hazard;.... (Ord. 499 § 1, 1980; Ord. 486 § 1, 1979).
  • Mountlake Terrace Municipal Code Section 18.15.040(G-I)  - Covers:  G. Garbage, Recyclables, and Compost. In  addition to the regulations in Chapter 13.10; H. Furniture and Appliances, I. Debris and Trash. ..(Ord. 2292 § 1, 2001).
  • Port Angeles Municipal Code Section 8.04.030 (C.) The depositing, leaving or throwing away of any junk, litter or refuse within the City for an unreasonable length of time beyond what is necessary for proper disposal, which length of time shall be not less than thirty (30) days, except at the City Landfill or in covered containers or receptacles acceptable to the enforcement officer of the City....(Ord. 3014 §1 (part), 3/26/99; Ord. 2469 §1, 1/22/88)

  • Tacoma Municipal Code Section 8.30.040 (C)(4) ( 1 MB) -  Nuisances Specifically Defined -  (C)(4)  An accumulation of garbage, litter, debris, rubble, hazardous waste, or blight, which includes, but is not limited to, improperly stored bottles, cans, paper, glass, plastic, cardboard, auto parts, tires, scrap metal, scrap wood, discarded or broken appliances, furniture, equipment, bicycles or parts thereof, barrels, boxes, crates, pallets, mattresses, clothing, household goods, construction materials, lumber, metal, improperly piled or stored firewood, or anything in which flies may breed or multiply, which provides harborage for rats or other vermin, or which may be a fire hazard.... (Ord. 27002 § 2; passed Nov. 12, 2002)

Accumulation of Vehicles  See Junk Vehicles

Storage of Miscellaneous Items

Provisions related to the storage vary in terms of time, purpose and whether or not items stored are in public view. Similar provisions appear in both highly urban and more rural settings.  The ultimate goals is to seek ways to enhance the quality of life for their communities.

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