Document Citation: Tex. Health & Safety Code § 343.011

Header:

Texas Annotated Statutes
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
TITLE 5. SANITATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
SUBTITLE A. SANITATION
CHAPTER 343. ABATEMENT OF PUBLIC NUISANCES
SUBCHAPTER B. PUBLIC NUISANCE PROHIBITED


Date:
08/31/2009

Document:

§ 343.011. Public Nuisance

(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.