§ 13-231. Definitions.

(a)

The following words and phrases shall have the meanings indicated:

(1)

Director shall mean the Director of the Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement.

(2)

Garbage shall mean the animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, or consumption of food.

(2.1)

Graffiti shall mean any inscription, drawing, painting, or other visual defacing that is written, marked, etched, scratched, painted, or engraved on or otherwise affixed to any surface of a building, structure, roadway, or natural feature that was not authorized by the prior consent of the owner.

(3)

Maintenance shall mean acts of repair or other acts to prevent a decline in the conditions of grounds, structures, and equipment such that the condition does not fall below the standards established by this Division and other applicable statutes, codes, and ordinances.

(4)

Owner shall mean any person as defined in Section 1-102 of this Code who owns, leases, occupies, or controls the property and any agent of such person.

(5)

Property shall mean any land utilized or zoned for commercial or industrial purposes, or residentially zoned where the use is other than residential, and any improvement thereon.

(6)

Public nuisance shall mean and include the following:

(A)

The physical condition or use of any premises regarded as a public nuisance at law; or

(B)

Any physical condition or use of any premises or its appurtenances which may reasonably invite or encourage trespassing and resulting injury to trespassers or others; or

(C)

Any property which has unsanitary sewerage or plumbing facilities; or

(D)

Any physical condition or use which would constitute an unsafe condition or structure under Subtitle 4, Building, or Subtitle 11, Fire Safety, Prince George's County Code;

(E)

Any property from which the plumbing, heating, and/or facilities required by the Prince George's County Code or by other applicable laws or regulations have been removed, or from which facilities have been disconnected, destroyed, removed, or rendered ineffective; or

(F)

Any property which is unclean, unsanitary, or which is littered with rubbish or garbage or which has an uncontrolled growth of weeds.

(7)

Rubbish shall mean all solid waste consisting of both combustible waste (including, but not limited to, paper, cardboard, wood, cloth, bedding material, lawn and yard clippings not located in an established compost pile, and dead trees and limbs to include any hazardous or uprooted trees) and noncombustible waste (including, but not limited to, metals, glass, crockery, tin cans, junked appliances, abandoned vehicles, and any building and construction waste). For the purposes of this ordinance, abandoned vehicle shall mean any motor vehicle or trailer that is inoperable and left unattended on private or public property for more than forty-eight (48) hours, or does not display current license plates for that vehicle, is wrecked or dismantled.

(8)

Tree shall mean a plant with a woody stem capable of achieving a height of at least twenty (20) feet at maturity.

(9)

Weeds shall mean grass, weeds, brush, and growth, excluding trees, ornamental shrubbery, plants, flowers, garden vegetables properly tended, cultivated crops, or woodland, not otherwise in violation.

(10)

Woodland shall mean a perpetual biological community dominated by trees and other woody plants covering a land area of 10,000 square feet or greater. This includes areas that have at least 100 trees per acre with at least 50 trees that are 2 inches or greater in dbh (diameter at breast height — means the diameter of a tree measured at a height of 4.5 feet from the ground). This also includes areas that have been timber harvested where the stumps remain in place for future regeneration. The terms "woodland," "forest," and "forest cover" are synonymous and do not include orchards or other areas without multiple layers of woody and herbaceous vegetation.

(CB-125-1987; CB-117-1993; CB-103-2001; CB-30-2010; CB-18-2013)