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Help & SupportChapter 6-5: Rodent Control16
6-5-1 Legislative Intent.17
The purpose of this chapter is to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by requiring owners and occupants of buildings and watercourses in the city to eradicate rats residing in and around such locations, eliminate rat harborage, and rat-proof structures in order to eliminate the serious health hazard presented by rats. It is also the purpose of this chapter to require measures to eliminate rodent harborage and infestation in commercial establishments where food is stored and to rodent-proof animal feed containers. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to limit the authority of the city manager or any designate of the manager to exercise authority under state or federal law to eradicate severe health hazards created by rodents other than rats.
The following terms used in this chapter have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Building" means any structure built for the support, shelter, or enclosure of persons, animals, or property of any kind.
"Occupant" means any person living in, sleeping in, possessing, or otherwise using any building or part thereof.
"Owner" means any person who, alone or jointly or severally with others, or in a representative capacity, including, without limitation, an authorized agent, executor, or trustee, has legal or equitable title to any building with or without actual possession thereof.
"Rat eradication" means the elimination or extermination of rats within and adjacent to buildings by any accepted measure, including, without limitation, poisoning, fumigating, or trapping.
"Rat harborage" means any plant growth, object, or structure that provides rats with shelter from the weather, protection from predators, or sites for nest building and rearing of young.
"Rat-proofing" means any form of construction to prevent the ingress of rats into buildings from the outside or from one building to another and consists of treatment with material impervious to rat gnawing of all actual or potential openings in exterior walls, ground or first floors, basements, roofs, and foundations that may be reached by rats from the ground, by climbing, or by burrowing.
"Rodent" means members of the order rodentia, including rats and mice in the family muridae, any other introduced rodents, and various native species such as field mice, voles, wood rats, ground and tree squirrels, chipmunks, and prairie dogs.
6-5-3 Buildings to be Rat-Proofed; Removal Prohibited; Rat Harborage Prohibited.
(a) No owner or occupant of a building shall fail to rat-proof it or to maintain such building and its adjacent premises free of rats or fail to repair all breaks or leaks in rat-proofing material.
(b) No owner of a ditch, drainage pond, lake, or other watercourse or body of water shall fail to eliminate harborage or food sources for rats or to eradicate rat infestation when it occurs on such property.
(c) No occupant or owner of any building or any contractor or other person shall remove ratproofing from any building and fail to restore it in a satisfactory condition, shall damage it without restoring it, or shall make any new openings that are not closed or sealed effectively against the entrance of rats.
(d) No person shall construct, repair, or remodel any building unless such construction, repair, or remodeling renders the building rat-proof as required by this chapter.
(a) The city manager may inspect the interior and exterior of buildings and their premises and ditches, drainage ponds, and other bodies of water and watercourses to determine whether they comply with the requirements of this chapter.
(b) If the city manager finds that any person has failed to rat-proof a building or maintain it in a rat-free condition, the manager shall notify the owner or occupant of the duty to rat-proof or to eradicate a rat infestation and that the owner or occupant has fifteen days in which to complete required rat-proofing measures or five days to complete rat eradication measures. The manager may extend the time limit if the owner or occupant shows good cause. Notice under this subsection is sufficient if it is deposited in the mail first class to the last known address of the property owner on the records of the Boulder County Assessor or to the occupant at the address of the subject property.
(c) If the person so notified fails to correct the violation as required by the notice prescribed by subsection (b) of this section, the city manager may cause the violation to be corrected and charge the costs thereof, plus an additional amount thereof up to $25.00 for administrative costs, to the person so notified.
(d) If a property owner fails or refuses to pay when due any charge imposed under this section, the city manager may, in addition to taking other collection remedies, certify due and unpaid charges, including interest, to the Boulder County Treasurer to be levied against the person's property for collection by the county in the same manner as delinquent general taxes upon such property are collected as provided by section 2-2-12, "City Manager May Certify Taxes, Charges, and Assessments to County Treasurer for Collection," B.R.C. 1981.
(e) In addition to other remedies prescribed by this chapter, when the city manager finds a violation of the requirements of this chapter, the manager may:
(1) Order commercial buildings or watercourses or bodies of water that are providing extensive harborage and food sources for rats closed until such conditions are abated by rat-proofing, rat eradication, and removal of harborage and food sources;
(2) If violations are not corrected within a period of thirty days or such additional time as the manager for good cause provides, institute proceedings to condemn and destroy the building in order to abate the nuisance;
(3) Seek such injunctive relief to eliminate the nuisance as the manager deems appropriate;
(4) In the case of a public health emergency, summarily abate the condition without prior notice to the owner or occupant; or
(5) Require that firewood, lumber, boxes, barrels, bottles, cans, and other containers and similar materials creating rat harborage be elevated at least eighteen inches above the ground.
(f) Before the city manager may take any of the steps provided in subsection (e) of this section, the manager shall notify the property owner or occupant of the duty to correct the violation. Notice under this subsection is sufficient if it is deposited in the mail first class to the last known address of the owner of property on the records of the Boulder County Assessor or to the occupant at the address of the subject property.
6-5-5 Rodent-Proofing of Food Storage Establishments and Animal Feed Containers.
(a) No person shall occupy any commercial building wherein food is to be stored, kept, handled, sold, or offered for sale unless such person takes construction measures to prevent the ingress of rodents into the building from the exterior or from one building to another by treating with material impervious to rodent gnawing all actual or potential openings in exterior walls, ground or first floors, basements, roofs, and foundations that may be reached by rodents from the ground, by climbing, or by burrowing.
(b) No person shall fail to store feed for chickens, cows, pigs, horses, and other animals in rodent-free and rodent-proof containers or rooms or a rodent-proof building.
6-5-6 City Manager Authorized to Issue Rules.
The city manager may adopt rules and regulations that the manager determines are reasonably necessary to implement the requirements of this chapter.
16 Adopted by Ordinance No. 4687. Derived from Ordinance No. 1697.
17 For regulation of accumulations of trash and rubble that attract animals or harbor rodents, see chapter 6-3, "Trash," B.R.C. 1981.