Cicero — Part II Ch. 46 Art. X Minimum Housing Code § 46-466

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Basement means a portion of a building located underground but having less than one-half its clear floor-to-ceiling height below the average grade of the adjoining ground.
Blighted area means any improved or vacant area within the boundaries of a redevelopment project area located within the territorial limits of the municipality where: (1)
If improved, industrial, commercial, and residential buildings or improvements are detrimental to the public safety, health, or welfare because of a combination of five or more of the following factors, each of which is: (i) present, with that presence documented, to a meaningful extent so that the Town or its designated official may reasonably find that the factor is clearly present; and (ii) reasonably distributed throughout the improved part of the blighted area:
a. Dilapidation. An advanced state of disrepair or neglect of necessary repairs to the primary structural components that major repair is required or the defects are so serious and so extensive that the building(s) must be removed.
b. Obsolescence. The condition or process of falling into disuse. Structures have become ill-suited for the original use.
c. Deterioration. With respect to buildings, defects including, but not limited to, major defects in the secondary building components such as doors, windows, porches, gutters and downspouts, and fascia. With respect to surface improvements, that the condition of roadways, alleys, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, off-street parking, and surface storage areas evidence deterioration, including, but not limited to, surface cracking, crumbling, potholes, depressions, loose paving material, and weeds protruding through paved surfaces.
d. Structure below minimum code of standards. A structure that does not meet standards of zoning, building, fire or other provisions of this Code applicable to the property.
e. Illegal use of individual structures. The use of structures in violation of applicable federal or state law, or in violation of this Code, exclusive of those applicable to the presence of structures below minimum Code standards.
f. Excessive vacancies. The building(s) are unoccupied or under-utilized and that represent an adverse influence on the area because of the frequency, extent, or duration of the vacancies.
g. Lack of ventilation, light, or sanitary facilities. The absence of adequate ventilation for light or air circulation in spaces or rooms without windows, or that require the removal of dust, odor, gas, smoke, or other noxious airborne materials. Inadequate natural light and ventilation means the absence of skylights or windows for interior spaces or rooms and improper window sizes and amounts by room area to window area ratios. Inadequate sanitary facilities refers to the absence or inadequacy of garbage storage and enclosure, bathroom facilities, hot water and kitchens, and structural inadequacies preventing ingress and egress to and from all rooms and units within a building.
h. Inadequate utilities. Underground and overhead utilities such as storm sewers and storm drainage, sanitary sewers, water lines, and gas, telephone, and electrical services that are shown to be inadequate. Inadequate utilities are those that are: (i) of insufficient capacity to serve their intended uses, or (ii) deteriorated, antiquated, obsolete, or in disrepair.
i. Excessive land coverage and overcrowding of structures and community facilities. The over-intensive use of property and the crowding of buildings and accessory facilities onto a site. Examples of problem conditions warranting the designation of an area as one exhibiting excessive land coverage are: (i) the presence of buildings either improperly situated on parcels or located on parcels of inadequate size and shape in relation to present-day standards of development for health and safety; and (ii) the presence of multiple buildings on a single parcel. For there to be a finding of excessive land coverage, these parcels must exhibit one or more of the following conditions: insufficient provision for light and air within or around buildings, increased threat of spread of fire due to the close proximity of buildings, lack of adequate or proper access to a public right-of-way, lack of reasonably required off-street parking, or inadequate provision for loading and service.
j. Deleterious land use or layout. The existence of incompatible land-use relationships, buildings occupied by inappropriate mixed-uses, or uses considered to be noxious, offensive, or unsuitable for the surrounding area.
k. Environmental clean-up. The area has incurred Illinois Environmental Protection Agency or United States Environmental Protection Agency remediation costs for, or a study conducted by an independent consultant recognized as having expertise in environmental remediation has determined a need for, the clean-up of hazardous waste, hazardous substances, or underground storage tanks required by state or federal law, provided that the remediation costs constitute a material impediment to the development or redevelopment of the blighted area.
l. Lack of community planning. The blighted area was developed prior to or without the benefit or guidance of a community plan. This means that the development occurred prior to the adoption by the Town of a comprehensive or other community plan or that the plan was not followed at the time of the area's development. This factor must be documented by evidence of adverse or incompatible land-use relationships, inadequate street layout, improper subdivision, parcels of inadequate shape and size to meet contemporary development standards, or other evidence demonstrating an absence of effective community planning.
m. The total equalized assessed value of the blighted area has declined for three of the last five calendar years prior to the year in which the blighted area is designated or is increasing at an annual rate that is less than the balance of the Town for three of the last five calendar years for which information is available or is increasing at an annual rate that is less than the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the United States Department of Labor or successor agency for three of the last five calendar years prior to the year in which the blighted area is designated.
(2) If vacant, the sound growth of the blighted area is impaired by a combination of two or more of the following factors, each of which is: (i) present, with that presence documented, to a meaningful extent so that a municipality may reasonably find that the factor is clearly present; and (ii) reasonably distributed throughout the vacant part of the blighted area to which it pertains:
a. Obsolete platting of vacant land that results in parcels of limited or narrow size or configurations of parcels of irregular size or shape that would be difficult to develop on a planned basis and in a manner compatible with contemporary standards and requirements, or platting that failed to create rights-of-ways for streets or alleys or that created inadequate right-of-way widths for streets, alleys, or other public rights-of-way or that omitted easements for public utilities.
b. Diversity of ownership of parcels of vacant land sufficient in number to retard or impede the ability to assemble the land for development.
c. Tax and special assessment delinquencies exist or the property has been the subject of tax sales under the Property Tax Code [35 ILCS 200/1 et seq.] within the last 5 years.
d. Deterioration of structures or site improvements in neighboring areas adjacent to the vacant land.
e. The area has incurred Illinois Environmental Protection Agency or United States Environmental Protection Agency remediation costs for, or a study conducted by an independent consultant recognized as having expertise in environmental remediation has determined a need for, the clean-up of hazardous waste, hazardous substances, or underground storage tanks required by state or federal law, provided that the remediation costs constitute a material impediment to the development or redevelopment of the blighted area.
f. The total equalized assessed value of the blighted area has declined for three of the last five calendar years prior to the year in which the blighted area is designated or is increasing at an annual rate that is less than the balance of the Town for three of the last five calendar years for which information is available or is increasing at an annual rate that is less than the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the United States Department of Labor or successor agency for three of the last five calendar years prior to the year in which the blighted area is designated.
(3) If vacant, the sound growth of the blighted area is impaired by one of the following factors that: (i) is present, with that presence documented, to a meaningful extent so that the Town may reasonably find that the factor is clearly present; and (ii) is reasonably distributed throughout the vacant part of the blighted area to which it pertains:
a. The area consists of one or more unused quarries, mines, or strip mine ponds.
b. The area consists of unused rail yards, rail tracks, or railroad rights-of-way.
c. The area, prior to its designation, is subject to: (i) chronic flooding that adversely impacts on real property in the area as certified by a registered professional engineer or appropriate regulatory agency; or (ii) surface water that discharges from all or a part of the area and contributes to flooding within the same watershed.
d. The area consists of an unused or illegal disposal site containing earth, stone, building debris, or similar materials that were removed from construction, demolition, excavation, or dredge sites.
e. The area is not less than 50 nor more than 100 acres and 75 percent of which is vacant, and the area meets at least one of the factors itemized in paragraph (1) of this subsection, the area has been designated as a town center by ordinance or comprehensive plan adopted prior to January 1, 1982, and the area has not been developed for that designated purpose.
f. The area qualified as a blighted improved area immediately prior to becoming vacant, unless there has been substantial private investment in the immediately surrounding area.
Notwithstanding any provision of this Code to the contrary, the foregoing provisions shall serve as the Town's definition of blight for purposes of Title 24, Part 570 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Cellar means a portion of a building located partly or wholly underground and having one-half or more than one-half of its clear floor-to-ceiling height below the average grade of the adjoining ground.
Dwelling means any building wholly or partly used or intended to be used as the living quarters for one or more families.
Dwelling unit means any room or group of rooms located within a dwelling providing complete living facilities to one family, including equipment for cooking or provisions for cooking and including rooms for living, sleeping and eating.
Extermination means the control and elimination of insects, rodents, or other pests by eliminating their harborage places; by removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by poisoning, spraying, fumigating, trapping; or by any other recognized and legal pest elimination methods approved by the health department.
Family means a single individual, doing his own cooking, and living upon the premises as a separate housekeeping unit, or a collective body of persons doing their own cooking and living together upon the premises as a separate housekeeping unit in a domestic relationship based upon birth, marriage, or other domestic bond, as distinguished from a group occupying a boardinghouse, lodginghouse, club, fraternity or hotel.
Garbage means the animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
Habitable room means a room or enclosed floor space used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking, or eating purposes, excluding bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, pantries, foyers, or communicating corridors, closets, and storage spaces.
Infestation means the presence, within or around a dwelling, of any insects, rodents or other pests.
Multiple dwelling means any dwelling containing more than two dwelling units.
Occupant means any person, over one year of age, living, sleeping, cooking, or eating in or having actual possession of a dwelling unit or rooming unit.
Operator means any person who has charge, care, or control of a building or part thereof in which dwelling units or rooming units are let.
Ordinary minimum winter conditions means the temperature 15 degrees Fahrenheit above the lowest recorded temperature for the previous ten-year period.
Owner means any person who, alone or jointly or severally with another, shall have: (1)
Legal title or beneficial interest in any dwelling or dwelling unit, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof; or
(2) Charge, care, or control of any dwelling or dwelling unit, as owner or agent of the owner or as executor, administrator, trustee or guardian of the owner. Any guardian of the estate of the such person thus representing the actual owner shall be bound to comply with this article and rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this article to the same extent as if he were the owner.
Plumbing means and includes all of the following supplied facilities and equipment: gas pipes, gas burning equipment, water pipes, garbage disposal units, water cooled weather conditioning units, waste pipes, water closets, sinks, installed dishwashers, lavatories, bathtubs, showerbaths, installed clothes washing machines, catchbasins, drains, vents and any other similar supplied fixtures, together with all connections to water, sewer, or gas lines.
Rooming unit means any room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping but not for cooking or eating purposes.
Roominghouse means any dwelling or that part of any dwelling, containing one or more rooming units, in which space is let by the owner or operator to three or more persons who are not related to the owner or operator thereof.
Rubbish means combustible and noncombustible waste materials, except garbage, and the term includes the residue from the burning of wood, coal, coke, and other combustible material; paper; rags; cartons; boxes; wood; excelsior; rubber; leather; tree branches; yard trimmings; tin cans; metals; mineral matter; glass; crockery; dust; or any object that is removed from the things that are worthless or unsuitable for immediate purposes.
Supplied means those items paid for, furnished or provided by or under the control of the owner or operator.
Cross reference-- Definitions generally, § 1-2 .