Green Bay Chapter 24 Ordinance Summary

Informational Only: Public/Chronic Nuisance Ordinance Overview

Property owners are legally responsible for properly maintaining/managing their properties.

If a public/chronic nuisance exists, under Green Bay City Ordinance Chapter 24, the property owner may be subject to the following:

Citation(s) for Maintaining a Public Nuisance, with fines up to $2,518 per incident for each day the nuisance continues.
Bill(s) for police services at the property due to failure to eliminate the nuisance activity. If not paid, the bill amounts may be assessed as a special charge against the premises.
Additional legal action against the owner/property by the City through Circuit Court.

Billing Property Owners

The second section of Chapter 24 allows the city to recover the costs of police services from the property owner under certain circumstances. The procedure is as follows:

The property is deemed a chronic nuisance.
The owner is notified via a formal letter, sent certified mailed, and is ordered to appear for an abatement hearing on a given date/time.
If the owner does not make a bona fide effort to follow the abatement plan, the City of Green Bay may bill the owner for any additional nuisance police calls to that property.

Deeming a Property a Chronic Nuisance

property may be deemed a chronic nuisance when there have been three or more separate police responses resulting in enforcement action (written warning, citation, or arrest) due to the following types of violations within any 12-month period:

Alcohol violations
Animal violations
Arson
Battery
Disorderly conduct
Execution of warrants
Gambling
Harassment
Illegal drug activity
Inspection-related calls in which the police department responds
Lewd and lascivious behavior
Noise violations
Obstructing/resisting
Possession of stolen property
Prostitution
Theft
Trespassing
Weapons violations

It should further be noted that calls generated by the property owner are exempt and will not be counted.

Working with Property Owners

The City of Green Bay and the Green Bay Police Department strive to work cooperatively with property owners in resolving problems at properties. Legal action as mentioned above is only used when there is no other resolution to a situation. Please do not hesitate to contact the community police officer for your area.