Ohio Code 765.02 – Noncriminal land use infractions ordinance
(A) A municipal corporation within the jurisdiction of the environmental division of a municipal court may enact an ordinance stating that specified land use infractions shall not be considered a criminal offense for any purpose if a ticket is issued for the specific land use infraction under Chapter 765 of the Revised Code, that a person who commits any infraction specified on the ticket shall not be arrested as a result of the commission of the infraction, and that ticketed infractions shall be handled pursuant to this chapter. Adoption of an ordinance under this section does not preclude the enforcement of any land use infraction code, ordinance, resolution, or regulation in any manner otherwise provided by law as long as no ticket is issued under this chapter, but instead provides an additional method of enforcing such laws.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 765.02
- Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Land use infraction: means a violation of any municipal zoning code provisions that regulate parking on private property, a motor vehicle service or repair business in residential districts, or signage and other graphics displays, and any municipal ordinance, resolution, or other regulation dealing with the display of house numbers on buildings. See Ohio Code 765.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
(B) Each municipal corporation that enacts an ordinance under this section shall adopt a ticket to be used by its law enforcement officers in all cases in which a person is issued a ticket for committing a land use infraction in its jurisdiction. This ticket shall consist of two parts. The first part shall be notice of the land use infraction charged, and shall include the information specified in division (A) of section 765.03 of the Revised Code. The notice shall specify a reasonable time period within which the infraction must be corrected or a summons and complaint will be served. The first part of the ticket shall also state that if the person corrects the infraction within the specified time period, the ticket will be voided. The second part of the ticket shall be the summons and complaint for purposes of this chapter, to be issued if the infraction is not corrected within the time period specified in the first part of the ticket. The second part of each ticket shall contain provisions that advise the person upon whom it is served that the person must answer in relation to the infraction charged in the ticket and that certain civil penalties may result from a failure to timely answer, indicate that the person will be afforded a hearing if the person denies in the answer that the person committed the infraction, specify the entity to which, the time within which, and the allowable manners in which the answer must be made, indicate the penalties that may result from failure to timely answer and the fine that arises from the land use infraction, warn that failure to timely answer or to appear at a requested hearing will be considered an admission of the land use infraction, and warn that a default civil judgment potentially may be entered against the person.