[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Rockaway as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 10-14-1971 by Ord. No. 5-71 as Ch. 1 of the 1971 Code of Ordinances; amended in its entirety 11-14-1991 by Ord. No. 22-91]
A. 
In the construction of this Code and of all ordinances, the rules and definitions set out in this section shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the Borough Council. The rules of construction and definitions set out herein shall not be applied to any section of this Code which shall contain any express provision excluding such construction or where the subject matter or context of such section may be repugnant thereto.
B. 
Generally. All general provisions, terms, phrases and expressions contained in this Code shall be liberally construed in order that the true intent and meaning of the Borough Council may be fully carried out.
C. 
In the interpretation and application of any provisions of this Code, they shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience and general welfare. Where any provision of the Code imposes greater restrictions upon the subject matter than the general provision imposed by the Code, the provision imposing the greater restriction or regulation shall be deemed to be controlling.
D. 
Gender. Words of the masculine gender may include the feminine.
E. 
Joint authority. Words giving authority to three or more persons authorize a majority to act, when the enactment does not otherwise determine.
F. 
Nontechnical and technical words. Words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of the language, but technical words and phrases and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be construed and understood according to such meaning.
G. 
Number. Words of the singular number may include the plural; and words of the plural number may include the singular.
H. 
Officials, boards, commissions. Whenever reference is made to officials, boards or commissions by title only, i.e., "Borough Council," "Borough Clerk," "the Mayor," etc., they shall be deemed to refer to the officials, boards and commissions of the Borough of Rockaway.
I. 
Shall. The word "shall" is mandatory.
J. 
Tense. Words used in the past or present tense include the future as well as the past or present
K. 
As used in this Code, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
BOROUGH
The Borough of Rockaway in the County of Morris, New Jersey.
BOROUGH COUNCIL or COUNCIL
The Borough Council of the Borough of Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey.
COMPUTATION OF TIME
Whenever a notice is required to be given or an act to be done a certain length of time before any proceeding shall be had, the day on which such notice is given or such act is done shall not be counted in computing the time. The last day of the period so computed is to be included, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday (as defined in this Code), in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is neither a Saturday, Sunday nor legal holiday. In computing a period of time of less than seven days, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays shall be excluded.
CONSTRUCTION CODE OFFICIAL
Wherein this Code reference is made to the "Construction Official" or "Construction Code Official" or to "Building Inspector," the same shall be deemed to mean the Construction Code Official appointed by the Mayor and Council pursuant to the Uniform Construction Code of the State of New Jersey holding the requisite licenses for such position. Such person shall be the enforcing agent under the applicable provisions of this Code where reference is made to the "Construction Official" or "Building Inspector," as the context of any provision of this Code shall require.
[Added 9-2-2004 by Ord. No. 08-04[1]]
CORPORATE OR BOROUGH LIMITS
The legal boundaries of the Borough of Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey.
COUNTY
Morris County in the State of New Jersey.
DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY
Whenever a position appears requiring the head of a department or some other Borough officer to do some act or perform some duty, it is to be construed to authorize the head of the department or other officer to designate, delegate and authorize subordinates to perform the required act or perform the duty unless the terms of the provision or section specify otherwise.
MAYOR
The Mayor of the Borough.
MONTH
A calendar month.
OATH
Includes an affirmation, when affirmation is allowed; and the word "sworn" includes "affirmed." Affirmation is allowed when a person required to be sworn is conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath.
OWNER
When applied to a building or land, includes any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common or joint tenant of the whole or of a part of such building or land.
PERSON
May include a body corporate.
PERSONAL PROPERTY
Includes every species of property except real property, as herein described.
PRECEDING and FOLLOWING
Next before and next after, respectively.
PROPERTY
Includes real and personal property.
REAL PROPERTY
Includes lands, tenements and hereditaments.
SIDEWALK
That portion of a street intended for the use of pedestrians between the curbline or the lateral line of a shoulder or, if none, the lateral line of the paved street and the adjacent right-of-way line.
SIGNATURE or SUBSCRIPTION
Includes a mark when the person cannot write.
STATE
The State of New Jersey.
STREET
The entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. The term shall embrace streets, avenues, boulevards, roads, alleys, lanes, viaducts and all other public ways in the Borough.
TENANT or OCCUPANT
When applied to a building or land, includes any person holding a written or oral lease or who occupies the whole or a part of such buildings or land, either alone or with others.
WRITTEN or IN WRITING
Includes any representation of words, letters or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
YEAR
A calendar year, unless otherwise expressed.
[1]
Editor’s Note: This ordinance also provided that the power to enforce the applicable provisions of the Code by the Construction Code Officials shall also grant to the Construction Code Official the power to appoint such other Borough official or Borough employee or duly appointed Borough professional contractors as the agent of the Construction Code Official for the purpose of the enforcement of the applicable provisions of the Code.
[Amended 8-24-2006 by Ord. No. 15-06]
Whenever in this Code or in any ordinance of the Borough any act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense or whenever in such Code or ordinance the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or an offense or where no specific penalty is provided therefor, the violation of any provision of this Code or any ordinance shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $2,000 or 90 days in jail or 90 days' community service, all in the discretion of the Court. Each day any violation of any provision of this Code or of any ordinance shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
[Adopted 11-14-1991 by Ord. No. 22-91]
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:49-4, the ordinances of the Borough of Rockaway of a general and permanent nature adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Rockaway, as revised, codified and consolidated into chapters and sections by General Code Publishers Corp., and consisting of Chapters 1 through and including 247, together with an Appendix, are hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as the "Code of the Borough of Rockaway," which shall hereinafter be known and referred to as the "Code."
This ordinance and the entire Code shall supersede all general and permanent ordinances enacted prior to the enactment of this Code, except such ordinances as are hereinafter expressly saved from repeal or continued in force.
All provisions of this ordinance and the Code shall be in full force and effect on and after November 14, 1991.
A copy of the Code in loose-leaf form has been filed in the office of the Borough Clerk and shall remain there for use and examination by the public until final action is taken on this ordinance; and, if this ordinance shall be adopted, such copy shall be certified to by the Clerk of the Borough of Rockaway by impressing thereon the Seal of the Borough, as provided by law, and such certified copy shall remain on file in the office of the Clerk of the Borough to be made available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times while said Code is in effect.
Any and all additions, amendments or supplements to the Code, when passed and adopted in such form as to indicate the intent of the governing body to make them a part thereof, shall be deemed to be incorporated into such Code so that reference to the "Code of the Borough of Rockaway" shall be understood and intended to include such additions and amendments. Whenever such additions, amendments or supplements to the Code shall be adopted, they shall thereafter be printed and, as provided hereunder, inserted in the loose-leaf book containing the said Code as amendments and supplements thereto.
The Clerk of the Borough of Rockaway, pursuant to law, shall cause to be published in the manner required a copy of this Adopting Ordinance in a newspaper of general circulation in the Borough. Sufficient copies of the Code shall be maintained in the office of the Borough Clerk for inspection by the public at all times during regular office hours. The enactment and application of this Adopting Ordinance, coupled with the availability of copies of the Code for inspection by the public, shall be deemed, held and considered to be due and legal publication of all provisions of the Code for all purposes.
It shall be the duty of the Borough Clerk, or a person or persons authorized and directed by said Clerk, to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the book containing the Code required to be filed in the Clerk's office for the use of the public. All changes in said Code and all ordinances adopted subsequent to the effective date of this codification which shall be adopted specifically as part of the Code shall, when finally adopted, be included therein by reference until such changes or new ordinances are printed as supplements to said Code book, at which time such supplements shall be inserted therein.
Copies of the book containing the Code may be purchased from the Clerk upon the payment of fee to be set from time to time by resolution of the Mayor and Council, which may also arrange, by resolution, for the procedures for the periodic supplementation thereof.
[Amended 8-24-2006 by Ord. No. 15-06]
It shall be unlawful for anyone to improperly change or amend, by additions or deletions, any part or portion of the Code, or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever, which will cause the law of the Borough of Rockaway to be misrepresented thereby. Anyone violating this section of this ordinance shall be subject, upon conviction, to a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $2,000 or to imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both, in the discretion of the Judge imposing the same.
Each section of the Code, and every part of each section, is an independent section or part of a section, and the holding of any section or a part thereof to be unconstitutional, void or ineffective for any cause shall not be deemed to affect the validity or constitutionality of any other section or part thereof.
Each section of this ordinance is an independent section, and the holding on any section or part thereof to be unconstitutional, void or ineffective for any cause shall not be deemed to affect the validity or constitutionality of any other sections or parts thereof.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances of a general and permanent nature, adopted and in force on the date of the adoption of this ordinance, and not contained in the Code, are hereby repealed as of the effective date of this Adopting Ordinance, except as hereinafter saved from repeal.
The adoption of this Code and the repeal of ordinances provided for in § 1-14 of this ordinance shall not affect the following ordinances, rights and obligations, which are hereby expressly saved from repeal:
A. 
Any ordinance adopted subsequent to March 28, 1991 (Ordinance No. 5-71).
B. 
Any right or liability established, accrued or incurred under any legislative provision prior to the effective date of this ordinance, or any action or proceeding brought for the enforcement of such right or liability.
C. 
Any offense or act committed or done before the effective date of this ordinance in violation of any legislative provision, or any penalty, punishment or forfeiture which may result therefrom.
D. 
Any prosecution, indictment, action, suit or other proceeding pending or any judgment rendered prior to the effective date of this ordinance brought pursuant to any legislative provision.
E. 
Any franchise, license, right, easement or privilege heretofore granted or conferred.
F. 
Any ordinance providing for the laying out, opening, altering, widening, relocating, straightening, establishing grade, changing name, improvement, acceptance or vacation of any right-of-way, easement, street, road, highway, park or other public place, or any portion thereof.
G. 
Any ordinance or resolution appropriating money or transferring funds, promising or guaranteeing the payment of money or authorizing the issuance and delivery of any bond or other instruments or evidence of the Borough's indebtedness.
H. 
Ordinances authorizing the purchase, sale, lease or transfer of property, or any lawful contract or obligation,
I. 
The levy or imposition of taxes, assessments or charges,
J. 
The dedication of property or approval of preliminary or final subdivision plats.
K. 
All currently effective ordinances pertaining to the rate and manner of payment of salaries and compensation of officers and employees.
L. 
Any legislation pertaining to land development
M. 
Any legislation pertaining to Fire Department Rules and Regulations.
A. 
In compiling and preparing the ordinances for adoption and revision as part of the Code pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:49-4, certain grammatical changes and other minor changes were made in one or more of said ordinances. It is the intention of the Mayor and Council that all such changes be adopted as part of the Code as if the ordinances so changed had been previously formally amended to read as such.
B. 
Throughout the Code, all references to the "Magistrate" are hereby amended to refer to the "Judge of the Municipal Court"
C. 
The following changes, amendments or revisions are made herewith, to become effective upon the effective date of this ordinance. (Unless otherwise noted, chapter and section number references for revisions and additions are to the ordinances as they have been renumbered and appear in the Code. References to deleted sections and articles relate to the 1971 Code of Ordinances of the Borough of Rockaway, as subsequently amended from to time.)[1]
[1]
Editor's Note:
A. Pursuant to § 1-16C, the following chapters, articles and sections were amended: Ch. 1, Art. I, §§ 17-3, 17-5B, 39-2, 39-4, 61-5A, 61-20, 61-21, 61-26, 61-31, 61-38, 61-47A, 61-60, 61-63, 61-69, 61-76A, 77-2, 91-3, 91-5, 91-6, 91-12, 91-21, 95-3A, 101-1, Ch. 105, §§ 115-3A, 115-4, 115-5C, 121-2B and C, 121-3M, 121-4B, 121-7D, 121-13, 121-21A, 131-2, Ch. 135, §§  139-7A, 139-10E, 139-15A, 139-19, 145-2, 149-1, 149-19, 153-4, 179-2, 183-9, 193-5, 193-17, 197-5, 197-19, 197-21, 197-34A, 203-7, 221-10, 231-4, 241-3A, 241-7B(1), 241-8B, 241-61, 247-13, 247-24B and E, 247-25, 247-28, 247-33 and 247-43.
B. Pursuant to § 1-16C, the following original sections were deleted: Ord. No. 4-78, Secs. 3 and 4; Ord. No. 8-75, Sec. 2-18; Ord. No. 1-77, Sec. 2-38; Ord. No. 5-71, Secs. 4-28, 4-30, 17-1 (definition of loitering), 17-3, 17-5, 17-11, 17-12, 17-14, 17-15, 17-16, 17-21 and 19-166; Ord. No. 14-88, Sec. V; and Ord. No. 17-76, Sec. 9-8.
C. Pursuant to § 1-16C, the following articles and sections were added: §§ 55-19, 55-21, 61-9 and Ch. 61, Arts. XIV and XV.
D. Pursuant to § 1-16C, Chapter 109, Buildings, Unsafe, is hereby amended to change "health officer" to "public officer" in all sections except § 109-4.
D. 
A copy of the complete text of each new ordinance, as well as each ordinance which has been amended or deleted, shall be filed in the office of the Borough Clerk, there to remain for the use and examination of the general public until final action is taken on this Adopting Ordinance and thereafter while same is in effect.