[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of
the City of Albany 7-18-1983 by L.L. No. 2-1983 as Ch. XXV, Art. II,
of the 1983 Code; amended in its entirety 4-5-2021 by L.L. No. 7-2021.[1] Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: Prior amendments were adopted 4-7-1986.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms shall have
the meanings indicated:
All-terrain vehicles (sometimes known as "ATVs") as that
term in defined in § 2281, Subdivision 1, of the New York
State Vehicle and Traffic Law, off-highway motorcycles as that term
is defined in § 125-a of the New York State Vehicle and
Traffic Law, motocross or dirt bikes, dune buggies, go-carts and any
and all other types of motorized trail bikes or vehicles that are
manufactured for sale or operation primarily on off-highway trails
or for off-highway competitions and are only incidentally operated
on public highways. Nothing contained herein, however, shall be deemed
to apply to or prohibit the use of bicycles.
To ride in or on, other than as a passenger, or use or control
the operation of, an off-road vehicle in any manner, whether or not
said off-road vehicle is underway.
Any highway, road, alley, street, avenue, public place, public
driveway, or any other public way.
A.
Public property. No person shall operate an off-road vehicle on a
public highway or on any public property in the City of Albany.
B.
Private property. No person shall operate an off-road vehicle off
a public highway on private property in the City of Albany unless
such person has first obtained the express consent of the owner or
occupant of such property to operate the off-road vehicle on the property.
There shall be a rebuttable presumption that the operator of an off-road
vehicle on private property in the City of Albany lacks consent to
operate the off-road vehicle on private property.
B.
In addition to the penalties set forth in Subsection A of this section, a police officer may immediately impound an off-road vehicle that has been operated in violation of § 357-2A or B of this chapter. Such impounded off-road vehicle shall be stored by the pertinent Police Department or enforcement agency pending the identification of the owner of such off-road vehicle as registered with the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Such title owner shall be sent notice of such impoundment at the address on file with the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles by certified mail within five days after the impoundment. Neither the Police Department impounding such off-road vehicle, nor the City of Albany, nor any agent or employee thereof, shall be liable for any damages arising out of the provision of an erroneous name or address of such owner. The owner of the off-road vehicle operated in violation of § 357-2A or B of this chapter may redeem such off-road vehicle upon satisfactory proof of ownership and payment of a redemption fee of $2,350. An off-road vehicle impounded under this subsection shall only be released to the owner of such off-road vehicle, or to such owner's agent as evidenced by a written, notarized proof of agency, or duly executed power of attorney.
The Chief of Police is charged with the enforcement of the provisions
of this chapter.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this chapter or
application thereof to any person or circumstances shall be judged
by any court to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair
or invalidate the remainder thereof or the application thereof to
other persons and circumstances but shall be confined in its operation
to the clause, sentence, paragraph or part thereof and the persons
or circumstances directly involved in the controversy in which the
judgment shall have been rendered.
