Township of Florence, NJ General Provisions

Definitions. For the purposes of this Code and in the interpretation and application of all other ordinances heretofore or hereafter adopted, except as the context may otherwise require, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

ADMINISTRATOR

The Business Administrator duly appointed pursuant to the Charter and Chapter 4, Administration of Government, or any Assistant or Acting Administrator serving in place of the Business Administrator pursuant to the Charter or this Code.

CHARTER

Mayor-Council Plan F of Chapter 210 of the New Jersey Laws of 1950, N.J.S.A. 40:69A-1 et seq., as amended and supplemented, and any and all statutory provisions of the State of New Jersey as may be lawfully applicable to the municipality.

CLERK

The Municipal Clerk duly appointed pursuant to the Charter or Chapter 4, Administration of Government.

COUNCIL

The local legislative body of the municipality constituted and elected pursuant to the Charter.

DEPARTMENT

An organizational unit of the municipal government established or designated by or pursuant to Chapter 4, Administration of Government, as a "department," and any agency or instrumentality of the municipal government not allocated or signed within such organizational unit.

DIRECTOR

The administrative head of a department.

GOVERNING BODY

The Township Council, as constituted under the Charter.

MONTH

A calendar month, unless otherwise specifically provided.

MUNICIPALITY

The Township of Florence in the County of Burlington, State of New Jersey, and any corporate successor thereof.

ORDINANCE

Any act of local legislation heretofore or hereafter adopted, so long as it remains in force and effect pursuant to law.

PERSON

Any corporation, firm, partnership, association, organization or other entity, as well as an individual.

YEAR

A calendar year, unless otherwise specifically provided.

Word usage. For the purposes of this Code and any other ordinances which were heretofore or are hereafter adopted, except as the context may otherwise require:

(1)

The present tense includes the past and future tenses; and the future tense includes the present.

(2)

Whenever words of the masculine or feminine gender appear in any provision of the Code or ordinances of the Township, unless the sense of the sentence indicates otherwise, they shall be deemed to refer to both male and female persons. This construction shall apply to gender-indicative suffixes or prefixes, as well as to gender-indicative words.

(3)

The singular number includes the plural; and the plural number includes the singular.

(4)

"Writing" and "written" include printing, typewriting and any other mode of communication used in paper or similar material which is in general use, as well as legible handwriting.

Construction. The time within which an act is to be done shall be computed by excluding the first and including the last day, and, if the last day is a Sunday or legal holiday, that day shall be excluded.

§ 1-2 Adoption of Code.

Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:49-4, the ordinances of the Township of Florence of a general and permanent nature adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Township of Florence, as revised, codified and consolidated into chapters and sections by General Code Publishers Corp., and consisting of Chapters 1 through 140, together with an Appendix, are hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as the "Code of the Township of Florence," hereinafter known and referred to as the "Code."

§ 1-3 Code supersedes prior ordinances.

This ordinance and the Code shall supersede all other 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.

§ 1-4 When effective.

This ordinance shall take effect immediately upon passage and publication according to law.

§ 1-5 Copy of Code on file.

A copy of the Code in loose-leaf form has been filed in the office of the Township 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 Township of Florence by impressing thereon the Seal of the Township, as provided by law, and such certified copy shall remain on file in the office of the Clerk of the Township, to be made available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times while said Code is in effect.

§ 1-6 Amendments to Code.

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 Township of Florence" 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 said Code as amendments and supplements thereto.

§ 1-7 Publication; filing.

The Clerk of the Township of Florence, 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 Township. Sufficient copies of the Code shall be maintained in the office of the Clerk for inspection by the public at all times during regular office hours. The enactment and publication of this Adopting Ordinance, coupled with 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.

§ 1-8 Code book to be kept up-to-date.

It shall be the duty of the Clerk or someone authorized and directed by the Clerk to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the book containing the Code required to be filed in his or her 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.

§ 1-9 Sale of Code book.

Copies of the Code book containing the Code may be purchased from the Clerk upon the payment of a fee to be set by resolution of the Mayor and Council, which may also arrange, by resolution, for procedures for the periodic supplementation thereof.

§ 1-10 Altering or tampering with Code; penalties for violation of Code or ordinances.

[Amended 4-7-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-3; 2-1-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-2]

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 the Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the Township of Florence to be misrepresented thereby.

Anyone violating this section or any part of the Code or any ordinance of the Township of Florence shall be subject, upon conviction, to one or more of the following: a fine of not more than $2,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days or a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, in the discretion of the Judge imposing the same.

Each day on which a violation of an ordinance exists shall be considered to be a separate and distinct violation and subject to the imposition of a separate penalty for each day of the violation, as the court may determine.

Whenever a fine is to be imposed in an amount greater than $1,250 for violations of housing or zoning codes, the owner shall be provided a thirty-day period during which the owner shall be afforded the opportunity to cure or abate the condition and shall be afforded the opportunity for a hearing before the court for an independent determination concerning the violation. Subsequent to the expiration of the thirty-day period, a fine greater than $1,250 may be imposed if the court has determined that the abatement has not been substantially completed.

§ 1-11 Severability of Code provisions.

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 sections or parts thereof.

§ 1-12 Severability of ordinance provisions.

Each section of this ordinance is an independent section, and the holding of 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.

§ 1-13 Repealer.

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 provided.

§ 1-14 Ordinances saved from repeal.

The adoption of this Code and the repeal of ordinances provided for in § 1-13 of this ordinance shall not affect the following ordinances, rights and obligations, which are hereby expressly saved from repeal:

Any ordinance adopted subsequent to February 19, 1992.

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.

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.

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.

Any franchise, license, right, easement or privilege heretofore granted or conferred.

Any ordinance providing for the laying out, opening, altering, widening, relocating, straightening, establishing of grade, changing of name, improvement, acceptance or vacation of any right-of-way, easement, street, road, highway, park or other public place or any portion thereof.

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 Township's indebtedness.

Ordinances authorizing the purchase, sale, lease or transfer of property or any lawful contract, agreement or obligation.

The levy or imposition of taxes, assessments or charges or the approval of the municipal budget.

The dedication of property or approval of preliminary or final subdivision plats.

All currently effective ordinances pertaining to the rate and manner of payment of salaries and compensation of officers and employees.

Any ordinance adopting or amending the Zoning Map.

Any ordinance dealing with mercantile licenses.

Any ordinance dealing with noise.

Any ordinance concerning personnel policies.

Any ordinance regarding election districts of the Township.

§ 1-15 Changes in previously adopted ordinances.

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 (1) 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.

In addition, the following changes, amendments or revisions are made herewith, to become effective upon the effective date of this ordinance (Chapter and section number references are to the ordinances as they have been renumbered and appear in the Code).[1]

[1]

Editor's Note: Pursuant to § 1-15B, the following sections are amended or added: §§ 4-2, 4-5A, 4-8, 4-9A, D and E, 4-13, 4-16A, 4-23, 4-24, 4-36A, 4-38B, 4-43B(1)(a), 4-48A, 4-52B, 4-56, 4-60A, 8-7, 12-2C, 12-8, 15-8, 15-9B, 15-10, 15-12A, 15-14, 15-24, 29-3, 35-3F, 35-5B, 36-9, 36-11, 39-5, 39-8, 39-13, 41-5, 41-7, 41-13A and B, 41-14, 41-19, 43-19A, 43-26, 53-9, 73-5, 79-7, 87-7, 91-3, 91-8F, 91-10B(1), 91-15E, 91-16C, 91-36B(10)(c), 91-69A, 91-70, 91-117, 91-152A, 91-162, 91-163, 91-276B, 91-280, 95-1, 95-13, 100-3, 104-3, 110-6, 112-2, 114-12, 114-26A, 116-12D(1), 116-19, 120-8, 122-8B, 122-14, 122-26D, 122-31A, 124-4, 126-1, 126-10, 131-11, 133-4B, 134-38F(7)(a) and (b), 134-47, 140-1, 140-28 and 140-38E. In addition, the following original sections are deleted: §§ 4-2, 4-14D(1)(b)[2], 4-29C, 29-4, 42-3, 64-4, 134-26B and Ch. 4, Arts. VII and XIX. A complete description of these changes is in Ord. No. 1993-32, adopted 12-1-1993, on file in the Township offices.