[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Haledon 4-9-1973
by Ord. No. 3-12-73 (Ch. 170 of the 1984 Code). Amendments
noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Any number of individuals related by blood, marriage or adoption,
or not more than four persons who are not so related, living together as a
single housekeeping unit, using rooms and housekeeping facilities in common
and having such meals as they may eat at home generally prepared and eaten
together.
[Amended 6-13-1984 by Ord. No. 5-9-84F]
Any person not a member of the family to whom space is provided for
housekeeping for pay.
Any dwelling or part of a dwelling of which one or more rooms is
or are used for pay for housing purposes by three or more persons not members
of a family inhabiting the dwelling.
No person shall occupy a rooming house, nor shall any person operating
a rooming house let or lease to a roomer a room in such house, which does
not comply with the requirements of this chapter:
A.
Every room occupied for sleeping purposes by one roomer
shall contain at least 108 square feet of floor space and every room occupied
by more than one roomer shall contain an additional 60 square feet of floor
space for such additional roomer. Not more than two roomers shall occupy any
one room for sleeping purposes.
B.
Room arrangements shall be such that access to a bathroom
or water closet compartment intended for use by roomers of more than one sleeping
room can be had without going through another sleeping room.
C.
Room arrangements shall be such that access to a sleeping
room can be had without going through another sleeping room or a bathroom
or a water closet compartment.
D.
Every sleeping room shall have a ceiling height of at
least seven feet throughout the entire room.
E.
Every sleeping room, bathroom and water closet compartment
shall have at least one window facing directly to the outdoors which can be
easily opened and closed, except that bathroom or water closet compartments
which are properly vented in accordance with the Plumbing Code[1] shall not require a window.
F.
There shall be at least one complete bathroom having
a toilet, washbasin and tub or shower or adequate running hot and cold water
at all times for every two roomers.
G.
No cooking facilities shall be provided, nor shall any
cooking be permitted in any rented room provided for roomers.
No person shall occupy nor shall any person operate a rooming house
without a rooming house license having first been obtained.
A.
The licensing authority for the Borough of Haledon shall
be the Council, and no license shall be issued except pursuant to a resolution
of the Council regularly made and passed. No license shall be issued by the
Council unless the premises comply with the Building Code, Zoning Ordinance,
the sanitary laws, ordinances, rules and regulations of the state and the
Borough.
B.
All applications for renewal of licenses shall be filed
in the office of the Borough Clerk no later than November 1 of each year.
C.
No application for a license shall be denied by the Council
unless it shall afford the applicant a hearing upon 10 days' written notice.
The hearing shall be conducted by the Council and the applicant shall be apprised
of the reasons for the contemplated denial.
D.
Each original application shall be accompanied by a fee
of $250. All licenses shall expire on the last day of each year and shall
be renewable annually. The fee for such renewal shall be $150 per year.
[Amended 8-13-1997 by Ord. No. 7-9-97F]
E.
Any license issued hereunder shall only cover that part
of the premises which is contained in the application therefor. Any increase
in the number of rooming units or of the part of the premises utilized as
a rooming house or other structural change affecting the data contained in
the application shall require the submission to and filing with the Borough
Clerk of an amended application containing the additional information. Such
amended application shall require review and approval as required for original
applications. Each amended application shall be accompanied by payment of
a fee in the amount of $50.
F.
The application for a renewal of a license shall state
all changes, alterations, additions or improvements made since the prior application.
G.
All applications shall contain the following information:
(1)
The name and address of the premises.
(2)
The names and addresses of the operators of the rooming,
boarding, lodging house or similar accommodation.
(3)
The location of the premises intended to be operated,
setting forth the exact location, giving the street address, tax, lot and
block numbers and the exact dimensions of the lands on which the business
is conducted.
(4)
The number of rooms on each floor of the premises, including
basement rooms.
(5)
The number of rooms on each floor of such premises for
occupation by roomers, the size, area and height of each of such rooms and
the size and location of each window in each such room.
(6)
The sanitary facilities available for use by the roomers,
of what they consist and their location in each premises.
(7)
The means of egress from each floor of such premises.
(8)
The maximum number of roomers intended to be housed.
(9)
A statement by the person operating such rooming house
as to whether he has ever been convicted of a crime.
H.
Each application shall be prepared in six copies and
shall be signed and sworn to by the applicant. Each original application shall
be accompanied by six copies of floor plans of the dwelling and six copies
of plot plans, which plans shall be drawn to scale by a licensed engineer.
Applications for annual renewal need not be accompanied by copies of floor
plans of the dwelling nor copies of plot plans except if any change has occurred
either in the dwelling or with respect to the plot since the filing of the
original application. Each application for annual renewal shall be accompanied
by a certification by the applicant that no changes have been made in the
dwelling or the lot since the filing of the original application. If there
have been changes, then the application for renewal shall be accompanied by
the required floor plans and plot plans, which shall set forth all changes.
Amended applications shall contain either an appropriate certification as
set forth in this subsection or copies of floor plans and plot plans as provided
for in this subsection.
I.
Each operator of a rooming house shall maintain at the
premises a registry consisting of a permanently bound volume of consecutively
numbered pages which shall contain the names of all roomers and the date of
their arrival and departure.
J.
Each holder of a license shall be required to submit
a report to the Borough Clerk every three months which shall set forth the
names of all roomers and the date of their arrivals and departures at the
rooming house.
K.
All applications for a license or a renewal of a license
shall be referred to the Building Inspector, the Chief of the Fire Department
and the Board of Health. No license shall be issued unless the Building Inspector
shall issue a certificate to the effect that the premises comply with the
Building Code of the Borough[1] and that the premises comply with the requirements of this chapter;
the Fire Chief has certified that no fire hazard exists; and the Board of
Health certifies that the premises comply with the health requirements of
the Board of Health of the Borough of Haledon and the state.
L.
The Board of Health, Fire Chief, the Building Inspector
and other officials of the Borough are hereby authorized and directed to make
periodic inspections to determine the conditions of the rooming houses in
order that they may perform their duty of safeguarding the health, safety
and morals of the roomers therein and of the general public.
The refusal of any owner or operator of a rooming house to permit an
inspection by an authorized official of the Borough shall be grounds for suspension
of the license until such time as the inspection has been permitted.[1]
No roomers of a rooming house or any other persons shall sleep in shifts
or take turns sleeping in the same beds in any sleeping room occupied by or
used by roomers. The owners of the premises where such rooming house is operated
and the person operating such rooming house shall not permit any roomers or
any other persons to sleep in shifts or take turns sleeping in the same beds
in any sleeping room occupied by or used for roomers.
The owner of the premises and the person operating the rooming house
are charged with a duty to and they shall keep the said premises and rooming
house in a clean and sanitary condition and good state of repair, free from
rodent, bug and insect infestation and free from foul and ill-smelling odors.
The issuance of a rooming house license shall not in any manner constitute
a certification that the rooming house conforms to the Fire Prevention Code,
Building Code, Plumbing Code and Zoning Ordinance of the Borough of Haledon[1] nor to the laws of the State of New Jersey governing tenement
houses.
Nothing herein contained shall apply to an apartment house or garden
apartment, which shall be considered to be a building containing two or more
dwelling units, each of which shall have its separate and individual bathroom
and kitchen and each of which units is designed or used for one-family occupancy.
In addition to such other applicable parking requirements of Chapter 405, Zoning, every owner of a licensed premises shall provide one off-street parking space for every two roomers.
The owner of a licensed premises shall pay to the Borough a reinspection fee of $20 for every reinspection made by each of the persons required by § 309-3K to inspect. The reinspection fee shall be payable only where the reinspection is required by reason of a violation of this chapter.
Every licensed premises providing accommodations for persons on or above
the third floor thereof shall be provided with some means of egress in the
event of fire other than one stairway leading to such accommodation. The means
of egress required by this section shall be subject to the approval of the
Fire Chief.
The license required by this chapter, together with a copy of this chapter,
shall be posted in a conspicuous place in the entrance area of every licensed
premises. If any of the provisions of this chapter are at variance with the
provisions of any other ordinances of the Borough, the more restrictive provision
shall apply.
All licensed premises shall comply with the Zoning Ordinance, Building
Code, Fire Prevention Code, Board of Health ordinances and such other ordinances
of the Borough as shall be applicable.[1]
Whenever upon inspection of any rooming house the Building Inspector, Fire Chief or the Board of Health finds that conditions of practices exist which are in violation of any provision of this chapter, he shall give notice in writing to the operator that unless such conditions or practices are corrected within a period of two weeks, a hearing will be conducted by the governing body to determine whether the rooming house license shall be suspended or revoked. The notice shall be mailed to the operator at the address indicated in the application and shall set forth the time, date and place of the proposed hearing to be conducted by the governing body. If after a hearing has been conducted the governing body determines that the license should be suspended or revoked, such operator shall cease operation of such rooming house and no roomer shall occupy for sleeping or living purposes any rooming unit therein. A license will be reinstated only after the violations have been certified to have been corrected. The remedies provided for in this section shall be in addition to the remedies provided in § 309-15.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon
conviction thereof, be subject to the payment of a fine not exceeding $500
or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 90 days, or both.
