[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Catasauqua 5-4-1992
by Ord. No. 983 (Ch. XI, Part 8, of the 1962 Code). Amendments
noted where applicable.]
The following words when used in this chapter shall have the following
meanings except in those instances where the context clearly indicates a different
meaning:
Any place not enclosed within four walls and a roof where more than
one automobile, which does not bear a current Pennsylvania state inspection
sticker and/or is not fit for immediate highway use, is stored or disassembled.
Any worn out or discarded material, whether usable or not, especially
old rope, chain, iron, copper or other metals, machinery of all kinds or its
parts, and abandoned or damaged automobiles or other vehicles, whether power
operated or otherwise, and whether or not in a usable condition.
Any person engaged in the business of collecting, accumulating, buying,
selling, storing, disassembling, treating or processing of scrap metal automobiles
not fit for highway use, second hand building materials, rags, bottles, scrap
paper or any junk as previously defined.
An automobile junk or grave yard, as previously defined, and any
place where scrap metal, secondhand building materials, rags, bottles, scrap
paper or any junk, as previously defined, is collected, accumulated, stored,
disassembled, treated or processed.
No junk, including, but not limited to, abandoned or damaged automobiles,
shall be thrown, placed, stored or deposited or caused to be thrown, placed,
stored or deposited by any person in any ravine, ditch or gutter or on any
road, street, avenue, public land, public alley, sidewalk or footpath in the
Borough, nor in any public place or private property, vacant or occupied,
within the limits of the Borough, except as provided by the terms of this
chapter and any amendments hereto.
It shall be unlawful for any person to engage or to continue to engage
in business as a junk dealer, or to establish or maintain, or continue to
operate a junkyard and scrapyard, within the limits of the Borough, except
as provided by the terms of this chapter and any amendments hereto.
A.
Any person engaged in or intending to engage in business
as a junk dealer, or operating, or maintaining, or intending to establish
or maintain a junkyard or scrapyard within the limits of the Borough, shall
obtain a permit from the Borough Secretary for which permit a fee in accordance
with the fee schedule is set forth by the Council shall be paid to the use
of the Borough.
B.
The permit shall expire one year after the date of its
issuance, but may be renewed, under the provisions of this chapter for additional
periods of one year each.
A.
The permit provided for in this chapter shall be issued
by the Council after written application shall have been made therefor by
the person desiring to be permitted. Such permit shall state the name of the
person to whom such permit is issued and a premises on which such business
is to be conducted, or such junkyard is to be maintained.
B.
Such permit shall be posted conspicuously upon the premises
permitted thereunder.
C.
The written application for the permit shall be accompanied
by a form, every question of which must be answered, which form will be supplied
by the Council.
D.
Applicants shall also submit a plot of the premises used
or to be used in connection with such permit.
A.
Upon receipt of an application by the Council, the Council
may issue a permit to the person applying therefor dependent upon examination
of the application and the appropriate factors pertaining to the operation.
Factors to be considered include, but are not limited to, whether or not the
proposed junkyard:
(1)
Would have an adverse environmental impact on the natural,
scenic, historic or esthetic values of the Borough environment.
(2)
Would seriously affect the safety and public welfare
of the persons within the Borough.
(3)
Would seriously interfere with the use and enjoyment
of other properties in the immediate vicinity for the purposes already permitted.
(4)
Would substantially diminish and impair property values
within the neighborhood.
B.
In the event the Council shall issue a permit, it may
impose upon the permit and the person applying therefor such other terms and
conditions as may be deemed necessary to carry out the spirit and intent of
this chapter.
C.
A permit issued under the terms of this chapter shall
in no way serve as a substitute for, or waiver of, any permits which may be
required by other ordinances of the Borough.
The permit fee shall be paid immediately upon issuance or renewal of
the permit. The amount of the permit fee shall be calculated in accordance
with the fee schedule as set forth by Council.
A.
No permit issued by the Council shall be transferable
by the permittee to any other person unless such a transfer is authorized
by Council.
In the event that Council shall approve the transfer of a permit, the
transferee shall immediately pay to Borough a transfer fee in accordance with
the fee schedule set forth by Council.
Every person permitted under this chapter shall constantly maintain
the permitted premises in accordance with any special provisions imposed by
the Council and in the manner described by this section and any subsequent
regulations adopted by Council.
A.
From and after the effective date of this chapter, no
junkyard or scrapyard shall be established or maintained closer than 50 feet
to any street or any side property line. All junkyards or scrapyards must
be entirely enclosed within a solid wall, solid fence, or other barrier which
may be approved by Council. Such fence, wall or barrier shall not be less
than eight feet high. The fifty-foot setback area shall be kept clear and
vacant at all times. However, whenever such fence, wall or barrier is visible
from a public road, or from a residence, or from an adjoining property a landscaped
evergreen screen of trees and/or shrubs of four feet or more at planting,
and which are capable of attaining a continuous height of eight feet or more,
shall be planted along such fence, wall or barrier, or section of same. The
minimum acreage of any such junkyard or scrapyard shall be 15 acres.
B.
There shall be established and maintained in all junkyards
and scrapyards parallel aisles or roadways of not less than 12 feet in width
and not more than 500 feet apart. All aisles or roadways must be kept clear
and vacant at all times.
C.
No flammable liquids shall be permitted to remain in
any junked container, whether the container is a separate item or is an integral
part of another item.
D.
All rags, bottles and scrap paper must be kept within
the walls of the building constructed of fire resistant material and no garbage
or other organic wastes shall be stored in such premises.
E.
Premises shall at all times be maintained so as not to
constitute a nuisance or a menace to the health of the community or residents
nearby.
F.
The manner of storage and arrangement of junk, and the
drainage facilities of the premises, shall be such as to prevent the accumulation
of stagnant water upon the premises and to facilitate easy access for fire-fighting
purposes.
G.
No person permitted under this chapter shall burn any
motor vehicle or its equivalent at any time. No oil, grease, tires, gasoline
or other similar materials that might be dangerous or tend to produce obnoxious
smoke or odors shall be burned within a junkyard at any time.
H.
A person permitted under this chapter shall keep records
fairly written down in the English language at the time of the receipt of
any junk. Records shall include a description of each article received, the
date and hour received, and the person from whom such junk was received. All
junk received shall be kept and retained upon the licensed premises for a
period of 48 hours after the receipt, without disturbing or reducing the size
or altering the original form, shape, or condition until said period has elapsed.
No junkyard or scrapyard in existence on the effective date of this chapter shall be maintained, added to or extended unless in compliance with the provisions of § 170-10 of this chapter as to said addition or extension.
A.
Any person whose property is, at the effective date of
this chapter, in violation of any of the terms of this chapter, will have
90 days to bring his property into compliance.
B.
If, because of hardship, any person is unable to bring
his property into compliance within 90 days, such person shall notify the
Council within 60 days of the effective date of this chapter of such hardship,
and the Council may, in its discretion, grant a reasonable extension of time
to comply with the terms hereof.
