[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Stone Harbor as Sec. 4-26 of the 1982 Revised General
Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Noise — See Ch. 374.
[Amended 8-15-2006 by Ord. No. 1264]
The owner and/or the occupant of any property
in the Borough of Stone Harbor, which has located thereon a fire and/or
burglar or other alarm system, shall be subject to the provisions
of this chapter. Owner(s) and occupant(s) have joint and several liability.
"Alarm system" is defined to be any system which reports a fire, burglar,
and/or carbon monoxide level to a monitoring central station or reports
by its own dialer directly to the Police/Fire Departments. Mere smoke
detectors or carbon monoxide detectors which only emit warnings within
the property are not alarm systems.
All installation and service of alarm systems
shall be performed by a qualified and licensed alarm installer, subject
to approval by the proper subcode official.
[Amended 3-7-2006 by Ord. No. 1251]
No alarm system shall be installed without proper
construction subcode permits, which shall be secured from the Department
of Construction and Inspection. The permit application shall be completed
and include the owner of record, installer and designated maintenance
person.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 129-4, servicing
and testing, was repealed 8-15-2006 by Ord. No. 1264.
[Amended 8-15-2006 by Ord. No. 1264]
All owners or lessees shall equip audible alarms
with a timing mechanism that will disengage the audible alarm after
a maximum period of 30 minutes. Audible alarms without such timing
mechanism shall be unlawful in the Borough of Stone Harbor and must
be disconnected by the owner or lessee.
No person shall conduct any test or demonstration
of any audible alarm without first having given notice to the Stone
Harbor Police Department.
[Amended 8-15-2006 by Ord. No. 1264]
Within 30 days of the publication of this chapter,
or 30 days after the alarm system is installed, whichever occurs last,
each person utilizing such system shall file with the Stone Harbor
Police Department a prioritized list, reflecting the names, addresses
and telephone numbers of at least one but not more than three contact
persons who may be called by the Stone Harbor Police Department to
secure any premises or shut off an alarm. If no contact person is
named, the owner is designated to be the contact person.
[Added 8-15-2006 by Ord. No. 1264; amended 5-16-2017 by Ord. No. 1498]
The owner of any property equipped with an alarm
system regulated under this chapter shall install a security box containing
a key or keys or any codes which allow full access to the property
in the event of an activated alarm. "Security box" shall be defined,
for purposes of this section, as a secured, locked device that is
located on the exterior of the premises at or near the main entrance
which can be accessed by the Stone Harbor Police Department in the
event that an alarm is activated and it is or becomes necessary to
gain access to the premises in order to adequately determine the cause
of the activation of the alarm. The security box shall contain a key
or keys or code to provide such access to the premises. The security
box shall be of a type that is commonly known as a “Knox Box”
or the substantial equivalent thereof that is approved by the Police
Chief. The type of security box and its precise location shall be
subject to the approval of the Chief of Police; the Construction Official
and/or the Fire Code Official. The requirements of this section shall
be immediately effective for all new construction or new alarm system
installations, but, for existing systems, the effective date is January
1, 2007.
[Added 5-16-2017 by Ord.
No. 1498]
All buildings which contain one or more business, mercantile, industrial or other commercial uses, and all residential buildings containing three or more residential units and having one or more interior common areas which lock to prevent public entry and every building which has one or more use(s) as listed in § 129-7.2 above shall be equipped with a security box as defined in this section.
[Added 5-16-2017 by Ord.
No. 1498]
The provisions of § 129-7.2 shall not apply to uses with on-site twenty-four-hour security staffing, or any commercial bank, savings bank, savings and loan or other banking institution licensed or regulated by the United States of America or any of its agencies or by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.
[Added 5-16-2017 by Ord.
No. 1498]
All owners and/or occupants of any of the buildings or uses
included in this section shall ensure that the keys or lock access
codes within the security box are correct to allow entry through any
and all locked doors on the premises. Any changes in key or lock access
shall be placed into the security box within five business days of
such change.
[Added 5-16-2017 by Ord.
No. 1498]
It shall be permissible for buildings within multiple businesses
or uses under this section to share a common security box, as long
as the following conditions are met:
A.
The location of the common security box is centrally located and
approved by the Fire Official and the Chief of Police.
B.
The keys or lock access codes are clearly marked and separated in
a logical manner.
C.
All owners and occupants sharing the security box are permitted to
order replacement keys or lock access security codes to be installed
in the box at any time.
[Added 5-16-2017 by Ord.
No. 1498]
Any building or use(s) required to be in compliance with this
section that is first occupied on or after the effective date of this
section shall have the security box installed and all keys and/or
lock access codes installed at the time of first occupancy. Any business,
industrial, mercantile or other commercial unit that changes occupancy
and locks or lock access codes shall ensure that all keys are installed
in the security box before opening for business. Any existing building
or use(s) required to be in compliance with this section shall have
60 days from the effective date of this section to install the security
box and satisfy the other requirements of this section.
[Added 5-16-2017 by Ord.
No. 1498]
Any person, corporation, partnership or entity in violation of §§ 129-7.1 through 129-7.6 shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of not less than $200 nor more than $500, or be imprisoned for not more than 30 days, or both. Upon conviction, a violator shall have seven days to come into compliance with this section. Failure to do so shall constitute a new and subsequent offense.
[Amended 8-15-2006 by Ord. No. 1264]
It shall be the responsibility of the person
who utilizes an alarm system and who has supplied a list of contact
persons to the Borough to ensure that the contact person, when called,
appears personally or through a designated representative at the property
within 30 minutes of receipt of the call, to secure the premises or
shut off the alarm as required by the Borough officials at the property.
Failure of the contact person or representative to appear shall constitute
a violation of this chapter by owner and occupant.
The Police Department shall investigate all
alarms, shall notify the owner, if available, and if not at least
one contact person and/or occupant, of the date and time of the alarm
and shall maintain a log containing the address of the property, the
date and time of the alarm, the nature of the alarm which went off,
the cause of the alarm activation, if known, the department or departments
responding, and the names and addresses of the person(s) notified
of the alarm, together with the date or dates notified. The Fire Department
shall investigate the cause of all false fire alarms and shall notify
the police of the cause as soon as determined. The Fire Department
and/or the Rescue Squad responding to a false alarm shall, in the
event the police do not also respond, be required to supply the necessary
information for logging to the Police Department within 72 hours of
the response to the alarm.
[Amended 8-15-2006 by Ord. No. 1264]
It shall be a violation of this chapter for
an alarm system to sound if it results in the appearance at the property
of the Police Department, Fire Department or Rescue Squad, except
in connection with an emergency situation such as a break-in, fire
or other similar emergency.
[Amended 3-7-2006 by Ord. No. 1251; 8-15-2006 by Ord. No.
1264]
A.
Each property shall be permitted two false alarms, per calendar year, before a person is charged with an offense under § 129-10. Proof of mailing notices of the two alleged false alarms shall be sufficient proof that such false alarms did in fact occur. Thereafter, any person violating § 129-10 shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to the following fines, which fines are to be reduced by 1/2 if the property has a "Knox Box" described in § 129-7.1:
(1)
For the third offense: a fine in the sum of $100.
(2)
For the fourth offense: a fine in the sum of between
$200 and $300, inclusive, and a court appearance in connection with
this offense may be mandatory.
(3)
For the fifth and subsequent offenses, a mandatory
court appearance is required and the fine shall be between $300 and
$500.
B.
Except as provided in Subsections A(1), (2), (3), and C, any person convicted of a violation of any other provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, pay a fine of not less than $100 nor more than the penalties set forth in Chapter 1, Article III, Penalty, of the Borough of Stone Harbor Code.
