Village of Lynbrook, NY Licensing of Gardeners and Landscapers

A person or entity whose business involves the placing, planting, arranging, trimming, pruning, cutting and/or removal of trees, bushes or shrubs and/or planting, cutting, cleaning, clearing, spraying, fertilizing, mowing, treating and/or maintaining lawns, walkways, trees, bushes, shrubs, flower beds, gardens and related appurtenances and/or landscaping or gardening of every nature or description on land or property for the purpose of improving the same.

LICENSEE

Any person or entity who or which has been granted a landscaping license by the Village of Lynbrook to engage in landscaping and/or gardening and any and all agents and/or employees of such person or entity.

VEHICLE

As used in this chapter, means every device in, upon or by which a person, material or property is or may be transported upon a highway, street, road or the like.

§ 151-2 License required.

It shall be unlawful for any person or entity to perform work as a landscaper and/or gardener, as defined in this chapter, within the Village of Lynbrook unless he or she shall first obtain and have in force a landscaping license as hereinafter provided.

§ 151-3 Authority to grant licenses.

The Village Clerk shall have the authority to grant licenses under this chapter if, based upon the information sought and/or provided in the application, the applicant is a fit and proper applicant and conforms to the provisions of this chapter.

§ 151-4 Application for license.

An application for a license to conduct business as a landscaper and/or gardener, or renewal of the same, shall be made to the Village in writing on the form provided by the Village Clerk, and it shall be signed and sworn to by the applicant. The applicant shall set forth the following information:

The name, address and telephone number of the applicant.

The nature of the landscaping and/or gardening business to be carried out.

The number of vehicles to be used in the business and a description of each of said vehicles (e.g., trailer, truck, van or the like).

Whether any previous landscaping licenses have been issued by the Village.

The character and type of debris substances (e.g., grass, brush, leaves, shrubs, branches or the like) that the applicant will be dumping in the conduct of his landscaping and/or gardening business.

The name, address and telephone number of the company or entity to which the debris substances will be taken to receive said debris.

All crimes of which the applicant or its principals have ever been convicted.

All prior violations of this or any other chapter of the Code of the Village of Lynbrook by the applicant or its principals.

All previous license revocations.

A copy of the applicant's current Nassau County Consumer Affairs license.

Any and all additional information required by the Village Clerk.

§ 151-5 Fee and expiration.

An annual license fee shall be paid to the Village Clerk with the completed application. The license fee shall include the licensing of one vehicle. An additional fee shall be paid for each additional vehicle to be used and for a lost license or license tag. In determining the license fee hereunder, a truck with trailer attached shall be considered to be one vehicle but shall require two license tags. All license fees shall be established, and may thereafter be amended, by resolution of the Board of Trustees.

All licenses issued under this chapter shall expire on February 28 of each year unless sooner revoked or suspended as provided herein. No license shall be renewed or reissued if, at the time of the application therefor, said landscaping license is under revocation or suspension, except for good cause shown by the licensee after a hearing before the Board of Trustees, when requested in writing by the applicant.

Upon approval of an application, the Village Clerk shall issue a license to the applicant and a license tag for each vehicle listed on the approved application for a license.

§ 151-6 License and name display.

The name, address and phone number of the landscaping and/or gardening business or entity shall be clearly indicated on both sides of any vehicle used in said business with letters measuring not less than three inches in height.

Current license tags issued by the Village shall be prominently displayed on the left side of each and every vehicle used, as evidence of the licensee's compliance with this chapter.

The licensee shall notify the Village upon the sale, transfer, dissolution, suspension or discontinuance, whether voluntary or involuntary, of the business or any part thereof of the licensee, and the licensee shall surrender said license to the Village Clerk and remove any and all license tags from all vehicles within five days of such sale, transfer, dissolution, suspension or discontinuance.

§ 151-7 Conduct of operation.

Every licensee shall conduct its operations in conformance with the laws of the Code of the Village of Lynbrook and all other statutes, laws and regulations. A licensee who applies pesticides and related material shall comply with Article 33 of the Environmental Conservation Law.

No licensee under this chapter shall make any false promise or misrepresentation regarding the landscaping license or the nature of the services rendered by such licensee.

No licensee or other person working with or for licensee, other than Department of Public Works personnel, shall operate any power or other gardening or landscaping equipment (e.g., equipment that requires electricity, gasoline or other fuel to operate) at any time between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. on weekdays and 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays, and such operation is prohibited on Sundays and public holidays.

[Amended 7-19-1999 by L.L. No. 2-1999; 11-17-2014 by L.L. No. 20-2014; 7-17-2023 by L.L. No. 3-2023]

No licensee shall place, scatter, leave or burn any garbage, refuse, rubbish, cuttings, leaves, wood, wastepaper, debris substances or other similar materials on any public highway, public property or private property in the Village. The licensee shall be responsible for carting away and properly disposing of all such material.

No licensee shall in any way cause damage to Village streets, sidewalks or other property.

§ 151-8 Penalties for offenses.

Any person or entity, or agent and/or employee thereof, who or which fails to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than $100 for the first offense; not more than $500 nor less than $100 for the second offense; and not more than $1,000 nor less than $500 for the third or subsequent offense. Any license issued hereunder shall be automatically revoked without the necessity of a hearing upon the conviction for a third offense. The continuation of any offense against any of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute, for each day such offense is continued, a separate and distinct offense hereunder.

§ 151-9 Revocation; temporary suspension.

Any license issued hereunder may be revoked by the Board of Trustees after a hearing before the Board of Trustees on not less than 10 days' written notice of said hearing to the licensee by certified mail if the licensee shall have violated any provision of this chapter, any local law of the Village of Lynbrook or any statute, local law, rule or regulation relating to the operation of the licensee's business or shall be guilty of making a false statement or misrepresentation in his or her application.

The Village Clerk may forthwith temporarily suspend such license until such time as a hearing is held by the Board of Trustees pursuant to § 151-9A upon receiving information giving the Village Clerk reasonable cause to believe that the licensee has violated any provision of this chapter, any local law of the Village of Lynbrook or any statute, local law, rule or regulation relating to the operation of the licensee's business or has been guilty of making a false statement or misrepresentation in his or her application.

§ 151-10 Exceptions.

The following persons shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter, except that § 151-7C shall apply to such persons:

(1)

Persons less than 18 years of age who are performing landscaping and/or gardening services as a business and who are not agents or employees of a landscaper and/or gardener.

The following persons shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter:

(1)

Persons who operate, at a fixed location within the Village, any garden supply or florist shop, nursery or greenhouse or similar type of business whose business does not offer any of the functions described under the definition of "landscaper or gardener" herein.

(2)

Persons solely engaged in the business of landscaping engineering or garden planning whose business does not offer any of the functions described under the definition of "landscaper or gardener" herein.

(3)

A person or entity whose immediate assistance is required in order to respond to a particular situation involving a dangerous tree, upon reporting said emergency situation to the Lynbrook Police Department, shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter while responding to said emergency situation.

§ 151-11 Severability.

The provisions of this chapter are declared to be severable, and if any section, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter shall for any such reason be held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the chapter but it shall remain in effect, it being the legislative intent that this chapter shall stand, notwithstanding the invalidity of any part thereof.