[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township of River
Vale 3-23-1989 as part of Ord. No. 0-7-89
(Ch. 43 of the 1967 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the "Junk Vehicle Law of the Township
of River Vale."
A clean, wholesome, attractive environment is declared to be of importance
to the health and safety of the inhabitants, and such an environment is deemed
essential to the economy of the Township and the general welfare of its citizens.
The unrestrained accumulation of motor vehicles not in operating condition
is a hazard to such health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the Township,
necessitating the regulation and restraint thereof.
A.
ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
JUNK VEHICLE
(1)
(2)
(3)
LEGAL OCCUPANT
OPEN STORAGE
OWNER
PARCEL OF PROPERTY
PERSON
TOWNSHIP
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have
the meanings indicated:
The Chief of Police of the Township, unless the Township Council,
by resolution, designates some other Township official as "enforcement officer"
or, by resolution, establishes the position of enforcement officer for the
Township and appoints some qualified person thereto at a salary specified
in such resolution.
Any motor vehicle, whether automobile, bus, truck, tractor, mobile
home, motorcycle, motorbicycle, minibicycle or snowmobile or any other contraption
abandoned, stored, left or located by its owner or any other person on public
or private property in the Township of River Vale.
Any motor vehicle which is not registered for operation on the public
highways and which has not been registered for the preceding 12 months or
is in an unsafe condition as defined in N.J.S.A. 39:3-44 shall be defined
as a "junk vehicle."
For the purposes of this chapter, a motor vehicle registered as a farm
vehicle or which is operable and used by the owner on his own property for
the transport of wood, snowplowing or similar uses shall not be considered
a "junk vehicle."
For the purposes of this chapter, "abandoned," "stored" or "located"
shall mean when the junk vehicle is visible from a public highway or a dwelling
unit on a neighboring property.
Any person who, singularly or together with other persons, is in
possession of real property pursuant to an agreement with the owner thereof.
The term shall include tenants, contract vendees and licensees.
Storage other than in a completely enclosed structure, such as a
garage constructed of wood, brick and metal.
A person owning real property in the Township. A parcel of real property
owned by more than one person shall be considered as having each such person
being an owner.
Real property appearing on the tax rolls of the Township as one unit.
Includes natural persons, corporations, copartnerships, unincorporated
associations or any other organization of one or more persons.
The Township of River Vale and its officers and agents; also public
and private areas within the Township.
B.
The term "shall" is always mandatory. Words used in the
singular shall include the plural and vice versa.
Open storage of one or more junk vehicles shall not be permitted on
private or public property within the Township, except as permitted by this
chapter.
A.
Any person wishing to store or locate a junk vehicle
on a parcel of property must first obtain a no-fee permit from the Township's
enforcement officer allowing such storage.
B.
That permit may be granted after an application has been
made showing:
(1)
The make, model and year of the vehicle.
(2)
The name and address of the last registered owner and
last registration plate number as issued by the appropriate Department of
Motor Vehicles.
(3)
The vehicle identification number.
(4)
The nature of the applicants ownership or title to such
vehicle.
(5)
The purpose(s) for which the junk vehicle(s) are being
stored or located.
C.
Purposes for which junk vehicles can be stored or located
are as follows:
(1)
Antique or classic car restoration for vehicles 25 or
more years old. A permit will be issued on an annual basis, renewable for
a year at a time.
(2)
Restoration. A permit will be issued for a one-year period,
renewable for an additional one-year period. The renewal shall be granted
only if the junk vehicle has been substantially improved since the issuance
of the original permit.
(3)
Removal of parts or components. A permit will be issued
for a sixty-day period, renewable for one sixty-day period only.
Any owner or occupant of a parcel of property in the Township who shall
abandon, store, locate, leave or allow or condone any other person to abandon,
store, locate or leave a junk vehicle upon a parcel of property owned or occupied
by him within said Township contrary to the provisions hereof shall be guilty
of a violation hereof. Any person, whether as owner or driver of a vehicle
or an operator of a towing vehicle or carrier, who shall abandon, store, locate
or leave a junk vehicle upon a parcel of property in the Township of which
he is not either the owner or legal occupant, without the written permission
of the legal occupant shall be guilty of a violation hereof.
A violation of this chapter shall be punishable as provided in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article I, § 1-14. Each junk vehicle abandoned, stored, left or located in violation of this chapter shall constitute a separate violation. Each week of continuous violation shall constitute a separate and distinct violation.
In addition to the penalties set forth above, the Township may commence
an action in its own name against any person in any civil court of competent
jurisdiction to seek an injunction to enforce compliance with this chapter.
Such an action for injunctive relief may be independent of or a part of an
action to collect the civil penalties as hereinabove provided.
In addition to any penalty or fine as provided in § 241-7 hereof or the remedy provided in § 214-8 hereof, any junk vehicle may be removed from the premises upon which it is located by the Township in the manner hereinafter provided:
A.
The enforcement officer, upon detecting a junk vehicle,
shall serve written notice on the person owning the parcel of property on
which the same is located, ordering such person to remove the same or cause
the same to be removed therefrom within 30 days of the date of such service.
Such notice shall contain a description of the parcel of property, a statement
as to the location thereon of a junk vehicle and a reference to this chapter
and to the fact that the location of such junk vehicle on such parcel of property
is in violation of this chapter. If such parcel of property is owned by more
than one person, personal service on any one of such owners shall suffice;
however, as to any owner not personally served with such notice or if no owner
can be located upon whom to make personal service, the enforcement officer
shall mail such notice to the owners not personally served or to the owner
and to all owners if no owner was personally served, by registered mail to
their or his last known address as shown on the latest completed assessment
roll of the town. In addition, the enforcement officer shall post conspicuously
a copy of such notice on the parcel or property upon which said junk vehicle
is located.
B.
At the expiration of 30 days after the service or mailing
and posting of such notice, if such junk vehicle has not been removed, the
Township may cause such junk vehicle to be removed, and the cost of such removal
shall be certified by the enforcement officer to the Collector of Taxes and
shall thereupon become and be a lien upon the real property from which said
junk vehicle was removed and shall be added to and form part of the taxes
next to be assessed on said real property and shall be collected and enforced
by the same office and in the same manner as taxes.
C.
Any junk vehicle released to the Township by its owner shall be disposed of at a public auction to the highest bidder, and the proceeds shall be added to the general fund of the Township. Any junk vehicle released to the Township by the owner or legal occupant of the parcel of property from which it is removed, who is not the owner of the junk vehicle, shall be disposed of by the procedure set forth in Subsections A and B hereof. In the event that the junk vehicle is released to the Township by the owner or legal occupant of the parcel of property who is not the owner of the junk vehicle, there shall be no expense for the removal thereof chargeable to the person so releasing said junk vehicle.
The Township's enforcement officer or his designee shall have and
is hereby given the authority to go upon any parcel of real property in the
Township, public or private, exclusive of enclosed structures or buildings,
at any time during daylight hours, to examine and inspect any vehicles or
parts or components thereof to determine whether a violation of this chapter
has been committed or to determine the condition of any vehicles or parts
or components thereof. The officer shall notify the property owner, in writing,
prior to the entering of such property.
