[HISTORY: Adopted by the Annual Town Meeting
of the Town of Wakefield 4-7-2003 by Art. 19. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Streets and sidewalks — See Ch. 175.
The purpose of the chapter is to protect the
Town and its inhabitants from the unregulated installation, use or
maintenance of newsracks on public streets, sidewalks and other public
properties. The unregulated installation, use or maintenance of newsracks
on public streets, sidewalks and other public properties will result
in obstruction of sidewalks that will interfere with the public's
right to unhampered passage thereon, will create traffic congestion
or illegal parking or stopping by motorists in order to purchase newspapers,
periodicals or other printed matter, will damage municipal property
because of the chaining of newsracks to poles, traffic standards or
other fixtures, will interfere with the performance of required municipal
services, will create unsightly conditions and will endanger the safety
and welfare of the inhabitants of the Town.
For the purposes of the chapter, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given herein. When not inconsistent
with the context, words used in the present tense include the future;
words in the plural include the singular; and words in the singular
include the plural:
Any person responsible for the installation, use or maintenance
of a newsrack in or on a public street.
Any self-service or coin-operated box, container, storage
unit or other dispenser installed, used or maintained for the display
and sale of newspapers, periodicals or other printed matter.
Any individual, group of individuals, association, partnership,
corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate or any
other legal entity or its legal representatives, agents or assigns.
The entire width between the boundary lines of every way
publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the
public for purposes of vehicular travel, and it includes any alley
or other public property in the Town.
That portion of a public street improved, designed or ordinarily
used for vehicular travel, including the curb or shoulder.
That portion of a public street between the curblines or
lateral lines of a roadway and the adjacent property lines intended
for use by pedestrians.
No person shall install, use or maintain any
newsrack which projects onto, into or over any part of the roadway
of any public street.
A.
No person shall place, affix, erect, construct or
maintain a newsrack in or on any part of a public way without first
obtaining approval from the Town Council.
[Amended 11-5-2018 RTM
by Art. 17]
B.
No person shall install, use or maintain any newsrack
which in whole or part rests upon, in or over any sidewalk or other
public place when such installation, use or maintenance endangers
the safety of persons or property, or when such site or location is
used for public utility purposes, public transportation purposes or
government use, or when such newsrack unreasonably interferes with
or impedes the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, the ingress
into or egress from any residence, place of business or any legally
parked or stopped vehicle or the use of poles, posts, trees, traffic
signs or signals, hydrants, mailboxes, refuse containers or other
objects permitted at or near said location.
(1)
No newsrack shall exceed four feet in height, 30 inches
in width or two feet in depth.
(2)
No newsrack shall be chained, bolted or otherwise
attached to any property owned or maintained by the Town.
(3)
No newsrack shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:
(a)
Within five feet of any crosswalk or curb ramp.
(b)
Within 20 feet of any fire hydrant.
(c)
Within 600 feet of any other newsrack distributing
the same newspaper.
(d)
Within five feet of any fire or police call
box, traffic control signal or other emergency facility.
(e)
Within five feet of any driveway, public or
private.
(f)
Within five feet ahead or 15 feet to the rear
of any designated bus stop, taxi stand or place marked for handicapped
parking.
(g)
Within three feet of any public bench, bus bench
or shelter.
(h)
At any location whereby the clear space for
the passageway of pedestrians is reduced to less than five feet.
(i)
Within three feet of any display window of any
building abutting the sidewalk or other public place in such a manner
as to impede or interfere with the reasonable use of such window for
display purposes.
(4)
No newsrack shall be used for advertising signs or
publicity purposes other than that which is essential to identify
the newspaper, periodical or other printed matter offered for sale
therein. Advertising signs, promotional decorations, banners and moving
signs shall not be permitted on the newsrack, except as otherwise
provided in this subsection. Neither the newsrack nor any of the permitted
lettering thereon shall employ reflectorized paint, day-glow, fluorescent
or scotchlite reflective materials or materials of a like nature.
[Amended 11-5-2018 RTM
by Art. 22]
(5)
Each newsrack shall be maintained in a clean and neat
condition and in good repair at all times, including snow removal
from on the newsrack and within one foot in all directions around
the base or bottom of the newsrack.
(6)
Every person who places or maintains a newsrack on
the public streets of the Town shall have his name, address and telephone
number affixed thereon in a place where such information may easily
be seen.
(7)
Every person who places or maintains a newsrack on
the public streets of the Town shall give written notification of
the location of any such newsrack to the Town Administrator and Director
of Public Works.
(8)
Newsracks shall be placed parallel to and not less
than 18 inches nor more than 24 inches from the edge of the curb.
Newsracks placed near the wall of a building or other structure must
be placed parallel to and not more than six inches away from the wall.
(9)
No group of newsracks shall extend for a distance
of more than 10 feet along a curb or wall and a space of not less
than five feet shall separate each group of newsracks.
(10)
A newsrack will be deemed abandoned if no printed
material is found in the newsrack for a period of more than 15 consecutive
days. Any newsrack deemed abandoned will be removed.
(11)
Each newsrack shall display a newsrack sticker
issued by the Department of Public Works.
(12)
A newsrack removed pursuant to this section
may be retrieved by the owner at any time within 30 days of its removal
upon payment of a five-dollar per day storage fee. Any newsrack not
retrieved within 30 days will be deemed "abandoned property" and become
the property of the Town of Wakefield.
A.
If it should appear that any distributor is violating
any provisions of this chapter, it shall be the duty of the Town Administrator
or his designees to determine whether or not such a violation has
occurred and thereafter to notify the distributor to correct the violation.
(1)
Such notification and direction shall be in writing; it shall specify the nature of the violation and whether or not it warrants removal of the newsrack if not corrected, and it shall direct correction; it shall be served upon the distributor in hand, or it shall be telephoned to the distributor at the telephone number designated by the distributor as provided in § 148-4B(6) above and confirmed in a written notice, mailed by certified mail with return receipt requested to the address designated by the distributor as provided in § 148-4B(6) above. During such period, the distributor shall have a right to a hearing before the Town Administrator or his duly designated representative to determine whether or not such violation has occurred and whether or not the nature of such claimed violation warrants removal prior to final determination. At such hearing, the distributor shall have the right to examine the evidence upon which the Town Administrator or his designee acted, to cross-examine any witnesses who may have appeared before him and to offer any evidence which may tend to show that the subject newsrack does not violate any provision of the chapter, and that the claimed violation is not of a nature which warrants removal prior to final determination.
[Amended 11-5-2018 RTM
by Art. 22]
(2)
The hearing officer shall promptly review such evidence,
notify the distributor of his decision with respect thereto and, if
necessary, afford the distributor a reasonable opportunity to comply
with such determination. If said violation is not corrected within
such period or such further reasonable period as may be contained
in a superseding notice by the hearing officer, the Town Administrator
shall remove such newsrack and place it in storage in a secure place.
The cost of removal and storage shall be billed to the distributor,
and in the event of nonpayment, a civil suit for money damages may
be brought by the Town Counsel. If such newsrack is not claimed within
30 days it shall be treated as abandoned property and disposed of
as provided by law.
B.
Any distributor who, having been notified and directed as provided herein to correct a violation of the provisions of the chapter, fails to correct such violation as provided in such notice shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter, and shall be subject to punishment as provided in §§ 1-6 and 1-8 of the Code of the Town. Each day the violation remains uncorrected shall be considered a separate offense and violation of the chapter.
C.
Any distributor or other person aggrieved by a finding, determination, notice or action taken under the provisions of the chapter may appeal to the Town Council. An appeal shall be made in writing, and it must be filed within three Town business days, as that term is defined in § 7-3(d) of the Charter, after the receipt of written notice of any protested decision or action with the Town Clerk by a letter of appeal briefly stating therein the basis for such appeal. The Town Clerk shall forward such notice of appeal to the Town Council.
[Amended 11-5-2018 RTM
by Art. 17; 11-5-2018 RTM by Art.
22]
(1)
A hearing thereon shall be scheduled by the Town Council to be held on a date no more than 30 days after receipt of such letter. The appellant shall be given at least five Town business days’, as that term is defined in § 7-3(d) of the Charter, notice of the time and place of the hearing.
(2)
The Town Council shall give the appellant or any other interested person a reasonable opportunity to be heard in order to show cause why the determination or action appealed from should not be upheld. The Town Council shall make a final determination at the conclusion of the hearing or as soon thereafter as is practicable. In the event that a distributor is successful in reversing a determination that the claimed violation was of a nature which warranted removal pending a final determination, no fee shall be imposed for the removal and storage of the newsrack which was the subject of the appeal, and failure to comply with such determination shall not serve as a basis for prosecution under Subsection B.
D.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be interpreted
to limit or impair the exercise by the Town of its police power in
the event of an emergency to remove any newsrack which presents a
clear and present danger of imminent personal injury or property damage
to users of the public streets of the Town. Further, nothing contained
in the chapter shall be interpreted to limit or impair the ability
of the Town to temporarily remove or relocate any newsrack in order
to allow the Town to perform municipal work or other services in the
location or immediate vicinity of such newsrack, in the event such
newsrack has not been temporarily removed or relocated by the distributor
within 24 hours of telephone or written notice from the Town of its
intention to perform municipal work or services in the location or
immediate vicinity of such newsrack.
Any distributor placing newsracks on sidewalks
or other public place within the Town shall provide liability insurance
in the amount of $1,000,000 for each occurrence for bodily injury
and in the amount of $500,000 for each occurrence for property damage
naming the Town as an insured. Any such distributor shall further
agree to hold the Town, its official bodies, other committees and
their employees, agents and assigns, harmless in any suit brought
against the Town or any of its official bodies, other committees and
their employees, agents and assigns arising out of the use, operation
or maintenance of the newsracks. Any distributor placing newsracks
on sidewalks or other public places within the Town shall further
indemnify and hold the Town, its official bodies other committees
and their employees, agents and assigns harmless from any damage caused
to any newsrack by virtue of the Town performing snow removal or other
municipal services on the Town's public streets, roadways and sidewalks.
There shall be an annual fee of $50 per newsrack.
