The storage of junk motor vehicles and the abandonment of motor vehicles on privately owned property within the Village of LeRoy is a threat to the health, safety and general welfare of the community. Junked and abandoned vehicles are a safety hazard to members of the community and especially younger children. These vehicles often times are replete with broken glass, gasoline fumes and gasoline still existing in tanks and harmful acids which can cause injury. Such vehicles are unsightly and depreciate the property on which they are located, as well as the property in the community in general. They destroy the aesthetic quality of the village as a whole and make the village a less safe and pleasant place in which to live and do business. The control of the storage of junked motor vehicles outdoors on privately owned property, as well as abandoned vehicles on privately owned property, is therefore a necessity for the preservation for the health, safety and welfare of the community. The intent of this chapter is to establish procedures for the control and the removal of junked and abandoned motor vehicles found in the village in violation of the chapter.

As used in the chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

The Building Inspector of the Village of LeRoy, unless the Village Board of Trustees, by resolution, designates some other officer.

JUNKED MOTOR VEHICLES

A. 

Any motor vehicle which is abandoned, stored, left or located by its owner or any other person on public or private property in the Village of LeRoy that:

(1) 

Is unlicensed, wrecked, stored, discarded, abandoned or dismantled, or partly dismantled, and which is no longer intended or in a condition suitable for its original intended use;

(2) 

Is being held, stored or used for the purpose of sale or resale of parts therefrom, or for the purpose of reclaiming for use some or all of the materials therein, or for the purpose of disposing of the same;

(3) 

Is in such condition that it cannot be put into an operational condition except at a cost in excess of its wholesale market value, as set forth in the N.A.D.A. Official Older Used Car Guide, after repair. In any administrative or legal proceeding under this subsection, the cited respondent or respondents shall have the burden of proving that such vehicle can be put into operational condition for less than such value; or

(4) 

With respect to any motor vehicle not required to be licensed, or a motor vehicle not usually used on public highways, the fact that such motor vehicle has remained unused, or not raced, if such vehicle is used only for auto racing, for more than eleven months and is not in condition to be moved under its own power shall be presumptive proof that such motor vehicle is a junk vehicle.

B. 

Notwithstanding the above, a motor vehicle is not a junk vehicle if such motor vehicle is:

(1) 

Stored or deposited in a completely enclosed building;

(2) 

Under repair, reconstruction or refurbishing by the owners thereof (who must actually be residing on the premises) for a total period of time, consecutive or nonconsecutive, not to exceed 30 days, during any one year period;

(3) 

A single motor vehicle being offered for sale by a private individual who must be actually be residing on the premises for a total period of time, consecutive or nonconsecutive, not to exceed 30 days during any one year period;

(4) 

A single motor vehicle being stored for use on a seasonal basis (i.e., a "winter car"), provided that such vehicle is intact, is stored in other than a front yard of the premises where it is located, and has a New York State motor vehicle inspection sticker issued within the previous 12 months affixed to it; or

(5) 

Temporarily stored on the premises of a duly authorized motor vehicle service station or a auto body repair shop within the village, for a period not to exceed 60 days, or is part of the inventory of a duly licensed new or used motor vehicle dealer located in compliance with the laws and ordinances of the Village of LeRoy.

MOTOR VEHICLE

Any vehicle originally designed and intended to be operated, drawn or driven, or capable of being operated, drawn or driven, on a public highway by any power other than muscular power.

OWNER OF MOTOR VEHICLE

A person, firm or corporation having a property interest in, or title to, a motor vehicle, including a person entitled to the use and possession of a vehicle subject to a security interest in another person and also including any lessee or bailee of a motor vehicle having the use thereof under lease or otherwise.

OWNER OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

Any person, firm, partnership or corporation, whether business or membership, or religious, charitable or otherwise, any purchaser, tenant, lessee, occupant, undertenant, receiver or assignee of private premises or private property or any other unit or entity owning real property in the Village of LeRoy.

PREMISES or PROPERTY

Includes all parcels of privately owned real property located within the boundaries of the Village of LeRoy, whether occupied or vacant, irrespective of size or topography.

VILLAGE

The Village of LeRoy, New York.

It shall be unlawful for any person to store or deposit, or cause, suffer or permit to be stored or deposited, a junked vehicle or part or piece thereof on any private property within the Village of LeRoy.

Any junked motor vehicle, as defined herein, may be removed from the premises on which it is located by the Village of LeRoy in the manner hereinafter provided:

A violation of this chapter or any provision or part thereof by any person, firm or corporation is hereby declared to be an offense, punishable by a fine not to exceed $250 or by imprisonment not to exceed six months or both. A violation of the chapter shall also subject the violator to a civil penalty of the greater of $50 per separate violation, or of the village's costs of inspection, service of notice, removal towing and permanently disposing of such vehicle, less any penal monetary fine which may have been imposed. Any person who shall resist or obstruct the duly authorized agents, servants, officers and employees of the Village of LeRoy or other duly authorized law enforcement officers in removal and disposal of motor vehicles, as provided in this chapter, shall be in violation of this chapter and subject to the fines and penalties provided herein. Each day's continued violation shall constitute a separate and additional offense. For the purpose of conferring jurisdiction upon courts and judicial officers generally, violations of this chapter or any provisions or parts thereof shall be deemed misdemeanors, and for such purpose only all provisions of law relating to misdemeanors shall apply to such violations.

Notwithstanding any other provision of the chapter, the Village of LeRoy may serve such notices and do such other and further things as set forth in § 197-4 hereof and may at the same time or at any other time, without prior notice, proceed under § 197-5 concerning the imposition of penalties.