[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee
of the Township of Blairstown as Sec. 4-3 (Ord. No. 86) of the 1977 Revised General
Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
It shall be unlawful for any person to maintain,
operate or conduct a junk shop or junkyard in or upon which junk,
as hereinafter described, shall be purchased, sold, stored, repaired,
renovated or restored, within the Township without first having obtained
a license for such purpose as hereinafter provided.
No license shall be issued within 1,000 feet
of any residence, motel, church, school or any other public building,
or within 250 feet from any public highway.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Rags, scrap iron, shavings, borings, old rope, old iron,
brass, copper, tin, lead, and other old materials, unregistered automobiles
which are unfit for reconditioning for sale for highway transportation,
used parts or motor vehicles, old bottles, glass, lumber, paper, discarded
machinery or parts thereof and any other second hand articles or used
materials and merchandise and such other articles or things as commonly
come within the classification of junk.
Any person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation
who buys, acquires, stores, collects, sells, or otherwise deals in
junk as hereinabove defined.
Any lands within the Township on which junk, as hereinabove
defined, is placed, collected, stored, or kept.
Any person desiring to obtain a license as herein
required shall file with the Township Clerk a written application
signed by the applicant or applicants which application shall state:
A.
The name and residence of the applicant, and if a
firm or association, the names and addresses of the officers and the
registered agent or partners.
B.
The detailed nature of the business to be conducted
and the classes of material which it is proposed to store therein,
the premises at which it is proposed to establish the business, including
a full description of such premises, and whether the applicant owns
the premises or leases them.
Each applicant shall contain the agreement that
the applicant accepts the license to be granted upon condition that
it may be suspended or revoked at any time by the Township Committee
upon proof of a repeated violation.
The Township Committee may restrict the number
of licensed premises within the Township and may impose such reasonable
regulations and rules with regard to the business so to be conducted
not contrary to law as the Township Committee may deem necessary and
proper for the preservation of public health, safety, and welfare
of the Township and its inhabitants, and as may be necessary to carry
into effect the powers and duties conferred and imposed upon the Township
by law.
If the applicant is not the owner of the site
where the business is to be conducted, the owner's consent to the
conduct of the business shall be endorsed on the application.
The license shall authorize the licensee to
conduct the business at the place specified in the license and shall
not be transferable to another location, nor assignable or transferable
in any manner.
Before any application for a license to conduct
the business shall be accepted by the Township Clerk, there shall
be presented to him/her at the time of making of the application a
paid tax bill by the Tax Collector of the Township indicating that
the applicant has paid all personal property taxes due from such applicant
for the chattels on the licensed premises for the year preceding the
year for which the new license is sought.
The Township Committee shall issue all licenses
under this chapter and they shall be good and valid from the date
of issue until December 31 next, after granting the same.
All persons receiving such license or licenses
shall pay to the Township of Blairstown an annual fee of $25 for each
license issued.
Every person to whom such license may be issued
shall, when engaging in business within the Township, be in possession
of such license and is hereby required to have such license on exhibition
at all times.
The property upon which the business shall be
conducted shall be enclosed by a hedge or fence not less than six
feet high nor more than eight feet high. The hedge shall be kept in
a trimmed and neat condition at all times. Where the property is entirely
or partly bounded by a natural barrier such as a high bank, the Township
Committee may waive the erection of a hedge as to that part of the
property bounded by a natural barrier. This chapter shall not preclude
the erection of a different type of enclosure, such as a brick or
stone wall, wooden fence or cyclone fence, but this cannot be done
without the consent of the Township Committee.
Any licensee or the person in charge of any
licensed premises who shall receive or be in possession of any goods,
articles or things which may have been stolen, or lost, or alleged
or specified to have been stolen, or lost, shall forthwith upon demand
to view the same, present the same to the Chief of Police, or any
other officer or representative of the Township.
All goods, articles, merchandise, or motor vehicles
must be stored and kept within the enclosed fence above described,
and not upon the sidewalk or any part thereof.
No licensee or his agent shall knowingly buy,
sell, receive, dispose of, conceal or have in his possession any motor
vehicles from which the manufacturer's serial number or any other
number or identification mark has been removed, defaced, altered,
covered or destroyed for the purpose of concealing the identity of
such vehicle.
It shall be unlawful for any licensee to stack,
pile or place any of the aforesaid secondhand materials upon the licensed
premises in such a manner as to create a fire hazard, or to create
a place for the harboring or breeding of rats, mice or vermin.
Any member of the Township Committee, Board
of Health, the Health Officer, the Chief of Police or any authorized
agent of the Township shall have the right at any and all reasonable
times to inspect any or all parts of the licensed premises.
It shall be unlawful for persons to deposit
or leave any abandoned or unlicensed automobile, truck or other automotive
equipment, or any part thereof, or any other junk in open fields or
upon other unfenced private property without first obtaining the permission
of the Township Committee and of the owner of such private property,
and for such a period of time as may be established by the Township
Committee.
No more than two signs of 50 square feet each
are permissible and must be erected on the licensed property.
Any person who shall violate a provision of this chapter, or fail to comply therewith, or who shall violate or fail to comply with any order or regulation made thereunder, shall severally for each and every such violation and noncompliance, forfeit and pay a penalty as stated in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article III, General Penalty. The imposition of a penalty for a violation of this chapter shall not excuse the violation, or permit it to continue; such violation shall be remedied within a reasonable time, and each day that such violation is permitted to exist shall constitute a separate offense. The application of the above penalty shall not be held to prevent the enforced removal of prohibited conditions.
