[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners
of the Village of Ridgefield Park 9-22-1992 by Ord. No. 11-92;
amended in its entirety 5-11-1993 by Ord. No. 4-93 (Ch. 188 of the 1985
Code). Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
The person responsible for placing and maintaining a pay
telephone in a public way, as hereafter defined.
Any self-service or coin- or credit-operated telephone which
rests in whole or in part in any portion of a public street, public
sidewalk or public parking area.
An individual, business, firm, corporation, association,
partnership or other organization or group of persons.
That portion of a street improved, designated or ordinarily
used for vehicle traffic.
Any surface provided for the use of pedestrians.
All that area dedicated to public use for public street purposes,
and shall include but not limited to roadways, parkways, alleys and
sidewalks.
The Village of Ridgefield Park.
A.
No person may place or maintain any outdoor public
telephone on or above any public street or sidewalk, building or any
parcel of property without having first obtained a permit. Permit
applications shall be on a form prescribed by the Village Clerk. All
permits shall be submitted to and approved by the Board of Commissioners.
Indemnification and insurance information by the applicant must be
submitted at the time of the application. Permits shall be issued
by the Building Department subject to the approval of the type and
location of the telephone from the Board of Commissioners.
B.
After review by the Board of Commissioners, the permit
application and indemnification and insurance information will be
forwarded to the Building Department for review. The Building Department
will request an electrical technical application signed and sealed
by a New Jersey licensed electrical contractor to be submitted by
the applicant. The fee for the electrical permit shall be the minimum
electrical fee at the time of the application. Upon payment of the
permit fee, the electrical permit will be issued. The Electrical Subcode
Official shall inspect the installation of the telephone.
C.
Prior to installation, a plan or sketch of the telephone
must be furnished in sufficient detail to describe the size, location
and cabling. The Building Department shall also receive no less than
30 days' prior written notice before the removal of any telephone.
D.
Upon removal of a telephone, the owner or designee
shall restore all surfaces to their original condition, which shall
be subject to the approval of the Building Department.
E.
The Village of Ridgefield Park may reject any application
for a permit, revoke a permit or require the removal of an existing
outdoor public telephone if it has reason to believe that such telephone
detracts from the aesthetic appearance or otherwise infringes on the
use of and access to the public sidewalks or does not comply with
the terms of this chapter.
F.
Approval of the location of each public telephone
by the Board of Commissioners of the Village of Ridgefield Park (with
input from the Building Department, Police Department and Department
of Public Works) is required before approval or disapproval by the
Board of Commissioners.
G.
Before receiving a permit, an applicant shall:
(1)
Execute an indemnification agreement by which the
applicant and any other person on whose behalf the application is
made agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Village of
Ridgefield Park against liability for all claims for damage to property
or injury to or death of persons arising out of or resulting from
the issuance of the permit or the control, maintenance, ownership
or use of each public telephone.
(2)
File with the Clerk of the Village of Ridgefield Park
a general liability insurance policy of $1,000,000 for bodily injury
and $50,000 for property damage, naming the Village of Ridgefield
Park as an additional insured against any injury, loss or damage that
may result from placing or maintaining the telephone or telephone
equipment on a public street or sidewalk.
H.
All phone booths or phones shall carry the identity
of the long distance carrier and the information about how to make
calls using other carriers.
I.
No fee shall be charged pertaining to pay telephones
furnished by the Village as an accommodation to the public.
A.
Any telephone which is subject to this chapter shall
comply with the following standards:
(1)
No booth surrounding a public telephone shall exceed
eight feet in height, four feet in width or four feet in thickness.
(2)
Each public telephone shall be equipped with a coin-return
mechanism to permit a person using the machine to secure an immediate
refund if the call cannot be placed. The coin mechanism shall be maintained
in proper working order.
(3)
Each public telephone shall have affixed to it, in
a place visible to everyone using the telephone, the company name
and the complete address (no post office box) of the distributor,
and the telephone number of a working telephone service to which to
report a malfunction, secure a refund or give the notices provided
for in this chapter.
(4)
Telephones shall be maintained in a neat and clean
condition and in good repair at all times. A telephone shall be serviced
and maintained according to standards, including but not limited to
the following:
(a)
The telephone shall be reasonably free of chipped,
faded, peeling and cracked paint in the visible painted areas thereof
and rust and corrosion in the visible metal areas thereon.
(b)
Any clear plastic or glass parts of a public
telephone shall be unbroken and reasonably free of cracks, dents,
graffiti, blemishes and discoloration.
(c)
Any paper or cardboard parts or inserts of a
public telephone shall be reasonably free of tears, peeling or fading.
(d)
The structural parts of the public telephone
shall not be broken or unduly misshapen.
(e)
The public telephone receiver shall be attached
to the telephone.
(f)
Upon written request by an authorized representative
of the Village, setting forth the reasons for the request, the distributor
shall disable each pay telephone requested from receiving incoming
calls and shall restrict the capability of those pay telephones so
that only outgoing calls can be made from them. Those restrictions
shall be implemented by the distributor no later than 10 days after
receiving the written request. Those restrictions shall continue indefinitely
until the Village authorizes their termination in writing. The distributor
shall promptly post on the telephone, or the telephone booth, a written
notice advising the public of that pay telephone's inability to receive
incoming calls.
B.
Any person who fails to maintain a public telephone
in working condition shall be given a ten-day written notice to repair
the telephone by the Building Department. If the pay telephone is
not in working condition at the end of the ten-day period, the subject
telephone operator shall be subject to the provisions of the violations
section set forth below.
A.
No public telephone shall be permitted to rest upon,
in or over any public street or sidewalk when such installation, use
or maintenance:
(1)
Endangers the safety of person or property;
(2)
Unreasonably interferes with or impedes the flow of
pedestrians or vehicular traffic, including any legally parked or
stopped vehicles, or barrier-free accessibility;
(3)
Unreasonably interferes with the ingress or egress
from any residence or place of business;
(4)
Interferes with the use of traffic signs or signals,
hydrants or mailboxes permitted at or near said location; or
(5)
Interferes with or impedes the normal operation of
the Department of Public Works in sidewalk, curb or street maintenance,
which includes snow control and removal.
B.
Public telephones shall be placed or otherwise secured
so as to prevent their being blown down onto or around the public
street or sidewalk but shall not be chained or otherwise secured to
any traffic or street signs, signals, hydrants, mailboxes, utility
poles or any other government-owned property without the prior written
request of the owner.
C.
No pay telephones shall be placed, installed, used
or maintained:
(1)
Within any marked crosswalk.
(2)
Within three feet of a curb return of any unmarked
crosswalk.
(3)
Within 15 feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box,
police call box or other emergency facility.
(4)
Within three feet of any driveway.
(5)
Within three feet of any public area improved with
a lawn, flowers, shrubs, trees or other landscaping.
(6)
At any location whereby the clear space for the passageway
of pedestrians is reduced to less than six feet.
(7)
Within three feet of any building unless written permission
is secured from the property owner and filed with the application.
D.
In the event that a particular pay telephone does not meet the requirements set forth in Subsection C, an applicant shall nevertheless be entitled to a permit upon a showing that the issuance of such a permit is reasonable under the circumstances present.
E.
Pay telephones shall not be placed on sidewalks in
front of street addresses where there appears to be continuous criminal
activity. Continuous criminal activity means reports to the police
of more than six criminal incidents at an address in the six months
prior to the date of the application, which incidents have resulted
in felony convictions.
F.
No pay telephones shall be installed on the street
or sidewalk without the written permission of the abutting landowner
and/or property owner.
G.
Except for subsequent application by the same distributor
for the placement of an additional pay telephone adjacent to said
distributor's existing pay telephone:
(1)
No pay telephone shall be placed within 120 feet and
within a diagonal direction of 50 feet of another pay telephone.
H.
No intersection shall be permitted more than four
pay telephones that are equally distributed.
J.
Pay telephones or telephone booths may be installed:
K.
If a pay telephone or telephone booth is installed
within the interior area of a multiple-dwelling building, no outside
sign may depict the presence of a pay telephone.
Upon receipt of a complaint by a citizen or
an authorized representative of the Police Department to the Building
Department that the location and use of a pay telephone constitutes
a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the community, the Board
of Commissioners shall conduct a hearing after providing written notice
of the same at least 10 days in advance thereof to all parties to
ascertain whether the location and use of the public telephone constitutes
a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the community. If the
Board of Commissioners finds by a preponderance of the evidence presented
that the location and the use of the public telephone constitutes
a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the community, the Building
Department shall revoke any permit issued for use of said public telephone
immediately thereafter. In the event that the Board of Commissioners
does not find that the location or the use of the telephone constitutes
a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the community but does
create a negative aesthetic appearance to the Village, the Board of
Commissioners may order such other relief as it deems fair under the
circumstances, including but not limited to requiring seizure of the
public pay telephone equipment.
The owners of existing telephones will have
a period of 30 days to obtain the permits required by this chapter.
The Village of Ridgefield Park reserves the right to reject any and
all locations submitted for approval if such location and installation
is not in conformance with this chapter.
A.
Any violation of this chapter shall permit the Building
Department to arrange for removal of such public telephone and store
it at a designated area at the expense of the owner. At such time
the owner will be located and notified of such and shall arrange to
pick up and pay for the removal and storage fees.
B.
At the time of removal of the telephone, all related
costs, including labor and materials for the restoration of all surfaces
to which the telephone and its accessories were attached, shall be
recorded by the Building Department. The owner of the telephone will
incur such costs, which shall be payable when the telephone is claimed.
A.
All permits received under this chapter shall expire
under this chapter one year after its issuance. Thereafter, an applicant
shall be required to apply for a permit every year.
B.
An application for a permit or renewal shall be on
a form prescribed by the Village Clerk, and all renewals shall comply
with the terms of this chapter.
C.
The annual permit fee shall be $75, payable to the
Village Clerk.
D.
No fee shall be charged pertaining to pay telephones
furnished by the Village as an accommodation to the public.
In the event that any street or sidewalk has
to be disturbed in connection with the installation or removal of
any telephone or telephone booth, such installation or removal shall
be referred to the Building Department and the Superintendent of the
Department of Public Works for their review and appropriate permits,
if necessary.