[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Atlantic
City as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Firesafety — See Ch. 128.
[Adopted 5-7-1997 by Ord. No. 23-1997]
This article shall be known as the "City of Atlantic City Hazardous
Materials Clean Up Reimbursement Ordinance."
This article is being adopted pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:39A-29
to supplement the requirements on the Spill Compensation and Control
Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11a et seq. and the abatement of the Nuisance
Act, N.J.S.A. 26:3-45 et seq.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The Atlantic City Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit
when requested to respond under memorandum of agreement and/or mutual
aid agreement outside the borders of the City of Atlantic City.
Shall include, but not be limited to, the employees or staff
of the Atlantic City Health Department, the employees or staff of
the Atlantic City Office of Emergency Management, the Atlantic City
Fire Department responding to any spill, the contracted ambulance
service responding to any spill and any other partnership, corporation
or other entity whether or not a state, county, federal or municipal
agency or private concern that the Atlantic City Health Department
uses in any way to aid the City of Atlantic City in the control and
cleanup of the spillage or discharges of hazardous materials.
Any intentional or unintentional action or omission resulting
in the releasing, spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying
or dumping of hazardous substances onto the lands within the Atlantic
City Health Department's jurisdiction and/or into the jurisdiction
of the City of Atlantic City.
Any items used to extinguish or prevent a fire or stop or
contain a leak, release or spill involving any hazardous material
or in decontamination of any equipment, vehicle, clothing, structures
or appurtenances which cannot be reused or cannot be replenished without
cost after a particular incident. These items include, but are not
limited to, fire-fighting foam, chemical extinguishing agents, sand,
absorbent materials, recovery drums and any protective equipment and
clothing to include, but not be limited to, chemical protective suits,
chemical protective gloves, goggles and any other items owned or controlled
by the Atlantic City Health Department or its employees, agents, officers
and/or officials. It is expressly provided that this provision will
apply only to the extent necessary to deal with hazardous materials.
Any materials, solid, liquid or gas, listed as such under
the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Guide to Hazardous
Materials, the Department of Transportation Emergency Response Guidebook,
the list of hazardous substances adopted by the Federal Department
of Environmental Protection Agency, pursuant to Section 311 of the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Amendment 1972, as amended by
the Clean Water Act of 1977 (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.),
and the list of toxic pollutants designated by Congress or the Environmental
Protection Agency pursuant to Section 307 of the Federal Water Pollution
and Control Act.
This article shall provide for the reimbursement of expenses
incurred for the repair and/or replacement of nonexpendable items
used during fire extinguishment or prevention of any fire or to stop
or contain any leak, release or spill involving a hazardous material
which prevents the item(s) from being reused after the incident. These
items shall include, but not be limited to, fire apparatus and other
vehicles, equipment and appliances.
Any motorized equipment, registered or unregistered, including
but not limited to a passenger vehicle, car, motorcycle, truck, tractor
trailer, boat or barge and airplane, or other type of aircraft.
A container, drum, box, cylinder or tank used to hold or
contain or carry or store any hazardous material.
A.Â
This article provides for the reimbursement for or replacement of
any and all equipment utilized by the Atlantic City Health Department
or Fire Department or its agents, without regard to ownership, for
the purpose of mitigating, controlling or containing any incident
in which a hazardous material is involved in fire, leak, release or
spill where the potential thereof exists or for the prevention of
same.
B.Â
This article also provides for the reimbursement for the expenses
incurred by the Atlantic City Health Department or Fire Department
for the overtime wages paid to its employees, agents, officers, officials
or servants as a result of an incident involving a fire, leak, release
or spill of hazardous materials.
C.Â
This article mandates reimbursement to the City of Atlantic City
for any and all expendable items used by the Atlantic City Health
Department or Fire Department or any of its employees, agents, servants,
officers or officials, in extinguishing of any fire, stopping, containing,
controlling or mitigating any spill, releases or leak of any hazardous
material.
A.Â
The discharge of hazardous substances is prohibited. This section
shall not apply to the discharge of hazardous substances granted pursuant
to and in compliance with the conditions of a state or federal permit.
B.Â
Any person who may be subject to liability for a discharge which
occurred (prior to or) after the effective date of this article shall
immediately notify the Atlantic City Health Department.
C.Â
Whenever any hazardous substance is discharged, the Atlantic City
Health Department may, in its discretion, act to remove or arrange
for the removal of such discharge. However, the City will take all
reasonable steps to contact the potential responsible persons in order
to notify the same of said discharge and to remove or to arrange for
the removal of such discharge. This requirement shall not prevent
the City, in its discretion, in emergency circumstances, to take all
appropriate actions for the protection of the public pursuant to this
article, and the City shall notify the potential responsible persons
as soon as practicable.
D.Â
Any person who has discharged a hazardous substance or in any way
is responsible for any hazardous substance which has been or shall
have been or will be removed by the Atlantic City Health Department
or its agents shall be strictly liable, jointly and severally, without
regard to fault for all central clean up and removal costs.
A.Â
The Atlantic City Fire Department and Health Department and its authorized
agents shall have the right of entry and inspection into any fixed
facility within the jurisdiction for the express purpose of inspection
and investigation of the use of hazardous materials or chemicals on
site. These fixed facilities shall include, but not be limited to,
those that may store, use, produce or manufacture hazardous materials
or chemicals, as identified under the regulations of the State of
New Jersey and the Federal OSHA (29 CFR 1910.1200), EPA (40 CFR Part
300) or DOT (49 CFR Part 179) standards.
B.Â
Prior to entry, the Atlantic City Fire Department officer or authorized
agent shall identify themselves, state the nature of the inspection
and demand entry pursuant to this article.
Reimbursement to the City of Atlantic City or its agents for
expendable items shall be made by the owner or operator of the vehicle
responsible for the fire, leak or spill of a hazardous material; the
owner or person responsible for the vessel containing the hazardous
material involved in such fire, leak or spill on public or private
property, whether stationary or in transit and whether accidental
or through negligence; the owner or person responsible for any property
from which any leak or spill of hazardous material emanates, whether
accidental or through negligence and the person responsible for the
fire, leak or spill of hazardous material on public or private property,
whether accidental or through negligence.
Any person responsible for the fire, leak or spill or the release
of a hazardous material must provide reimbursement for services rendered
by any recovery company, towing company or any other technical assistance
called for by the Atlantic City Health department or Fire Department
to handle such incidents. In the event of a vehicle having been responsible
for an incident, such vehicle may be impounded until such time as
it has been deemed safe to proceed by the scene incident commander
of the Atlantic City Fire Department Hazardous Material Response Unit
and until such time as arrangements have been made to reimburse the
City of Atlantic City and the towing company for their expenditures
under the terms of this article.
The person or entity responsible for any fire, leak or spill
of a hazardous material shall reimburse the City of Atlantic City
or its agents the full price of the expendable items used to extinguish
such fire, or stop or contain such leak or spill within 30 days after
receipt of a bill therefor, from the City of Atlantic City.
[Amended 11-25-2008 by Ord. No. 104-2008]
The person or entity responsible for any fire, leak or spill
of a hazardous material who fails to reimburse the City of Atlantic
City or its agents within the time required shall be subject to a
fine of not less than $50 or more than $2,000 per day for each day
the violation continues, in addition to reimbursement of the claimed
due.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to abrogate or impair
the power of the municipality or any officer or department from enforcement
of any provision of its own ordinances or regulations, nor to prevent
or punish violations thereof, and the power conferred by this article
shall be in addition and supplemental to the powers conferred upon
the City by any other law or ordinance.
[Adopted 4-11-2012 by Ord. No. 25-2012]
This article requires abandoned or other underground storage
tanks which are not in active use to be identified and removed so
as to protect public health, safety and welfare, and to prescribe
penalties for the failure to comply.
For the purpose of this article, the following terms, phrases,
words and their derivations shall have the meanings as defined below
unless their use in the text of this article clearly demonstrates
a different meaning. When not inconsistent with the context, words
used in the present tense include the future, words used in the plural
number include the singular number, and words used in the singular
number include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory
and not merely directory.
Any application seeking preliminary or final site plan approval,
a building permit, a demolition permit or a certificate of occupancy
for property within the City of Atlantic City.
Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind or political subdivision of this
state.
For the purpose of this article only, land which is located
adjacent to a lot or lots which are the subject of a land use approval
application which land includes a sidewalk, alley or easement that
is owned, leased or controlled by a governmental entity, but does
not include any portion of the cartway that was never under the property
or prior property owner's control.
As defined in N.J.A.C. 7:14B-1.6.
A.Â
Any person proposing to construct structures or other improvements
on any lot, or requesting preliminary or final site plan approval,
a building permit, a demolition permit or a certificate of occupancy
shall, as a pre-condition of such land use approval, provide evidence
satisfactory to the approving authority that an investigation for
abandoned underground storage tanks has been performed of the subject
property, including the rights-of-way adjacent thereto (unless it
is documented that no tank servicing the property could have been
located in such area); and no abandoned underground storage tanks
currently exist. Only unregulated underground storage tanks which
were properly abandoned in place.
B.Â
No application for site plan approval, building permit, demolition
permit or certificate of occupancy shall be deemed complete without
the information requested by this article.
C.Â
Evidence of such investigation may consist of a Phase I Environmental
Site Assessment performed in compliance with ASTM Method E1527, which
includes a tank investigation; or a preliminary assessment performed
in compliance with N.J.A.C. 7:26E-3.1; or a report describing a ground
penetrating radar (GPR) or magnetometer survey of the subject property
and adjacent rights-of-way. The foregoing activities must be either
performed by or overseen by a New Jersey professional engineer or
licensed site remediation professional.
D.Â
Notwithstanding any evidence presented by the applicant in connection
with an application, if the information should later be determined
to be false and an underground storage tank is found to be located
on or adjacent to the property which was the subject of an approval,
the owner of the lot shall nonetheless be obligated to comply with
the requirements of this article and remove such tank in accordance
with state law.
A.Â
Any abandoned tank so identified shall be removed as required by,
and in accordance with, N.J.A.C. 7:14B-9. Documentation of such removal
in accordance with state law shall be provided to the Division of
Construction.
B.Â
Only unregulated tanks for which evidence is provided or has been
provided that no leak has occurred from the tank, accompanied by a
site map showing the location of the tank within the property boundaries,
shall be allowed to be abandoned in place. No tank located within
an adjacent right-of-way may be abandoned in place.
This article shall be enforced by the Division of Construction.
No certificate of occupancy or certificate of land use compliance or site plan approval or building permit or demolition permit shall be issued without proof of compliance with the terms of this article or without such proof of compliance being required as a condition of issuing such approval or permit. Any person(s) who continues to be in violation of the provisions of this article, after being duly notified and permitted a thirty-day period to cure the violation, shall be subject to the penalties referenced in § 163-9 of the Land Development Ordinance of the City of Atlantic City, entitled Enforcement and penalties.
Each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase of this
article is declared to be an independent section, subsection, sentence,
clause and phrase, and the finding or holding of any such portion
of this article to be unconstitutional, void or ineffective for any
cause, or reason, shall not affect any other portion of this article.
This article shall be in full force and effect from and after
its adoption and any publication as may be required by law.
