[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:
AGENT OF COUNTY
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.
AGENTS
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.
DISCHARGE
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.
EXPENDABLE ITEMS
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.
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.
NONEXPENDABLE ITEMS
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.
VEHICLE
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.
VESSEL
A container, drum, box, cylinder or tank used to hold or contain or carry or store any hazardous material.
A. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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.
LAND USE APPROVAL
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.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind or political subdivision of this state.
RIGHT-OF-WAY
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.
UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK
As defined in N.J.A.C. 7:14B-1.6.
A. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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.