[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City of Perth Amboy 9-19-1995 as Ord. No. 796-95. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meaning indicated:
Director of Code Enforcement or the Director's designee.
Any person responsible for placing and maintaining a pay
telephone on or above a public right-of-way as herein defined.
Any self-service or coin- or credit-card-operated telephone.
An individual, business, firm, corporation, association,
partnership or other organization or group of persons.
Any surface or area dedicated for public use for the purpose
of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, including, but not limited to,
all sidewalks, streets, avenues, roadways and alleys.
Any surface provided for the use of pedestrians, including
the area from a curb to the facade of any adjacent structure.
Any pay telephone.
A.
No person shall place or maintain any pay telephone on, above or
along any public right-of-way without having first obtained a permit
as provided in this chapter. Pay telephones installed on the facades
of buildings abutting a public right-of-way shall be subject to all
of the requirements of this chapter. Pay telephones installed outdoors
on private property abutting a public right-of-way shall be subject
to all of the requirements of this chapter, except the limitation
as to proximity from other pay telephones as set forth herein. Permits
shall be issued by the City Clerk subject to the prior approval of
the location and means of installation of the telephone by the Director
of Code Enforcement in accordance with the standards, limitations
and restrictions set forth in this chapter.
B.
Prior to the installation of any pay telephone, the distributor shall
submit a permit application to the Director of Code Enforcement. A
separate permit application shall be required for each pay telephone
for which a permit is sought.
C.
Every permit application shall include the following:
A.
The Director of Code Enforcement shall advise the applicant, in writing,
within thirty (30) days after the submission of an application as
to whether the application is approved. In the event that the Director
does not approve an application, the Director shall provide the reasons
the application was not approved.
B.
The Director shall also advise the applicant as to what additional
permits shall be required pursuant to the New Jersey Uniform Construction
Code Act and the city's street opening and zoning ordinances[1] as conditions precedent to issuance of a permit.
C.
The applicant shall have twenty (20) days from the date the letter
disapproving the application was mailed to cure the defects or deficiencies.
Proof shall be forwarded by the applicant directly to the Director
of Code Enforcement.
D.
Upon receipt of said proofs, the Director shall advise the applicant
of the final decision within twenty (20) days, in writing.
A.
The initial fee for a permit for each pay telephone shall be one
hundred dollars ($100) for the period from the effective date of this
chapter to October 31, 1996. A yearly fee of fifty dollars ($50) for
permit renewals for each pay telephone shall be remitted to the City
Clerk no later than November 1 of each year, commencing in 1996.
B.
No permit fee shall be required for pay telephones installed on or
above the public right-of-way adjacent to property owned by the city.
However, the placement of such telephones shall otherwise be subject
to the regulatory provisions of this chapter.
A.
The City Clerk shall issue a pay telephone permit only upon submission
by an applicant to the City Clerk of all of the following, which shall
be considered prerequisites to the issuance of a pay telephone permit:
(1)
The permit fee required by this chapter.
(2)
Proof that the Director of Code Enforcement has approved the proposed
location and means of installation consistent with the requirements
of this chapter.
(3)
Proof that all permits required for the installation of pay telephones
pursuant to the Uniform Construction Code Act and the city's
street opening and zoning ordinances, if applicable, have been obtained
from the proper authorities.
(4)
An executed and notarized indemnification agreement in favor of the
City of Perth Amboy which reads as follows:
"The applicant and any other persons on whose behalf the application
is made agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the City of Perth
Amboy against liability, including any and all losses, for all claims
for damage to property or injury to or death of persons arising out
of or resulting from the issuance of this pay telephone permit or
the control, maintenance or ownership or use of pay telephone for
which a permit is issued."
(5)
Evidence of a general liability insurance policy in the amount of
one million dollars ($1,000,000) for bodily injury and fifty thousand
dollars ($50,000) for property damage, naming the city as an additional
insured against any injury, loss or damage that may result from placing
or maintaining the pay telephone and telephone equipment on or above
a public right-of-way. The general liability insurance policy shall
have a deductible or self-insured retention no greater than five hundred
dollars ($500).
(6)
Proof that the distributor has permission from the abutting property
owner for the installation of the pay telephone.
B.
The pay telephone permit shall include a permit number issued by
the City Clerk. The distributor shall put the permit number on a small
metal tag, which tag shall be affixed to the side of the telephone
prior to or during installation.
A.
Telephones shall permit the following calls to be placed without
charge except as may be otherwise provided by applicable tariffs filed
with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities:
B.
Current local coin call initial rates and the charge for additional
minutes shall be posted on the telephone or on the telephone booth,
if applicable.
C.
The identity of the long-distance carrier and the information about
how to make calls using other long-distance carriers shall be posted
on the pay telephone or the pay telephone booth in a clearly visible
location.
All pay telephones shall conform to the following standards:
A.
No booth surrounding a telephone shall exceed eight (8) feet in height,
four (4) feet in width or four (4) feet in depth.
B.
Each telephone shall be equipped with a coin-return mechanism to
permit a person using the telephone to secure an immediate refund
if a call cannot be placed. The coin-return mechanism shall be maintained
in good working order.
C.
Each telephone shall have affixed to it, in a place visible to anyone
using the telephone, a telephone number of a working telephone service
to report a malfunction, to secure a refund or to provide the notices
set forth in this chapter.
D.
Telephones shall be maintained in a neat and clean condition and
in good repair at all times. Without limiting the generality of the
foregoing, a telephone shall be serviced and maintained so that:
(1)
It is reasonably free of chipped, faded, peeling and cracked paint
in the visible painted areas thereof.
(2)
It is reasonably free of rust and corrosion in the visible unpainted
metal areas thereon.
(3)
Any clear plastic or glass parts are unbroken and reasonably free
of cracks, dents, graffiti, blemishes and discoloration.
(4)
Any paper or cardboard parts or inserts are reasonably free of tears,
peeling or fading.
(5)
The structural parts thereof are not broken or unduly misshapen.
(6)
The telephone receiver is attached to the pay telephone.
E.
Any owner or permittee who fails to maintain its pay telephone in
working condition shall be given a ten-day written notice to repair
the telephone by the Director of Code Enforcement. If the telephone
is not in working order at the end of the ten-day period, the Director
of Code Enforcement shall advise the City Clerk, and the City Clerk
shall revoke the permit. Upon the repair of the pay telephone, the
Director of Code Enforcement shall advise the City Clerk that the
telephone has been repaired. Upon payment of a twenty-five dollar
($25) restoration fee, the City Clerk shall reinstate the pay telephone
permit.
F.
Each pay telephone shall be restricted to outgoing calls. Permits
for pay telephones that are not so restricted shall be subject to
summary suspension and the penalties set forth in this chapter for
each day in service without being restricted to outgoing calls.
A.
No pay telephone shall be permitted to rest upon, in or above any
public right-of-way when such installation, placement, use or maintenance:
(1)
Endangers the safety of persons or property;
(2)
Unreasonably interferes with or impedes the flow of pedestrians or
vehicular traffic, including any legally parked or stopped vehicles;
(3)
Unreasonably interferes with the ingress or egress from any residence
or place of business; or
(4)
Interferes with the use of traffic signs or signals, fire hydrants,
fire call boxes or mailboxes permitted at or near said location.
B.
Pay telephones shall be placed or otherwise secured so as to prevent
their being blown down or around a public right-of-way, but shall
not be chained or otherwise secured to any traffic or street signs,
signals, fire hydrants, fire call boxes or mailboxes.
C.
No pay telephones shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:
(1)
Within any marked crosswalk.
(2)
Within three (3) feet of any marked or unmarked crosswalk.
(3)
Within fifteen (15) feet of any traffic or street sign or signal,
fire hydrant, fire call box or emergency facility.
(4)
Within five (5) feet of any driveway.
(5)
At any location whereby the pedestrian right-of-way is less than
six (6) feet.
(6)
Within three (3) feet of any building, unless written permission
is secured from the building owner and filed with the City Clerk.
(7)
Within ten (10) feet of any entrance to a residence, place of business
or public building.
D.
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 four (4) reported criminal incidents at an address in any one-year
period.
E.
No pay telephone shall be placed within six hundred (600) feet of
any other pay telephone located on, above or along the public right-of-way
in the City of Perth Amboy.
F.
No pay telephone shall be installed on any street or sidewalk without
the permission of the abutting landowner. Permission of a landowner
shall not be construed to require the City of Perth Amboy to approve
any application for a pay telephone permit.
G.
The Director of Code Enforcement shall be informed of the intent
of any person to install, remove or relocate a pay telephone.
A.
Only existing pay telephones located on or above sidewalks within
the City of Perth Amboy which were placed or installed pursuant to
the provisions of Chapter A437 of the Code of the City of Perth Amboy
or a contract with the City of Perth Amboy shall be deemed "grandfathered"
solely for the purpose of authorizing the location of said pay telephones.
B.
Grandfathered pay telephones shall be subject to all other requirements
as set forth in this chapter, unless otherwise indicated.
C.
Distributors shall remove all pay telephones located on or above
the sidewalks of the City of Perth Amboy for which a permit is not
granted by January 1, 1996. Failure of a distributor to remove a pay
telephone for which a permit has not been granted or where a permit
has been rescinded may be grounds for denial of permits for other
pay telephones.
Any violation of this chapter shall subject the violator to
a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one
thousand ($1,000). Each violation of any of the provisions of this
chapter and each day there is a violation thereof shall be deemed
and taken to be a separate and distinct offense.
