[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Aldermen
(now City Council) of the City of Chicopee 4-18-1989. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Vehicles and traffic — See Ch. 260.
A.Â
No person, company or corporation in control of real property in
the City of Chicopee, other than a bona fide licensed commercial auto
salvage yard or commercial garage, as determined by the License Committee
of the City Council, shall permit the outdoor storage or parking thereon
for more than three days of an abandoned, disassembled, inoperable
motor vehicle except for one unregistered vehicle that is operable.
[Amended 3-19-1996 by Ord. No. 96-10; 9-17-1998 by Ord. No. 98-59; 6-15-1999 by Ord. No. 99-61; 9-1-2009; 9-20-2016 by Ord. No. 16-59]
B.Â
Any such motor vehicle may be deemed a public nuisance
and an attractive hazardous condition by the Chicopee Department of
Public Health, MGL c. 111, § 123.
C.Â
Real property, as related aforesaid, includes yards,
lawns, driveways, empty property, land parcel and tree belts. It is,
however, not limited to public vehicular travel byways where the Chicopee
Department of Public Health determines it to be a public safety hazard,
attractive nuisance or detrimental to the health of the Chicopee community.
A.Â
Upon inspection, those motor vehicles may be appropriately
tagged, without prior notice to the owner of said vehicle, with a
decal calling for a seventy-two-hour notice to remove.
If the Chicopee Department of Public Health
must remove the vehicle from the stored or parked area, it will be
impounded at a site determined by the Chicopee Department of Public
Health. The cost of impounding and storage will be assessed to the
owner of said vehicle or vehicles.
This section is not intended to preclude any
enforcement by the Chicopee Police Department under provisions of
MGL c. 135.
Violators, if known, will be notified, in writing,
to abate the condition and be given five calendar days to comply with
said order.
Persons, companies or corporations in violation
may be prosecuted upon proper procedures by the Chicopee Department
of Public Health in the Trial Court of the Housing Court of Hampden
County, held at Springfield, Massachusetts.
[Added 6-15-1999 by Ord. No. 99-60]
A.Â
Terms not defined. Where terms are not defined, they
shall have their ordinarily accepted meanings or such as the context
may imply.
B.Â
ABANDONED
DISASSEMBLED
INOPERABLE
UNREGISTERED
UNINSPECTED
For the purposes of this chapter, the following shall
be considered for definitional purposes:
Anything which is left on municipal property under such circumstances
and for a period of more than three days that it appears the owner
does not have any plan to claim it.
In a state of ruin so as to be incapable of propulsion; not
intact or substantially the same condition as originally purchased.
In order for a motor vehicle to be inoperable as that term
is used in this chapter, it must not have a valid inspection sticker,
or be incapable of operation under its own power, or be unable to
run without assistance, or not be capable of safe movement, or not
be fit in all ways for safe, legal and ordinary use as a motor vehicle
on the public ways of the commonwealth. Any vehicle which is inoperable
and is parked or stored in violation of this chapter may be removed
by the City in accordance with this chapter.
[Amended 9-1-2009 by Ord. No. 09-19]
No valid registration or number plate as issued by the Department
of Motor Vehicles under the provisions of MGL c. 90.
Lacking a valid inspection sticker as issued under the provisions
of MGL c. 90.
