[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the Township of Montclair 1-26-1993 by Ord. No. 93-1 (Art. XV of Ch. 88 of the 1979 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Location of telephone booths on cafe plan — See Ch. 276.
Obstruction of required pedestrian passageway — See Ch. 297, Art. VI.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
DISTRIBUTOR
Any person responsible for placing and maintaining a pay telephone in a public way hereinafter defined.
ILLEGAL OR ILLICIT ACTIVITY
Activity which is proscribed by N.J.S.A. 2C:1-1 et seq. or any Township ordinance or any federal law or regulation.
PAY TELEPHONE
Any self-service or coin- or credit-card-operated telephone.
PERSON
An individual, business, firm, corporation, association, partnership or other organization or group of persons.
SIDEWALK
Any surface provided for the use of pedestrians.
STREET
All that area dedicated to public use for public street purposes and shall include but not be limited to roadways, parkways, alleys and sidewalks.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Montclair.
A. 
No person, association, partnership or corporation may place or maintain any pay telephone on or above any public street or sidewalk without having first obtained a permit as provided in this chapter. Permits shall be issued by the Director of Community Services and shall be subject to approval of the location and means of installation of the telephone in accordance with the standards set forth in § 317-5 of this chapter. The permit required by this chapter shall be in addition to any permit required pursuant to the Uniform Construction Code, N.J.S.A. 52:27d-119 et seq., or any street occupancy or opening permit required by any other Township ordinance.
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
B. 
Before installation, a plan or sketch of the telephone shall be furnished to the Director of Community Services in sufficient detail to describe size, location, equipment and means of installation and cabling. A copy of the permit or the permit number shall be affixed to the telephone.
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
C. 
The initial fee for a permit shall be $25 per year or any part of a year and the fee for a renewal permit shall be $10 per year; provided, however, that no fee shall be charged for telephones furnished by the Township of Montclair as an accommodation to the public or for permits issued to any person or entity which pays a franchise fee or tax for the use of public facilities. Such person or entity shall not, however, be exempt from the regulatory provisions of this chapter. Permits shall be renewable annually on January 1 of each year.
D. 
The Director of Community Services shall be informed of the intent of any person to remove or relocate a telephone.
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
E. 
Before receiving a permit, an applicant shall:
(1) 
Execute an indemnification agreement substantially as follows: The applicant and any other persons on whose behalf the application is made agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Township of Montclair 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 or ownership or use of each pay telephone.
(2) 
File with the Department of Community Services a general liability insurance policy of $1,000,000 for bodily injury and $50,000 for property damage naming the Township as additional insured against any injury, loss or damage that may result from placing or maintaining the telephone or telephone equipment on or above any public street or sidewalk.
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
F. 
The permit fees set forth herein shall not apply to any public telephone installation subject to an agreement with the Township of Montclair providing for the payment of any annual commission and a franchise tax to the Township of Montclair, except that such public telephone installations shall be subject the Township's right to require the following:
(1) 
The removal of an outdoor telephone or the revocation of a permit; or
(2) 
The restriction or limitation upon service to permit outgoing calls only if a public telephone has the potential to or has illustrated a propensity to create or contribute to illegal or illicit activity. A presumption of illegal or illicit activity will be created if during the permit year five incidents of illegal or illicit activities are associated with the location or the proposed location of the public telephone.
A. 
All public telephones shall possess 911 emergency number access. Telephones shall permit the following calls to be placed without charge:
(1) 
Calls to an emergency number.
(2) 
Emergency calls placed through operator assistance to the Police and Fire Departments.
(3) 
Calls placed through operator assistance to Police and Fire Departments by anyone identified as a member of either Department.
B. 
Current telephone rates shall be posted on the telephone or on the telephone booth.
Telephones shall comply with the following standards:
A. 
No booth surrounding a telephone shall exceed eight feet in height, four feet in width or four feet in depth.
B. 
Each telephone shall be equipped with a coin return mechanism to permit a person using the machine 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 everyone using the telephone, a telephone number of the distributor and the telephone number of a working telephone service to report a malfunction, to secure a refund or to give the notices provided for 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 served 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 discolorations.
(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 telephone.
E. 
Any owner or permittee who fails to maintain his, her or its telephone in working condition may be given a ten-day notice to repair the telephone by the Director of Community Services. If the telephone is not in working condition at the end of the ten-day period, the Director of Community Services may revoke the permit unless the permittee provides assurance that the telephone shall be repaired or removed.
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
F. 
Each telephone shall provide a local directory or information assistance without charge, provided that the distributor is not charged for such call by the local telephone company.
G. 
Each telephone shall, upon written request of the Director of Community Services, be capable of being restricted to outgoing calls only within 10 days of the request as provided for herein.
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
A. 
No 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 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, hydrants or mailboxes permitted at or near said location.
B. 
Telephones shall be placed or otherwise secured so as to prevent their being blown down or around the public street or sidewalk but shall not be chained or otherwise secured to any traffic or street signs, signals, hydrants or mailboxes.
C. 
No 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 five 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.
(8) 
Within 10 feet of any entrance to a residence, store or public building.
D. 
In the event that a particular pay telephone does not fully meet the requirements set forth herein, the Director of Community Services shall have the discretion to grant a permit upon a showing that the issuance of such a permit is reasonable in accordance with the provisions of this section and other provisions of this chapter.
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
E. 
The Township of Montclair may also consider in applications for permits and/or require in its consent any of the following: the removal of an outdoor telephone, the revocation of a permit or the restriction or limitation upon service to permit outgoing calls only if a public telephone or the proposed location has the potential to or has illustrated a propensity to create or contribute to illegal or illicit activity. A presumption of illegal or illicit activity will be created if during the permit year five incidents of illegal or illicit activities are associated with the location or the proposed location of the public telephone.
F. 
No telephone or telecommunication device shall be placed on the sidewalk within 600 feet of any other pay telephone or telecommunication device on a sidewalk in any residential district or publicly zoned district as these districts are described in Chapter 347, Zoning, of the Code of the Township of Montclair.
G. 
No telephone or telecommunication device shall be placed on the sidewalk closer than 200 feet to any other pay telephone or telecommunication device in any business district or any industrial district of the Township.
H. 
In the event that an operator wishes to place more than one phone in a given location, in addition to the plan or sketch as required in § 317-2B of this chapter, he or she shall submit economic or demographic data to support the need for the number of phones proposed. The Director of Community Services shall review this data and, after consultation with the Department of Police, shall have the discretion to allow more than one phone to be placed or maintained in the proposed location.
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
Upon receipt of a complaint by a citizen or a representative of the Police Department that the location and use of a telephone interferes with the health and welfare of the public, the Director of Community Services shall conduct a hearing, after providing notices of same to all affected parties, to ascertain if the use of the telephone endangers the health and welfare of the community. If he or she finds by a preponderance of the evidence presented that the use of the telephone constitutes a violation of the standards and conditions of § 317-5 of this chapter or constitutes a threat to the health and welfare of the public, he or she shall revoke any permit issued by his or her Department for the use of the telephone. He or she may also order such other relief as he or she deems fair, including requiring the telephone to be restricted to outgoing calls only.
A. 
The owners of existing public telephones shall apply for the permit required hereunder within 30 days from the date this chapter becomes final. The Township of Montclair reserves the right to reject any and all locations submitted for approval based upon their existing nonconformance to this chapter.
B. 
If a permit is not obtained within the time specified herein, or if the Director of Community Services rejects any application for a permit, the owners shall forthwith remove said public telephone and all ancillary equipment. If the owners fails or refuses to remove said public telephone within 10 days from notification by the Director of Community Services, the Director of Community Services or his or her designee may cause the public telephone to be removed. Public telephone equipment removed by the Township shall be released to the lawful owner thereof upon payment of a fee of $250 to the Township of Montclair.
[Amended 6-15-2004 by Ord. No. 04-34]
C. 
If no person makes a claim for return of a public telephone and/or ancillary equipment removed by the Township under this section within six months from the date of removal, it may be disposed of pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:14-157.
[Amended 5-23-2000 by Ord. No. 00-19; 4-10-2007 by Ord. No. 07-17]
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding $2,000, imprisonment in the county/municipal jail for a term not exceeding 90 days, or a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, or any combination thereof as determined by the Municipal Court Judge. Each day on which a violation of an ordinance exists shall be considered a separate and distinct violation and shall be subject to imposition of a separate penalty for each day of the violation as the Municipal Court Judge may determine.