[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the City of Ventnor City 11-25-1974 by Ord. No. 17-1974; amended in its entirety 12-23-1993 by Ord. No. 9325. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
ABANDONED CART
A hand-drawn or propelled vehicle or wheel container made of metal, wood or other materials such as is generally provided by merchants for the use of their customers in carting or carrying goods, merchandise or groceries to automobiles or other vehicles, which is left unattended for a period of time in excess of 30 minutes on a property other than the property owned or leased by the merchant who has provided the use of said carts in the normal operation of their business.
PERSON
Any individual of either sex, any partnership, corporation or any other legal entity.
It shall be unlawful for any person, his agent or employee to leave an abandoned cart upon any property not his, her or its own, including, but not limited to, any street, avenue, road, alley, lane, highway, boulevard, concourse, driveway, culvert, crosswalk, sidewalk, park, traffic island or other property, whether privately owned or not.
Any cart provided or made available for use by any person in the City of Ventnor City shall have a plainly visible form of identification indicating the owner of said cart or the establishment where said cart is used in the normal course of business.
The Department of Public Works of the City of Ventnor City or any other person so authorized by the Board of Commissioners of the City of Ventnor City shall have the power pursuant to this chapter to remove or cause to be removed any abandoned cart found within the confines of the City of Ventnor City, and said abandoned cart shall be taken by the City of Ventnor City and shall be held by said City until redeemed, sold or otherwise disposed of pursuant to this chapter.
When the Department of Public Works shall take control of any cart pursuant to this chapter, a notice shall be sent by ordinary mail to the owner of said abandoned cart or the business establishment where said abandoned cart is used in the general course of the business advising that the cart is being held by the City of Ventnor City and indicating the amount of money necessary to redeem said cart.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Any abandoned cart may be redeemed by the owner or business establishment where said abandoned cart is used in the regular course of business at any time prior to a sale pursuant to this chapter by the payment of a fee in the amount set forth in Chapter 114, Rate Schedule, to the City of Ventnor City.
When any such cart remains in the control of the City of Ventnor City for a period of 30 days and no person has presented proof to the City of Ventnor City establishing such person's ownership right to said cart, the City Clerk shall give public notice in a newspaper circulated within the City of Ventnor City advising that at a specified place, time and date, any and all carts in the possession of the City of Ventnor City shall be sold at public auction to the highest bidder.
Any money paid to the City of Ventnor City due to the redemption or sale of any abandoned cart shall be placed in the general treasury of the City of Ventnor City, and any such money shall be first used to pay any costs incurred for the advertising or otherwise to effectuate a sale or for any other reason incurred pursuant to this chapter.
Any person who shall cause a cart to become an abandoned cart as described in this chapter or otherwise violate this chapter shall be subject to a fine up to $1,000 or imprisonment in the county jail up to 90 days, or both, as may be fixed in the discretion of the Municipal Court Judge before whom said person appears. In addition to or as a substitute for the previously mentioned fine, the imposition of community service shall be authorized as an additional penalty, which community service shall not exceed 90 days.