[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Palisades
Park 7-8-1976 as Section 4-5 of the Revised General Ordinances
of 1975. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 8-15-1995 by Ord. No. 1226]
The business of buying, selling, storing or trading secondhand or used
motor vehicles is not permitted by the Borough Zoning Ordinance,[1] and authorized new car dealers within the borough, in the normal
conduct and operation of new car businesses, are sometimes obliged to accept
in trade used or secondhand motor vehicles, which motor vehicles, under the
present limitations, cannot be sold or stored or traded in within the business
districts of this borough. Such prohibition appears to inflict an undue hardship
upon such new car dealers, and it appears to be proper and reasonable and
to the best interests of the borough that new car dealers be authorized to
sell, trade, store, exchange and display used motor vehicles on vacant lots
or open spaces, subject to the regulatory conditions hereinafter contained.
It shall be unlawful for any person to use any vacant lot or open space
within the borough for the purpose of engaging in the business of selling,
trading, storing, exchanging or displaying used motor vehicles without first
obtaining a license therefor from the Borough Clerk as hereinafter provided.
All licenses shall expire on June 30 of each year, and there shall be
no apportionment of any license fee for any portion of any year.
The licenses shall not be assignable or transferable and shall authorize
the licensee to conduct the business only on the premises specified therein.
No license shall be issued to any applicant unless the applicant is
a duly authorized new car dealer having a showroom within the borough.
Every applicant for such license shall file with the Borough Clerk a
written application signed by the applicant, which shall set forth, under
oath, the following:
A.
The name and address of the applicant and, if a firm
or corporation, the names and addresses of the officers and directors and
the registered agent authorized to accept service of process or the names
and addresses of all the partners.
B.
The nature of the business to be conducted, in every
detail.
C.
The location of the proposed place of business, giving
the lot and block numbers as shown on the Borough Assessment Map, and the
exact dimensions of the land upon which the business is to be conducted. The
application is to be accompanied by a map or sketch showing the exact location
of the proposed area to be used and the square footage therein.
D.
Whether any of the applicant's officers, directors
or partners have been convicted of a crime and, if so, the nature of the offense
and the disposition thereof.
E.
The name of the new car or cars which the applicant is
authorized to deal in and the address of such new car showroom.
Upon receipt of such application accompanied by the license fee hereinafter
stated, it shall be referred by the Borough Clerk to the Chief of the Police
Department and the Chief of the Fire Department for their respective recommendations
concerning police or fire hazards. The Borough Clerk, upon receipt of the
recommendations of the Chief of the Police Department and the Chief of the
Fire Department, shall thereupon refer the same to the Mayor and Council,
who shall act upon the same by resolution, and all licenses granted by the
Mayor and Council shall be issued by the Borough Clerk. In the event that
any application is denied, the Borough Clerk shall forthwith return the fee
to the applicant.
All licenses shall be revocable by the Mayor and Council for violation
of any of the terms of this chapter, upon due notice and hearing.
In all cases where the applicant is not the owner of the site set forth
in the application, the owner's consent, in writing, shall first be endorsed
upon the application.
The annual fee to be paid for the license shall be $200.
No licensee or its agent, servants or employees shall conduct, operate
or carry on the business of selling, trading, exchanging or displaying used
motor vehicles as herein provided between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 8:00
a.m. the following day.
No sign or billboard of any kind, character or description exceeding
30 square feet in area shall be permitted upon the licensed premises.
The use of floodlights at the licensed premises is hereby prohibited.
Before installing any lighting fixtures at the licensed premises, the applicant
shall first submit a sketch to the Building Inspector of the proposed lighting
installations and receive his approval thereof. The sketch shall indicate
the type and location of each lighting fixture in relation to the entire licensed
premises. All fixtures shall be set back at least 10 feet from the front property
line, and no fixture shall be permitted on the side or rear property line.
Each lighting fixture shall be spaced 25 feet apart and shall be mounted approximately
four feet from the ground level on an appropriate base and diffused with an
outer cylindrical glass cover of translucent finish. Each fixture shall contain
not more than eight tubes of forty-watt fluorescent-type lighting.
This chapter is enacted for the purpose of regulating the business of
selling, trading, exchanging or displaying used automobiles on vacant lots
or open spaces within the borough.
