It shall be unlawful to:
A.Â
To park and or in any other manner place and leave unattended
on the traveled portion of any public street or highway a junk vehicle for
any period of time, even if the owner or operator of the vehicle did not intend
to permanently desert or forsake the vehicle.
B.Â
To park or in any other manner place and leave unattended
on the untraveled portion of any street or highway, or upon any other public
property, a junk vehicle for more than 48 continuous hours, even if the owner
or operator of the vehicle did not intend to permanently desert or forsake
the vehicle.
C.Â
To park, store, keep or maintain on private property
a junk vehicle for more than 48 continuous hours.
A.Â
It shall be permissible for a person to park, store,
keep and maintain a junk vehicle on private property under the following conditions:
(1)Â
The junk vehicle is completely enclosed within a building
where neither the vehicle nor any part of it is visible from the street or
from any other abutting property. However, this exception shall not exempt
the owner or person in possession of the property from any zoning, building,
housing, property maintenance and other regulations governing the building
in which such vehicle is enclosed.
(2)Â
The junk vehicle is parked or stored on property lawfully
zoned for business engaged in wrecking, junking or repairing vehicles. However,
this exception shall not exempt the owner or operator of any such business
from any other zoning, building, fencing, property maintenance and other regulations
governing business engaged in wrecking, junking or repairing vehicles.
B.Â
No person shall park, store, keep and maintain on private
property a junk vehicle for any period of time if it poses an immediate threat
to the health and safety of citizens of the City of Scranton.
A.Â
The Master Code Official, or his designee, including
but not limited to the Zoning Enforcement Officer and any Building, Housing
or Health Inspector (the Official), is authorized to inspect the property
on which motor vehicles are stored to determine compliance with this article
and issue ordinance summons for violations of this article on private property.
B.Â
The Official shall, upon the complaint of any citizen,
or acting on his own information, investigate complaints of junked vehicles
on private property.
C.Â
Upon a finding of noncompliance with the provisions of
this article, the Official shall issue a written notice to be served by registered
or certified mail upon the record owner of the premises or, if the owner's
whereabouts or identity is unknown, by posting the notice conspicuously upon
the offending premises.
D.Â
The notice shall specify the condition which violates
this article and shall require the owner to commence to rectify the violation
within 10 days from the mailing or posting of said notice and, thereafter,
to fully comply with the requirements of the notice within a reasonable time
as determined by the Official.
If the owner of the premises fails to comply with the notice:
A.Â
The City of Scranton shall have the authority to take
measures to correct the violations and collect the cost of such corrections,
plus 10% of all costs. The City of Scranton, in such event and pursuant to
its statutory or otherwise authorized police powers, shall have the right
and power to enter upon the offending premise to accomplish the foregoing;
and/or
B.Â
Issue a summons to the offending party with a penalty
of $100, plus court costs for each separate violation of this article. Each
day the violation of this article continues shall be considered a separate
violation.
The owner may appeal the order of the Official to the Building Appeals
Board by filing a written statement to the Board within 10 days from the mailing
or posting of said notice outlining the reasons why they feel they are not
in violation of the ordinance. The Building Appeals Board shall convene a
hearing within 30 days of the filing of the written statement. The Building
Appeals Board may uphold or overturn the Official's order.
