[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village
of Rockville Centre 10-6-2009 by L.L. No. 3-2009. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Rockville Centre ("Village")
hereby finds and concludes that commercial enterprises are engaged
in solicitation of donations of clothing, by use of clothing bins
having the appearance that such bins will be used for charitable purposes,
and that there has been an undesirable proliferation of clothing bins
in the Village on Village property and on private property. It is
the purpose of this chapter to prohibit such commercial activities,
and to regulate such noncommercial activities.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
indicated meanings:
A container or receptacle held out to the public as a place
at which articles of clothing or other personal property may be dropped
off, and in which to store such clothing or property until carted
away.
The Village of Rockville Centre.
A.
No person or entity shall place or maintain, or permit the placement
or maintenance of, any clothing bin on any property in the Village
if any portion of the proceeds obtained for disposition of the clothing
or other personal property deposited in such bin are disbursed or
used for any purpose other than a not-for-profit charitable purpose.
B.
No person or entity shall place or maintain, or permit the placement
or maintenance of, any clothing bin on any residential property in
the Village.
C.
No person or entity shall place or maintain, or permit the placement
or maintenance of, any clothing bin on any public property in the
Village without the prior permission of the Board of Trustees.
D.
No person or entity shall place or maintain, or permit the placement
or maintenance of, any clothing bin on any private nonresidential
property in the Village without a permit from the Village Building
Department issued pursuant to this chapter.
A.
Any person or entity wishing to place or utilize a clothing bin on
private nonresidential property in the Village shall first obtain
a permit for the same from the Village Building Department. Such permit
shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of issuance.
Any such permit may be renewed for successive additional periods of
one year each upon the expiration of any existing permit, provided
that the clothing bin continues to be placed and maintained as required
by this chapter. Payment of a permit fee, in an amount determined
by the Board of Trustees from time to time by resolution, shall be
required prior to issuance of any permit or renewal thereof.
B.
A permit may be issued or renewed pursuant to this chapter only upon
a proper demonstration that the person or entity to whom the permit
is to be issued is exempt from taxation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3),
(4) or (6) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended.
C.
Each clothing bin for which a permit is issued or renewed pursuant
to this chapter shall have clearly identified on at least one visible
surface, in legible writing, the name, phone number and address of
the person or entity to which the clothing bin permit has been issued.
D.
No more than two permits for clothing bins shall be permitted to
be in effect for any premises in the Village without the prior approval
of the Board of Trustees.
E.
No clothing bin shall be located in a required parking space or in
any other location which is required to remain unobstructed.
A.
Each owner, lessee or other person or entity in control of, or who
owns, maintains or operates, any clothing bin located on any property
without a valid permit as required by this chapter shall be guilty
of a violation.
C.
Any violation of this chapter shall be punishable as an offense,
and each person or entity convicted of a violation of this chapter
shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed $250 for each day on which
the violation occurred, or imprisonment for not more than 15 days,
or both such fine or imprisonment. Each day that a violation of this
chapter occurs shall be considered a separate violation.
D.
The Village Attorney may, when authorized by the Board of Trustees
in an appropriate case, institute a civil action for any other available
relief, including injunctive relief, and forfeiture of any clothing
bin and the contents thereof, to assure compliance with the provisions
of this chapter. In any such action, the court may award the Village
reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses for such action.
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any clothing
bin which is located on property owned or leased by any religious,
charitable or eleemosynary institution, provided that the proceeds
of the disposition of clothing or other property deposited in such
clothing bin inure solely to the benefit of such institution or another
such institution.
In the event that any provision of this chapter shall be determined
by a court of appropriate jurisdiction to be illegal or otherwise
unenforceable, then only that particular provision shall not be enforced,
and all other provisions of this chapter shall remain in full force
and effect.
