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Town of Union, NY
Broome County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
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[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Union 6-21-1989 by L.L. No. 9-1989. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Parks and Recreation Commission — See Ch. 12, Art. II.
Amusements — See Ch. 68.
Animals — See Ch. 71.
Peddling, soliciting and transient merchants — See Ch. 151.
Solid waste — See Ch. 174.
Vehicles and traffic — See Ch. 191.
The Town of Union has established various parks to be administered by the Town of Union Parks and Recreation Department. For the better management of these parks, it is necessary to establish certain rules and regulations for all persons entering, using, visiting or who are otherwise within the boundaries of said parks.
This chapter does hereby establish the following rules and regulations.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
COMMISSIONER
The Deputy Commissioner of Public Works for Parks and/or his duly authorized personnel.
[Amended 1-16-2002 by L.L. No. 1-2002]
DEPARTMENT
The Town of Union Parks and Recreation Department.
PARK
Any and all land and/or physical structures owned or controlled by the Town of Union and administered by its Parks and Recreation Department. These shall include areas designated as parks, picnic areas, nature reserves and other special use areas as designated by the Parks and Recreation Department.
PERSON
Includes persons and corporations and other groups.
No person shall:
A. 
Injure, deface, destroy, disturb, remove or misuse any part of the park nor any building, sign, equipment, plant, plant material or other property.
B. 
Operate chain saws within the park.
A. 
No person shall leave behind or dump any material of any kind in the park except the refuse, ashes, garbage and other material of a picnic, camp or other permitted activity, and such material shall be deposited in receptacles provided for such purposes.
B. 
No person shall, within the park, place or permit to be placed in any river, brook, stream, ditch or drain any liquid or aqueous waste which shall fail to comply with the minimum requirements as set by the New York State Department of Health for quality standards for Class B waters.
A. 
No person shall use, carry or possess any firearms within the park.
B. 
No person except duly authorized employees or agents of the Department shall use, carry or possess any fireworks or explosive substances within the park.
C. 
No person shall possess any other dangerous weapons or instruments within the park.
No person shall:
A. 
Strike, shove, kick or otherwise subject another person to physical contact or attempt to do the same with the intent to harass, annoy or alarm such other person.
B. 
Follow a person about the park with the intent to harass, annoy or alarm such other person.
C. 
Engage in a course of conduct or repeatedly commit acts which alarm or seriously annoy such other person and which serve no legitimate purpose.
D. 
Threaten or menace any other person with any instrument or by using any animal to do the same with the intent to harass, annoy or alarm such other person.
No person shall, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof:
A. 
Engage in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior.
B. 
Make unreasonable noise.
C. 
Use abusive or obscene language or make obscene gestures in a public place.
No person shall commit, perform or engage in any lewd, lascivious, obscene or indecent act or behavior.
No person shall:
A. 
Distribute or place any commercial or political sign, advertisement, circular, notice, statement, banner, emblem or design within the park.
B. 
Beg, hawk, peddle or solicit within the park.
C. 
Sell or offer for sale any article, thing, privilege or service without a written permit from the Commissioner. Once permitted, such sale or offer of any article, thing, privilege or service must be in accordance with appropriate local and New York State law.
A. 
No person shall fail or refuse to comply with any reasonable order relating to the regulation, direction or control of traffic or with any other order lawfully given by the Commissioner or willfully resist, obstruct or abuse any police officer or other official in the execution of his office.
B. 
The Commissioner may set such regulations from time to time which will help in promoting the health, safety and general welfare of persons and the orderly administration of the park pursuant to policies established by the Town Board of the Town of Union.
A. 
No person shall establish or maintain any camp or other temporary lodging or sleeping place within the park without a written permit from the Commissioner.
B. 
Any facility or area rented, leased or otherwise reserved shall be open for inspection by authorized employees of the Department for the purpose of assuring compliance with rules and regulations and proper use of Department property.
A. 
No person shall start a fire in the park, except small fires for culinary purposes in park grills or privately owned grills or fires in the places or designated areas approved by the Commissioner. The Commissioner may, at his discretion, prohibit fires at any location or for any purpose when necessary for the protection of park property.
B. 
No person starting or using fires shall leave the immediate vicinity of the fires before they are extinguished. The dumping of hot ashes or fire from portable picnic grills is permitted only in designated receptacles.
No person shall be permitted to enter or remain within the confines of the park or other public reservations of the Department after closing hours or before opening hours as set and established from time to time by the Commissioner.
A. 
No person within the confines of the park shall hunt, pursue with dogs, trap or in any way molest any wild bird or animal found within the confines of the park.
B. 
No person shall fish in park waters in violation of the rules and regulations of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Dogs are prohibited within all parks and park facilities of the Town of Union.
A. 
Swimming is prohibited except at areas designated for that purpose and only when lifeguards are on duty.
B. 
No glass bottles, metal cans or other hazardous objects are permitted in swimming areas.
Models, such as miniature planes, cars, rockets or boats, that produce loud noises or are hazardous are not permitted to be operated within the confines of the park except in areas designated by the Commissioner.
No person shall use any metal detector within the confines of the park unless such use is authorized by the Commissioner on a case-by-case basis.
In parks or on other public lands no person shall offer for sale or be under the disturbing influence of any beer, wine, liquor or other intoxicating beverage or any illegal substance, drug, stimulant, depressant or hallucinating agent. No person shall possess, consume or use any beer, wine, liquor or any illegal substance, drug, stimulant, depressant or hallucinating agent within any parks or on other public lands.
A. 
No persons shall be permitted to remain, stop or park within the confines of any Town park between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. prevailing local time in the Town of Union, except in emergencies or with a written permit from the Commissioner. In case of an emergency or when, in the judgment of the Commissioner, the public interest demands it, a portion of the park may be closed to the public or designated persons until permission is given to reopen.
B. 
Notwithstanding the hours of closing stated herein, the Commissioner may establish closing hours for designated park facilities.
A. 
Purposes of way.
(1) 
No person shall use any portion of the park for purposes of way except drives, roadways, paths, walks and trails established for such purposes. Paths established as bridle paths, footpaths, exercise trails, nature trails or bicycle paths shall not be used for vehicular traffic.
(2) 
Snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles (ATV), unlicensed trail bikes and recreation vehicles shall be prohibited within all parks and park facilities of the Town of Union.
B. 
Driving on closed roads or drives. No person shall drive upon or along any park road or drive which has been closed and posted with appropriate signs or barricades. The Commissioner shall have authority to order roads or drives closed.
C. 
Speed limit. No person shall drive at a speed in excess of that posted for the area. The Town Board shall determine the speed limits in the park.
D. 
Reckless driving. No person shall operate a vehicle along or over any road or drive within the park in a reckless manner or without due regard for the safety and the rights of pedestrians and drivers and occupants of all other vehicles.
E. 
Motorcycles.
(1) 
All motorcycles, licensed trail bikes, minibikes, motor scooters or mopeds operated within the park shall be operated only on those roadways provided for the use of motor vehicles.
(2) 
All persons operating and passengers riding on motorcycles, licensed trail bikes, minibikes, motor scooters or mopeds within the confines of the park shall wear approved safety helmets, as per the requirements of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, at all times while such vehicle is in motion.
F. 
Parking. No person shall park any motor vehicle upon:
(1) 
Any roadway in the park or at any location where posted signs or symbols painted on the pavement prohibit parking.
(2) 
Any lawn or grassy area unless specifically authorized by the Commissioner on a case-by-case basis.
(3) 
Any motor vehicle left unattended in a Town park after closing hours is subject to the vehicle being towed at the owner's expense.
[Added 6-15-2005 by L.L. No. 4-2005]
A. 
Fees and charges will be established by the Town Board.
B. 
Any person or group wishing to sponsor or engage in any special activity is required to obtain written permission for such activity from the Commissioner, who may charge the person or group so engaged a percentage of any cash receipts or for any extra expenses incurred by the Department as a result of such activity.
C. 
The Department will follow a strict policy of no refunds, except as outlined in specific contracts.
[Amended 1-16-2002 by L.L. No. 1-2002]
Any violation of any provision of the foregoing rules and regulations or any amendment thereto shall be deemed a violation, and any person found guilty thereof shall be liable to a fine which shall not exceed $250 or imprisonment not to exceed 15 days, or both such fine and imprisonment, or, at the discretion of the Commissioner, be banned from the parks for a period of time specified in writing. Persons so notified are prohibited from entering or remaining upon park property.
The Commissioner, park rangers and other agents designated by the Commissioner, in addition to local, county or state police or law enforcement officers, are hereby authorized to and they shall enforce the foregoing rules and regulations, which power shall include but not be limited to the power to issue appearance tickets and to exercise such other legal methods of enforcement of the foregoing rules and regulations as the Commissioner or his agents may deem appropriate and necessary.