[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Ephrata 6-8-1981 as Ord. No. 1086. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
The Council of the Borough of Ephrata, Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, finds that the storage or parking of wrecked,
junked, stripped or abandoned motor vehicles on private property or
the storage, placement or accumulation on private property of junked,
wrecked, discarded or abandoned machinery, equipment, household appliances
or other debris and waste materials of any kind or description constitutes
a nuisance and is detrimental to the public health, safety, morals
and welfare, except when such vehicles or other herein-named items
are parked or stored in a building or unless the same be authorized
in conjunction with a business properly operated pursuant to other
laws of the Borough of Ephrata.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
The items or materials so described are no longer in current
usage as evidenced by an apparent relinquishment of all rights thereto
through continued disuse.
[Amended 6-11-2007 by Ord. No. 1424]
It shall be unlawful for any person to park,
store or leave any motor vehicle of any kind in a wrecked, junked,
stripped, unlicensed, or abandoned condition, or bearing no valid
inspection sticker on private property, unless in a building, and
it shall be unlawful for the owner of such motor vehicle or the owner
or occupant of any real property to allow, permit or suffer the same
to be left upon any privately owned real property, unless the same
shall be authorized in conjunction with a business operated in conformity
to other laws of the Borough of Ephrata.
It shall be unlawful to store, place or accumulate
on private property any junked, wrecked, discarded or abandoned machinery,
equipment, household appliances or other debris and waste materials
of any kind or description, unless in a building, and it shall be
unlawful for the owner of such items or the owner or occupant of any
property to allow, permit or suffer the same to be left upon any privately
owned property, unless the same be authorized in conjunction with
a business properly operated pursuant to other laws of the Borough
of Ephrata.
[Amended 6-11-2007 by Ord. No. 1424]
If the Council of the Borough of Ephrata or
any of its authorized agents finds that a violation of this chapter
exists, it shall notify the owner of the real property on which the
violation exists or the owner of the motor vehicle or vehicles or
other discarded or abandoned item, or both, of the violation and order
the owner of said motor vehicle or vehicles or other discarded or
abandoned item or items, or both, and the owner of the real property
on which the motor vehicle or vehicles or other discarded or abandoned
items, or both, are stored or parked, within five days thereof to
remove the motor vehicle or vehicles or other discarded or abandoned
item or items, or both.
Notice shall be given by personal service or
by certified mail to the last known address of the violator. In the
event that, on diligent search, the address of either the property
owner or the owner of the motor vehicle or other items cannot be ascertained,
the posting of the said notice or copies thereof on the real property,
motor vehicle or other items, structure or area immediately adjacent
thereto shall constitute sufficient notice.
[Amended 6-11-2007 by Ord. No. 1424]
If the violation complained of shall not have
been remedied within five days of service of notice, the Borough of
Ephrata shall, through its own agents, contractors and/or employees,
remedy the violations and charge the costs thereof to the real property
owner on whose property the vehicles or other items are located. Said
costs shall, after a proper demand and refusal or a failure to pay
after 30 days, constitute a lien on said reality at such time as it
shall thereafter be filed by the Borough Solicitor.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former §§ 111-7, Request for hearing, as amended, 111-8, Failure to request hearing, and 111-9, Notice of hearing, as amended, were repealed 6-11-2007 by Ord. No. 1424. This ordinance also provided for the renumbering of former §§ 111-10 and 111-11 as §§ 111-7 and 111-8, respectively.
[Amended 4-8-1996 by Ord. No. 1279; 6-11-2007 by Ord. No. 1424; 9-11-2023 by Ord. No. 1576]
A.
Any person or persons who shall violate any provision of this chapter
shall, upon conviction, for each and every such violation or failure
to comply be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 and costs
of prosecution. Each day's violation of a provision of this chapter
shall constitute a separate offense.
B.
The Code Enforcement Official or Ephrata Borough Police Department
are hereby duly authorized to issue a ticket in a form established
by the Borough to any owner, occupant, or person violating the provisions
of this chapter. The ticket shall identify the address of the property
where the violation exists, as well as the nature of the violation.
The ticket may be handed to an owner or occupant of the property,
affixed to a door on the property where the violation exists fronting
a right-of-way, or conspicuously posted on the property. The ticket
shall instruct such violator that if he, she, or they reports to the
Borough office and pays to the Borough the sum of up to $100 for a
first offense, $150 for a second offense, and $200 for each subsequent
offense within a calendar year, within 10 days of the date of issuance
of the ticket, then such payment shall save such violator from prosecution
by a citation, which prosecution may result in court costs and attorneys'
fees being assessed against the violator in addition to the fine.
In any event, if a ticket is not paid in full within 10 days of issuance,
the official authorized to issue tickets shall issue a citation to
the violator, or initiate other appropriate enforcement action. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, the Code Enforcement Official or his designee(s) shall
have the sole and absolute discretion to issue a citation without
first issuing a ticket as provided for herein.
