[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township of Franklin 7-2-1982 by Ord. No. 82-5 (Ch. 127 of the 1988 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Vehicles and traffic — See Ch. 125.
Towing of vehicles — See Ch. 336.
Nuisances — See Ch. 411.
A. 
Word usage. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, and words in the singular number include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
B. 
Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein:
GARAGE
The placing of a vehicle in a building, the function of which is to store the same.
INOPERABLE
Incapable of being legally driven or moved on the public highways of the State of New Jersey.
JUNK VEHICLE
A vehicle which does not have lawfully affixed thereto both an unexpired license plate or plates and a current motor vehicle safety inspection certificate and the condition of which is wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, inoperative, abandoned or discarded.
OPERABLE
Capable of being legally driven or moved on the public highways of the State of New Jersey.
PERSON
Includes natural persons, firms, copartnerships, associations, corporations, companies or organizations of any kind.
PRIVATE PROPERTY
Any property which is privately owned and which is not public property as defined herein.
PUBLIC PROPERTY
Any street or highway, which shall include the entire width between the boundary right-of-way lines of every way publicly maintained for the purpose of vehicular traffic, and any other publicly owned property and facility.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Franklin in the County of Hunterdon and State of New Jersey.
VEHICLE
Every device in, upon or by which a person or property is or may be transported upon a highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
It is hereby determined and declared that the placing, abandonment, leaving, keeping or storage out-of-doors of any junk vehicle or part thereof or unused machinery, equipment or parts thereof on public or private property in the Township is contrary and inimical to the protection of persons and property and the preservation of the public health, safety and welfare of the Township and its inhabitants in that such items attract and may attract young children to their injury, are unsightly and, when exposed to the elements, deteriorate and become more unsightly and are detrimental to and depreciate and lessen the enjoyment and value of other property in the neighborhood where they are located and in the Township as a whole.
No person shall suffer, permit, allow or himself place, abandon, leave, keep or store any item prohibited under § 347-2 hereof out of doors upon any public or private property in the Township.
If any prohibited item shall remain on private property for 30 days or more, it shall be presumed that its presence there resulted from the act or consent of the landowner and tenant in possession.
The owner or tenant in possession of private property upon which a violation exists shall remove or abate it within 20 days from service of written notice from the Township to do so. Such notice shall be served upon such owner or tenant personally or by leaving it at his dwelling house or usual place of abode with a competent member of his family of the age of 14 years or over then residing therein or upon a partnership, corporation or association by serving personally a partner, officer, director, trustee, managing, general or registered agent, but if such person does not reside or maintain an office within the Township, the notice shall be served by certified mail and also by ordinary mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the known residence, office or principal place of business, or if unknown, then by notice published once in the newspaper in which the legal notices of the Township may be published.
When a violation exists upon public property:
A. 
If the violation constitutes a traffic hazard, the Township Police Department shall move it or cause it to be moved into an enclosed building or a nonhazardous location.
B. 
The owner or depositor of the item, if known, shall claim and remove it after service of written notice from the Township to do so. This notice shall be given in accordance with § 347-5 above.
C. 
If a vehicle or machinery or equipment or part thereof is not removed by the owner or other person having a legal right to it within 20 days from service of the notice or within six months if not a junk vehicle, the item may be sold by the Township at public auction in a public place. Notice of the sale shall be given by certified mail to the owner, if known, and to the holder of any security interest, and if a vehicle, by publication in the form prescribed by the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles, otherwise by legally sufficient form by one insertion at least five days before the date of sale in one or more newspapers published in the state and circulated in the Township.
D. 
The owner or other person entitled to it may reclaim possession upon payment of the cost of removal and storage and any fine or penalty and court costs assessed against him for the violation which gave rise to the seizure or taking of the item.
E. 
The sale, transfer of ownership, disposition of proceeds and the procedures thereof shall be done in accordance with N.J.S.A. 39:10A-3 et seq. and N.J.S.A. 40A:14-157, as amended.
The following activities may be conducted on private property in the Township under the conditions or by the persons referred to:
A. 
One vehicle within the definition set forth above not possessing a current year's registration or safety inspection sticker may be kept on a single parcel of land having on it a single-family residential dwelling as long as the vehicle is in a complete and operable condition.
B. 
Any person may keep vehicles altered for race, drag or stock car competition as long as the vehicles are maintained on currently licensed and registered trailers.
C. 
When permissible under Township zoning regulations,[1] vehicles may be kept for sale or resale by a licensed dealer in a commercial zone.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 220, Land Use.
D. 
Antique motor vehicles, when properly registered and licensed by the State of New Jersey, and antique farm equipment may be kept by any person.
E. 
Vehicles kept or stored completely within a garage, barn or other building.
F. 
Operable farm machinery or equipment which has been used as such for its designed and intended purpose at least once within the previous 18 months or which is intended to be a source of replacement parts by the owner or occupant, provided that it is adequately screened from the view of adjacent properties.
G. 
Any junk vehicle, machinery, equipment or parts thereof stored in a duly licensed junkyard in the Township by any owner, operator or tenant thereof.
Anyone who shall violate this chapter shall be punishable as provided in Chapter 1, Article I, General Penalty, in the discretion of the Judge before whom he may be convicted.
A violation continuance or noncompliance with the provisions of this chapter may be deemed a nuisance by the Township, which shall have the right to apply to the courts of this state for injunctive or such other relief as justice may require in addition to the penalties provided for herein.