[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Garfield 2-27-2001
by Ord. No. 2302 (Ch. 165 of the 1979 Code). Amendments noted
where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
The City of Garfield.
The Mayor and Council of the City of Garfield.
Any person who drives a limousine within the City.
Licensed in accordance with the appropriate sections of this chapter,
unless otherwise stated.
Includes any automobile or motor car used in the business of carrying
passengers for hire to provide prearranged passenger transportation at a premium
fare on a dedicated, nonscheduled, charter basis that is not conducted on
a regular route and with seating capacity in no event of more than 14 passengers,
not including the driver, provided that such vehicle shall not have a seating
capacity of four passengers, not including the driver, beyond the maximum
seating capacity of the vehicle, not including the driver, at the time of
manufacture. The term limousine shall not include taxicabs, hotel buses or
buses employed solely in transporting school children or teachers or auto
buses which are subject to the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation.
Furthermore, limousine shall not be deemed to include a vehicle utilized in
connection with conducting a funeral home or church or a vehicle used for
the pickup and discharge of passengers within the City of Garfield.
Consists of accepting and transporting in such limousine one or more
persons for hire from a point within the City. The operation of a limousine
by one other than the owner shall be deemed operation by the owner thereof
as well as by the person actually driving the same. Operation shall also be
deemed to include parking, storing or otherwise maintaining said vehicle within
the borders of the City of Garfield.
Any person, corporation or association in whose name title to any
limousine is registered with the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles or
who appears in such records to be the conditional vendee or lessee thereof.
The total number of limousine owner's licenses that may be issued
and outstanding at one time is hereby fixed at 10.
No limousine shall be operated within the City unless both the limousine
and the driver thereof are licensed pursuant to this chapter and conform to
all of the provisions hereof.
A limousine owner's license shall entitle the limousine therein
described to be operated in this City until the license either expires or
is surrendered, suspended or revoked, and shall not be transferable.
Any license issued pursuant to the terms of this chapter shall expire
at midnight on December 31 of the year in which it was issued unless sooner
surrendered, suspended or revoked.
A.
All applications for the issuance or the renewal of any
license shall be made to the Council on forms to be obtained from the City
Clerk and designed to elicit information respecting the identification, responsibility
and law-abiding habits of the applicant.
B.
Each applicant for a license shall supply the information
requested on the application in full and verify the correctness thereof by
his oath or affirmation and thereafter file the completed application with
the City Clerk, together with the full amount of the proper fee hereinafter
fixed therefor.
A.
All applications for the issuance or renewal of a limousine
owner's license shall be made in writing, in duplicate, and shall contain
the full name and address of the owner, the serial number, type, color, year
and make of the limousine or limousines, the number of persons it is to carry
and a detailed description of the manner in which all vehicles shall be parked
or otherwise stored in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Any
and every change of address of the owner shall be reported to the City Clerk
within three days after such change.
B.
Every person obtaining a limousine owner's license
shall be at least 18 years of age and, if operating more than one vehicle
with the owner's license, shall have a regularly registered business
office located within the City of Garfield in compliance with all local building
and zoning ordinances and shall therein have a telephone operating. Said registered
business location within the City of Garfield shall also comply with all other
local regulations, including off-street parking sufficient to accommodate
all vehicles to be licensed hereunder. The applicant shall provide, with his
or her application, a letter from the Building Department, confirming such
compliance.
C.
No limousine owner's license shall be issued until
the limousine has been thoroughly inspected by the Police Department and found
to be in a safe, clean and sanitary condition for the transportation of passengers.
D.
No limousine licensed under this section shall be maintained
or operated on the streets of the City unless licensed in accordance with
the provisions of this section.
E.
No limousine owner's license shall be issued without
satisfactory proof of the availability of off-street parking for all vehicles.
Said proofs must be approved, in writing, by the Building Inspector.
F.
No limousine owner's license shall be issued unless
the applicant shall possess a valid New Jersey driver's license.
G.
The application shall state, with specificity, the exact
off-street parking location where the vehicle or vehicles shall be parked
and/or stored.
A.
Every applicant for a limousine owner's license
shall submit the insurance policy or bond required by N.J.S.A. 48:16-14 covering
the limousine or limousines to be licensed and shall execute and deliver to
the City Clerk concurrently with the filing of the policy or bond aforesaid,
a power of attorney, wherein and whereby the owner shall appoint the City
Clerk his true and lawful attorney for the purpose of acknowledging service
of any process out of a court of competent jurisdiction to be served against
the insured by virtue of the indemnity granted under the insurance policy
or bond filed in accordance with N.J.S.A. 48:16-16. [1]
B.
The City Clerk, upon filing of the required insurance
policy or bond, shall issue a certificate in duplicate showing the owner of
the limousine has complied with the terms of the New Jersey statutes, aforementioned,
which certificate shall recite the name of the insurance company, the number
and date of expiration of the policy or bond, a description of the limousine
insured thereunder and the registration number of the same. The duplicate
certificate shall be filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles before any
such car is licensed as a limousine. The original certificate shall be posted
in a conspicuous place with the limousine.
The annual fee for each limousine owner's license hereafter issued
or any renewal thereof shall be $150, plus $30 for each limousine for each
year or portion of a year for which the license is issued or renewed, and
all such licenses shall be under the charge and control of the person applying
therefor and he shall be responsible for the operation of all cars so licensed
to him.
The Council may, in its discretion, refuse to issue or renew or may,
after notice and hearing, revoke or suspended any license:
A.
If the applicant or licensee has been once convicted
of a crime in this or any other jurisdiction or convicted of being a disorderly
person or of a violation of Title 39, Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulations,
of the Statutes of New Jersey, or has been dishonorably discharged from the
Armed Forces of the United States of America, or who violates any provisions
of this chapter, or has any unsatisfied judgment of record against him arising
out of an automobile accident, or who has made false answers in his application
for such license or any renewal thereof, or who has failed or fails to render
reasonably prompt, safe and adequate limousine service, or who has not complied
fully with all requirements of this chapter for such class of license.
B.
If the licensee or the applicant has in any degree contributed
to any injury to persons or damage to property arising out of negligent operation
of a motor vehicle, or has any communicable or contagious disease.
C.
If the motor vehicle licensed or to be licensed, by reason
of unsafe or unsanitary conditions, is dangerous or unsafe to the occupants
or others, or if the policy of insurance or bond or power of attorney required
by N.J.S.A. 48:16-14 and 48:16-16 as aforementioned has not been furnished
or kept in force, or if the owner fails to comply with any terms or conditions
imposed by the Council, or any law of this state.[1]
A.
Drivers of limousines shall not receive or discharge
passengers in the roadway, but shall pull up to the right-hand sidewalk or
as nearly as possible thereto or, in the absence of a sidewalk, to the extreme
right-hand side of the road, and there receive or discharge passengers, except
on one-way streets where passengers may be discharged on either the right-
or left-hand sidewalk or at the side of a roadway in the absence of a sidewalk.
B.
No limousine shall be operated about the streets of the
City so as to solicit passengers or to bring the presence of the limousine
to the attention of prospective passengers.
A.
All vehicles herein required to be licensed, or used
or operated for the carrying of passengers within the scope of this chapter
shall be automobile sedans with a minimum of three doors, at least two of
which doors shall be for the exclusive use of the passengers. These automobiles
shall at all times be clean and in good repair.
B.
No person other than the driver of the limousine shall
ride or sit in the compartment of the limousine reserved for the driver.
No limousine shall be licensed until an insurance policy or certificate
in lieu thereof shall have been filed with the City Clerk with liability limits
as required by law.
[Amended 4-25-2006 by Ord. No. 2457]
A violation of any provision of this chapter shall be punished, upon
conviction, by one or more of the following: a fine not exceeding $2,000;
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days; and/or a period of community
service not exceeding 90 days.
