[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township of Mount Holly 7-7-1980 as Sec. 18-2 of Ch. XVIII of the Revised General Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fire prevention — See Ch. 128.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
OWNER
The person named as owner in the current tax assessment records of the Township, and his address shall be the address shown therein to which his bills are sent.
PRIVATE DRIVEWAY, DRIVEWAY or ACCESS AREA (or the grammatical variants thereof)
Any portion of a lot of land, other than a public street, across which vehicles travel or must travel to reach a structure on the lot and shall include parking lots, appurtenant to the structure or structures thereon, and the lanes, if any, marked or indicated thereon for vehicular travel, as well as driveways.
A. 
The following matters are hereby determined, declared and recited:
(1) 
A number of buildings or structures in the Township are so located on their lots as to prevent ready access to them by fire-fighting and other emergency equipment from the public street adjoining such lots making it necessary to utilize the private driveways on the lots to reach the structure.
(2) 
In many cases, such private driveways are so narrow that parking of motor vehicles or other obstructions on one or both sides of such driveways tend to prevent the ready access of fire-fighting and other emergency equipment in case of need, with consequent danger to the property and its inhabitants as well as to the adjoining properties and their occupants and the Township at large.
(3) 
Among such properties are apartment projects or other rental projects where it is apparent that private effort through ordinary civil means by the owners to prevent tenants from obstructing such driveways or access areas has proven futile.
B. 
By reason of the foregoing it is determined that the public safety and welfare requires that a means be devised to designate such private driveways as fire lanes where necessary for the access of fire-fighting and other emergency equipment and to define and prohibit what shall constitute obstructions of such fire lanes.
[Amended 6-22-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-5]
Whenever the Fire Official of the Township and the Chief of the Fire Department, upon their own volition or upon direction by the Director of Public Safety, shall determine that in the event of an emergency it would be necessary to utilize the private driveway on any particular lot for access to the structures on such lots by fire-fighting and other emergency equipment and that without utilization of such private driveways for such access the fire or other emergency could not be effectively handled from the public streets adjoining the property and that the obstruction of such driveway in whole or in part would impede such access with consequent danger to the public safety and welfare, they shall submit a written report, thereof, together with their recommendations thereon to the Township Manager, which recommendation shall include proposed regulations for preventing such obstruction.
[Amended 6-22-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-5]
The Township Manager, upon receipt of the report, shall conduct a public hearing. Written notice of the hearing shall be given in person or by certified mail to the owner of the property 10 days prior to the date thereof, and the notice shall set forth the findings and recommendations of the Fire Official and Chief of the Fire Department. The notice shall also direct the property owner to show cause at the time and place therein set forth why the recommendations should not be accepted and such regulations or some modification thereof to prevent such obstruction adopted. A brief notice of the time and place of such hearing, the address of the property to be affected and the place where such recommendations can be inspected prior to the hearing and that any interested person may be heard shall be published in the official newspaper of the Township once at least 10 days before the hearing.
[Amended 6-22-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-5]
After the hearing, the Township Manager shall approve or disapprove the recommendations and findings of the Fire Official and Chief of the Fire Department or some modification thereof. If the recommendations are approved by the Township Manager, he shall designate the traffic, parking or other regulations so adopted and to be observed to prevent such obstruction and cause them to be filed with the Township Clerk as public records and entered in a book designated "Fire Lane Control." Notice of the regulations shall be given to the property owner in person or by certified mail and be published in the official newspaper of the Township within 10 days after the hearing, and such regulations shall thereupon become effective.
A. 
Signs briefly digesting the regulations shall be placed along the driveway regulated.
B. 
Signs shall have a white background, red letters and the words "Fire Lane."
C. 
In addition, a digest of the regulation such as "No parking" shall appear under the designation "Fire Lane."
D. 
The signs shall be 24 x 18 inches square and erected on metal standards and shall be on the side facing the flow of traffic.
E. 
Signs shall be posted at fifty-foot intervals on the driveways or alleys designated.
F. 
Erection and maintenance of the signs shall be under the supervision of the Township Manager and the Police Department.
G. 
In the event that the owner shall object to such signs on his property, it shall be sufficient if the sign is erected on the curbline of the public street at each entrance of the driveway therefrom to the property.
No person shall violate any of the provisions of the traffic, parking or other regulations so designated by the Township Manager and recorded in the Fire Lane Control Book.
[Amended 6-22-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-5]
This chapter shall be enforced by the Director of Public Safety, the Fire Official and the Chiefs of the Fire and Police Departments, and summonses may be issued thereby. In addition to the penalties provided herein, any vehicle parked in violation of the regulations provided under this chapter may be towed away summarily by the Police Department at the expense of the violator.
[Amended 6-22-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-5]
Any person who violates any provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be liable to a penalty of a fine not to exceed $1,000 and imprisonment for a term of not more than 90 days, or both.
Where the physical side lines of such driveways are not clearly marked or defined, the report and regulations referred to in §§ 126-3 and 126-4 of this chapter shall include a designation of the area or lane that is to constitute the fire lane and shall require the side lines of such lane to be marked by yellow lines.