[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of
the Town of Franklin 10-19-1983 by Bylaw Amendment 83-45; amended in its entirety 9-5-2012 by Bylaw Amendment
12-686. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
This chapter is enacted to supplement the provisions of Chapter 101
of the Massachusetts General Laws regulating the sale of goods, wares
or merchandise by transient vendors, hawkers and peddlers and is intended
to cover the sale of goods, wares or merchandise by all persons who
are subject to the provisions of the said Chapter 101 and by certain
other persons who may, by legislative oversight, be excluded from
the scope of said statute.
B.
It is the specific and express purpose of this chapter to regulate,
inter alia, the sale of goods, wares or merchandise by all transient
vendors, hawkers and peddlers, not only those who go from town to
town or from place to place within one town, but also those who conduct
their business at a single location within one town and who may do
so, not only within any tent, booth, building or other structure shelter,
but also in the open air on any lot of land or part thereof.
C.
In the enactment of this chapter, the Town Council of the Town of
Franklin specifically relies upon powers made available to it by Section
8 of Article 89 of the amendments to the State Constitution and by
MGL c. 43B, § 13.
No person, either principal or agent, who engages in a temporary
or transient business selling any goods, wares or merchandise, either
in one location or in traveling from place to place, shall conduct
such business within the Town without first having obtained any license
required under MGL c. 101 and a local transient vendor license issued
by the Town Administrator. Subject to federal and state law, no license
shall be granted to any person who is not a citizen of the United
States unless such person is authorized to work in the United States
by the Federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, nor shall a
license be issued to any entity that is not duly organized and authorized
to conduct business within the commonwealth.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any exhibition and sale of goods, wares or merchandise which
is carried on at any location within this Town, unless such place
is open for business during usual business hours for a period of at
least 12 consecutive months during the current year. No person shall
be relieved from complying with the provisions of this chapter merely
by reason of associating himself temporarily with any local dealer,
trader or merchant or by conducting such temporary or transient business
in connection with or as a part of the business of, or in the name
of, any local dealer, trader or merchant.
Any person, whether principal or agent, who engages in a
temporary or transient business in the Town of Franklin, whether at
a single location or by going from place to place within the Town,
selling or exhibiting for sale any goods, wares or merchandise.
A.
The provisions of this chapter shall have no application to any person,
business, or activity which MGL c. 101 specifically exempts from local
regulation.
B.
In those cases where MGL c. 101 provides that a person, business,
or activity is exempt from local licensure or the payment of a fee
therefor, the remaining provisions of this chapter shall still apply.
A.
Every person, before commencing business in this Town as a transient
vendor or a locally licensed hawker or peddler, shall make written
application to the Administrator on a form to be provided, stating:
(1)
The business sought to be conducted.
(2)
The names and residential addresses of the applicant and the owners
or parties in whose interest said business is to be conducted.
(3)
The place or places in the Town where the applicant proposes to carry
on said business.
(4)
The authority, if any, for the use of said premises.
(5)
The proposed hours of operation for said business.
(6)
The period of time during which it is proposed that said business
shall be conducted.
B.
Each such application shall have attached thereto copies of any license
which may have been issued for such business under Chapter 101 of
the General Laws or otherwise.
A.
The Town Administrator shall, forthwith upon its receipt, forward
copies of all applications as are received by it to the Police Chief,
the Fire Chief, the Building Commissioner and the Board of Health,
unless such application shall indicate that the applicant has provided
for such copies of the application to be filed with said agencies
at the time of filing his application with the Town Administrator.
(1)
The Police Chief shall examine into the character and reputation
of each person named in the application to determine if said applicant
shall be a person of good repute as to morals and integrity. The Police
Chief shall review and examine each location proposed to be used for
the sale of goods, wares or merchandise and the hours designated for
such operation to determine if, in his opinion, any public safety
hazard would exist by reason of the location, the hours of operation
or the nature of the goods, wares or merchandise to be sold.
(2)
The Fire Chief shall review and examine each location proposed to
be used for the sale of goods, wares or merchandise and the hours
designated for such operation to determine if, in his opinion, any
public safety hazard would exist by reason of the location, the hours
of operation or the nature of the goods, wares or merchandise to be
sold.
(3)
The Building Commissioner shall examine and review each location
proposed to be used, the hours designated for such operation and the
nature of the goods, wares or merchandise to be sold to determine
if, in his opinion, such are in conformity with the Zoning Bylaw and
the Building Code.[1]
(4)
The Board of Health shall review and examine each location proposed
to be used for the sale of goods, wares or merchandise, the hours
designated for such operation and the nature of the goods, wares or
merchandise to be sold to determine their conformity with the provisions
of the State Sanitary Code and any local regulations of the Board
of Health.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: See Division 3 of this Code.
B.
Each of said agencies shall make whatever report it deems necessary
to the Town Administrator within one week of receipt of such application,
recommending such measures or restrictions on the issuance of any
license as may be necessary to protect the public peace, health, safety
or general welfare of the community.
The Town Administrator may refuse to grant a license to any
applicant if he finds that the applicant's character or business
responsibility is unsatisfactory or that approval of a license is
otherwise inconsistent with protection of the public peace, health,
safety or general welfare.
Each license issued under the provisions of this chapter is
subject to the following conditions:
A.
No person licensed under the provisions of this chapter shall stand
in or upon or park a motor vehicle in or upon or display his goods,
wares or merchandise in or upon any street or sidewalk in the Town
of Franklin or within 20 feet of the side line of any street, for
more than 20 minutes, at one location. At the end of said time, said
person shall move at least 500 feet and shall not return to any location
where he has previously operated for at least four hours.
B.
No person licensed under the provisions of this chapter shall sell
any goods, wares or merchandise in or upon any street or sidewalk
within the Town of Franklin within 500 feet of a business selling
the same or similar goods, wares or merchandise.
C.
Each license shall state with specificity the place or places at
which it shall be valid, the hours of operation at each such place
and the specific goods, wares or merchandise which are to be offered
for sale at such places and during such times.
D.
No license may be transferred or assigned by the licensee, but a
licensee may have the assistance of one or more persons in conducting
his business, who may aid him but not act for him or without him.
E.
Public disturbance and threats to health and safety prohibited. No
sale, barter, display for sale, or carrying for sale shall be permitted
by any licensee, if such activities create a threat to the physical
safety of patrons, purchasers or passersby, or if the activities of
patrons or purchasers create a threat to the physical safety of others.
No person hawking, peddling, or carrying or exposing any article for
sale shall cry his wares to the disturbance of the peace and comfort
of the inhabitants of the Town, nor carry or convey such articles
in any manner that will tend to injure or disturb the public health
or comfort nor otherwise than in vehicles and receptacles which are
neat and clean and do not leak.
F.
Town land. No sale, barter, display for sale, or carrying for sale
shall be permitted, and no licensee shall operate, upon any public
street or way, the Town Common, or any other Town land, without a
license issued under this chapter. The license shall be maintained
in the possession of each licensee during business operations and
shall be provided to any police officer or Town enforcement official
upon request.
G.
Private property. No sale, barter, display for sale, or carrying
for sale shall be permitted, and no licensee vendor shall operate,
upon any private property without a license issued under this chapter
and the written permission of the owner of said property. Both the
license and a copy of such written permission shall be maintained
in the possession of each licensee during business operations and
shall be provided to any police officer or Town enforcement official
upon request.
H.
Each license issued under this chapter shall expire on the first
day of January next following its issuance, unless sooner surrendered
or revoked.
B.
The Town Administrator may authorize his office, upon the payment by the applicant of a license fee as established in Chapter 82, Fees, of the Code of the Town of Franklin, to issue to him a license authorizing the sale of such goods, wares and merchandise within the Town.
C.
Upon such payment, the Town Administrator's office shall record
the "local license fees paid."
Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the Town Administrator
from granting, under such conditions and upon such fees, if any, as
he may deem proper, special licenses authorizing a fraternal, religious,
civic, veterans or other charitable organization to conduct a temporary
or transient business for a particular time period not to exceed a
total of four consecutive days.
A violation of any provision of this chapter shall result in
a fine of $100 for each offense; each day that the violation continues
shall constitute a separate offense, except in the case of hawkers
and peddlers holding a state license under MGL c. 101, § 22,
or a local license under § 17 of said statute who shall
be liable for a fine of $20 for each offense, as provided in said
§ 17.
The Town Administrator or his designee, the Franklin Police
Chief and Fire Chief or their designees, the Building Commissioner
and the Board of Health Agent are each authorized to enforce the provisions
of this chapter.
