[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Warwick as Ch. 17 of the 1973 Municipal Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 6-23-1988 by L.L. No. 1-1988; 9-26-2024 by L.L. No. 8-2024]
It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in the business of peddler, solicitor or canvasser, as defined in § 112-2, within the limits of the Town of Warwick, excluding that portion thereof within the Incorporated Villages of Florida, Warwick and Greenwood Lake, without first obtaining a license therefor as provided herein. It shall be unlawful for any persons or entities to engage in commercial activity upon any real property owned by the Town of Warwick without the written permission of the Town of Warwick.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CANVASSER or SOLICITOR
Any person, whether as owner, agent, consignee or employee, and whether a resident of the Town of Warwick or not, temporarily traveling either by foot, wagon, automobile, motortruck or any other type of conveyance from place to place, from house to house or from street to street, taking or attempting to take orders for sale of goods, wares and merchandise, personal property of any nature whatsoever for future delivery, or for services to be furnished or performed in the future, whether or not such individual has, carries or exposes for sale a sample of the subject of such sale or whether he is collecting advance payments on such sales or not, provided that such definition shall include any person who, for himself or for another person, firm or corporation, hires, leases, uses or occupies any building, structure, tent, railroad boxcar, boat, hotel room, lodging house, apartment, shop or lot or any other place within the Town for the sole purpose of exhibiting samples and taking orders for future delivery.
[Amended 6-23-1988 by L.L. No. 1-1988]
PEDDLER
Includes any person, whether as owner, agent, consignee or employee, and whether a resident of the Town of Warwick or not, traveling by foot, wagon, automotive vehicle or any other type of conveyance from place to place, from house to house or from street to street, carrying, conveying or transporting goods, wares, merchandise, meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, garden truck, farm products or provisions, offering and exposing the same for sale, or making sales and delivering articles to purchasers, or who, without traveling from place to place, shall sell or offer the same for sale from a wagon, automotive vehicle, railroad car or other vehicle or conveyance, and further provided that one who solicits orders and as a separate transaction makes deliveries to purchasers as a part of a scheme or design to evade the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed a peddler subject to the provisions of this chapter. The word "peddler" shall include the words "hawker" and "huckster."
PERSON
Includes the singular and the plural, and shall also mean and include any person, firm or corporation, association, club, copartnership, society or any other organization.
[Amended 6-23-1988 by L.L. No. 1-1988]
Applicants for a license under this chapter must file with the Town Clerk a sworn application in writing, in duplicate, on a form to be furnished by the Town Clerk, which shall give the following information:
A. 
Name and description of the applicant.
B. 
Address (legal and local).
C. 
A brief description of the nature of the business and the goods to be sold and, in the case of products of farm and orchard, whether produced or grown by the applicant.
D. 
If employed, the name and address of the employer, together with credentials establishing the exact relationship.
E. 
The length of time for which the right to do business is desired.
F. 
If a vehicle is to be used, a description of the same, together with the license number or other means of identification.
G. 
Two photographs of the applicant, taken within 60 days immediately prior to the date of the filing of the application, which pictures shall be two inches by two inches showing the head and shoulders of the applicant in a clear and distinguishing manner.
H. 
A statement as to whether or not the applicant has been arrested for or convicted of any crime, misdemeanor or violation of any municipal ordinance, the nature of the offense and the punishment or penalty assessed therefor.
I. 
Two references, including one from a bank.
J. 
A complete set of fingerprints of the applicant.
K. 
A certificate from the Sealer of Weights and Measures of the County of Orange, certifying that all weighing and measuring devices to be used by the applicant have been examined and approved.
L. 
At the time of filing the application, a fee of $10 shall be paid to the Town Clerk to cover the cost of investigation.
A. 
Upon receipt of such application, the Town Clerk shall cause such investigation of the applicant's business and moral character to be made as he deems necessary for the protection of the public good.
B. 
If, as a result of such investigation, the applicant's character and business responsibility are found to be unsatisfactory, the Town Clerk shall endorse on such application his disapproval and his reasons for the same and return said application to the applicant.
C. 
If, as a result of such investigation, the character and business responsibility of the applicant are found to be satisfactory, the Town Clerk shall endorse on the application his approval and shall, upon payment of the prescribed license fee, issue a license, but no such license shall be issued until the lapse of 48 hours following the filing of the application therefor, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays to be excepted in such computation. Such license shall contain the signature and seal of the Town Clerk and shall show the name, address and photograph of said licensee, the class of license issued and the kind of goods to be sold thereunder, the amount of the fee paid, the date of issuance and the length of time the same shall be operative, a description of the applicant, including his photograph, as well as the license number and other identifying description of any vehicle by the licensee. The Town Clerk shall keep a permanent record of all licenses issued.
D. 
Any applicant who has been refused a license by the Town Clerk may apply to the Town Board therefor, and the same may be granted or refused by the Town Board except as prohibited in § 137 of the Town Law.
[Amended 6-23-1988 by L.L. No. 1-1988]
A license shall be issued for one year for each licensee, the license year to commence January 1 in each year, and the fee therefor shall be $100, payable upon issuance of the license, such license to be valid only between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
No licensee, nor any person in his behalf, shall shout, make an outcry, blow a horn, ring a bell or use any sound device, including any loudspeaking radio or sound-amplifying system, upon any of the streets, alleys, parks or other public places of said Town or upon any private premises in said Town where sound of sufficient volume is emitted or produced therefrom to be capable of being plainly heard upon the streets, avenues, alleys, parks or other public places for the purpose of attracting attention to any goods, wares or merchandise which such licensee proposes to sell.
A. 
No peddler shall have any exclusive right to any location in the public streets, nor shall he be permitted a stationary location, nor shall he be permitted to operate in any congested area where his operations might impede or inconvenience the public. For the purpose of this chapter, the judgment of a police officer, exercised in good faith, shall be deemed conclusive as to whether the area is congested or the public impeded or inconvenienced.
B. 
No licensee shall peddle within 250 feet of any school building or playground or public park.
A. 
Grounds for revocation. Licenses issued under the provisions of this chapter may be revoked by the Town Board, after notice and public hearing, for any of the following causes:
[Amended 6-23-1988 by L.L. No. 1-1988]
(1) 
Fraud, misrepresentation or false statement contained in the application for license.
(2) 
Fraud, misrepresentation or false statement made in the course of carrying on the business licensed under this chapter.
(3) 
Any violation of this chapter.
(4) 
Conviction of any crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.
(5) 
Conducting the business licensed under this chapter in an unlawful manner or in such a manner as to constitute a breach of the peace or to constitute a menace to the health, safety or general welfare of the public.
B. 
Notice of hearing. Notice of hearing for revocation of a license shall be given in writing, setting forth specifically the grounds of complaint and the time and place of hearing. Such notice shall be mailed, postage prepaid, to the licensee at his last known address at least five days prior to the date set for hearing.
The license fee provided for by this chapter shall not be so applied as to occasion an undue burden on interstate commerce. In any case where an applicant or licensee believes that the fee places an undue burden upon interstate commerce, he may apply to the Town Clerk for an adjustment of the fee so that it shall not be discriminatory, unreasonable or unfair to such commerce. Such application may be made before, at or within six months after payment of the prescribed license fee. The applicant shall, by affidavit and, if required by the Town Clerk, by verbal testimony, show his method of doing business, including place of origin of the goods sold or to be sold, and such other information as the Town Clerk shall require in order to determine the extent, if any, of any undue burden on such commerce. In the event the Town Clerk shall determine that the fee for license is an undue burden upon interstate commerce, he shall refund all or such part of such fee as he shall determine to be such undue burden.
Before any license as hereinbefore provided shall be issued to a licensee, the applicant shall file with the Town Clerk, as a part of the application, an appointment of the Town Clerk as the applicant's true and lawful attorney with full power and authority to receive service or notice of process for or on behalf of said applicant in respect to any matters connected with or arising out of business transacted under said license, in the same manner and with the same effect as if personally served upon the applicant. Immediately upon service of process upon the Town Clerk as herein provided, the Town Clerk shall send to the licensee at his address shown on the application, by certified mail, a copy of said process.
Nothing herein contained shall require the licensing of honorably discharged soldiers, sailors or marines of the military and naval service of the United States who have obtained a license from the County Clerk in connection with § 32 of the General Business Law, nor shall anything in this chapter apply to the peddling of meats, fish, fruit or farm produce by farmers or persons producing such commodities, nor shall anything in this chapter be held to apply to persons soliciting or collecting for any bona fide charitable organization, nor shall anything in this chapter be held to apply to retail sales of milk by persons licensed by the State of New York.
[Amended 6-23-1988 by L.L. No. 1-1988]
Any person committing an offense against any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a violation punishable by a fine not exceeding $250 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. The continuation of an offense against the provisions of this chapter shall constitute, for each day the offense is continued, a separate and distinct offense.