Township of Pennsauken, NJ Chapter 296 Vehicles and Equipment, Abandoned

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township of Pennsauken 3-13-1978 by Ord. No. 78-3 as Ch. 232 of the 1977 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Gasoline stations — See Ch. 175.

Junkyards — See Ch. 188.

Property maintenance — See Ch. 243.

Used car businesses — See Ch. 292.

§ 296-1 Legislative findings.

[Amended 4-13-1988 by Ord. No. 88-17]

It is hereby determined and declared that the placing, abandonment, leaving, parking, storing or maintaining of any uninspected, unregistered, unlicensed, disabled, dismantled or inoperable motor vehicles, boats, campers, machinery or mechanical equipment out of doors on private lands in the Township of Pennsauken is contrary, inimical and detrimental to the public welfare in that such articles so placed, abandoned, left, parked, stored or maintained attract or may attract persons of tender years who, being so attracted, may play in and about the same and may be injured and in that such articles so placed, abandoned, parked, stored or maintained out of doors, exposed to the elements, deteriorate and in themselves are unsightly and, deteriorating, become more unsightly and tend to attract vermin and rodents and, by reason thereof, depreciate the value of properties in the neighborhood where they are located and in the Township as a whole, thereby creating health, fire and sanitary hazards, all of which are contrary and inimical to the public welfare.

§ 296-2 Storage in enclosed buildings.

No person or corporation shall place, abandon, leave, keep, park or maintain or permit or suffer the placing, abandoning, leaving, keeping, parking or maintaining of any articles described in § 296-1 of this chapter out of doors upon any private land in the Township of Pennsauken for more than 10 days, unless the same is garaged or stored in an enclosed building.

§ 296-3 Placement in residential front yards prohibited.

[Added 7-13-1988 by Ord. No. 88-24]

No person, firm or corporation shall be permitted to park or place any motor vehicle, boat, camper or mechanical equipment on or in the front yard of any residential property within the Township of Pennsauken.

§ 296-4 Parking vehicles, trailers and storage containers on streets.

[Added 12-11-2006 by Ord. No. 06-31[1]]

No person shall park any type of trailer or storage container which would include, but not be limited to motor homes, campers, landscaping trailers, boat trailers, car or other vehicle trailers, or other recreational trailers, on any street within the Township at any time. The lone exception to this requirement would be if the trailer is actively being used for commercial purposes, and the trailer is located in a safe location that does not constitute a traffic hazard, with appropriate warning cones and/or signs being placed at the rear of said trailer being temporarily parked on said street. For the purposes of this section, the term "actually being used for commercial purposes" shall mean that, concurrent with the trailer being on location, that work is actually being performed on site. This requires that the trailer be removed at the conclusion of active work and prohibits overnight parking of the trailer.

[1] Editor's Note: This ordinance also renumbered former §§ 296-4 through 296-7 as §§ 296-5 through 296-8, respectively.

§ 296-5 Presumption of responsibility.

If any vehicle, boat, machinery or mechanical equipment or other article described in § 296-1 shall be placed, abandoned, left, kept, parked or maintained on private lands for 10 days or more, it shall be presumed that the owner or tenant in possession of said lands, or both, left, placed, kept, stored, parked or maintained the same there or permitted or suffered it to be so left, placed, kept, stored, parked or maintained upon such premises.

§ 296-6 Notice to abate violation.

The Construction Official may cause a notice to be served upon the owner or tenant in possession of said lands on which the violation exists to abate the violation by removing the vehicle, boat, machinery or mechanical equipment or other articles constituting a violation of this chapter from the premises or by storing the same within an enclosed building within 10 days after service of such notice, which notice may be served upon such owner or tenant, if he or she resides in the Township, personally or by leaving it at his or her usual place of abode with some member of the household over the age of 14 years. If any such owner or tenant shall reside outside of the Township, such notice shall be served by certified mail addressed to the owner at his or her usual residence according to the tax records of the Township of Pennsauken. The said owner or tenant, or other person, shall so abate the violation within the time fixed by the notice.

§ 296-7 Violations and penalties.

[Amended 9-12-1984 by Ord. No. 84-26; 3-9-1988 by Ord. No. 88-15; 12-30-2002 by Ord. No. 02-32]

A. Each day that any such person or corporation shall continue to keep, maintain, park, store, place or abandon such vehicle, boat, machinery or mechanical equipment, or other articles prohibited in this chapter, upon such premises after the time contained in the aforesaid notice shall expire shall be deemed to be a separate offense and violation of this chapter.

B. Any person who shall violate the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to one or more of the following: a fine not exceeding $1,250 or imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding 90 days, or a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, in the discretion of the Municipal Court Judge.

§ 296-8 Existing junkyards.

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any lawfully existing licensed junkyard which otherwise complies with all federal, state and municipal regulations, nor shall it apply to the temporary storage of vehicles awaiting repairs at service stations as permitted under provisions of Chapter 141, Development Regulations, Article VII, Zoning.