[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of River Edge 12-31-1975 as § 4-11 of the 1975 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Junkyards — See Ch. 256.
Impounded vehicles — See Ch. 404.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
PROPERTY
Any real property, either public or private, within the Borough which is not a street or highway.
STREET or HIGHWAY
The entire width between the boundary lines of every way maintained, when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purpose of vehicular travel.
VEHICLE
A machine propelled by other than human power, designed to travel along the ground by use of wheels, treads, runners or slides, and to transport persons or property or to pull machinery, including, but not by way of limitation, an automobile, truck, trailer, motorcycle, tractor, buggy and wagon.
[Amended 1-14-2008 by Ord. No. 1597]
No person shall place, abandon, leave, keep, store or permit the placing, abandoning, leaving, keeping or storage of any motor vehicle not currently in use for transportation or not licensed and registered for the current license year or any other unused machinery or equipment out of doors upon any public or private land in the Borough or between the right-of-way side lines of any public thoroughfare. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to prohibit the placing, keeping or storage of any such article in an enclosed garage or other building, nor shall it prohibit a duly licensed motor vehicle dealer from displaying for sale out of doors on his premises any used motor vehicle for which he has in his possession a certificate of the ownership thereof and a registration certificate therefor, if it is registered by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles and a registration certificate has been issued therefor, in accordance with Chapter 10 of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey, which motor vehicle, in the condition in which it is displayed, is usable and salable for use in highway transportation, or to prohibit a dealer in other machinery or equipment from displaying the same for sale out of doors on his premises, provided that such other machinery or equipment, as displayed, is in salable condition, and as to both exceptions that no actionable violation of the zoning chapter shall be involved in the display.
If any article described in § 392-2 shall be left, placed, kept or stored on private lands for fifteen (15) days or more, it shall be presumed that the owner or tenant in possession of the land left, placed, kept or stored it there or permitted it to be left, placed, kept or stored there.
Whenever it shall appear to the appropriate official or to any member of the Police Department that this chapter is being violated and that the land on which the violation exists is privately owned, he shall, in writing, notify the owner or tenant in possession of the land on which the violation exists to abate the violation by removing the article constituting the violation from the Borough or into an enclosed garage or other building within ten (10) days of the service of the notice. If the owner or tenant resides in the Borough, the notice shall be served upon him personally or by leaving it at his usual place of abode with some member of his household over the age of fourteen (14) years. If the owner or tenant resides outside the Borough, the notice shall be served upon him by registered or certified mail addressed to him at his usual residence, if ascertainable, otherwise by notice published in the newspaper in which legal notices of the Borough may be published, and the owner or tenant notified shall abate the violation.
Whenever it shall appear to any member of the Police Department that there is a violation of this chapter, he shall:
A. 
Determine whether any article constitutes or may constitute a traffic hazard, and, if so, he shall move it or cause it to be moved to a nonhazardous location or into an enclosed storage place.
B. 
Ascertain, if he can, who the owner of the article is and, in writing, notify the owner to abate the violation within ten (10) days after the service of the notice. The notice shall be given in the same manner as designated in § 392-4.
C. 
If any article constitutes or may constitute a traffic hazard and it cannot be moved to a nonhazardous location or if the name and address of the owner of the article cannot be ascertained or if the violation is not abated in the time required by the notice given under the foregoing subsection, he shall:
(1) 
Determine whether the article has a value in excess of the cost of removing it to storage and the cost of storing it for three (3) months in the case of motor vehicles and for six (6) months for all other articles.
(2) 
Unless the article appears to have a value clearly in excess of such cost, he shall arrange, if he can, for its removal by someone who will do so without cost to the Borough; otherwise, he shall arrange for its removal to an authorized dump at the expense of the Borough.
(3) 
If the article appears to have a value clearly in excess of the cost, he shall remove it or cause it to be removed at the expense of the Borough to storage.
(4) 
If the article is removed by the Borough, notice shall be given to the owner of its removal, the place to which the article has been removed and the owner's right to reclaim it by paying the cost of removal and interim storage charges.
If any article impounded by the Police Department shall remain in its possession, after notice to the owner, after three (3) months for motor vehicles, and for six (6) months for any other articles, the impounded article shall be deemed to have been abandoned and forfeited by the owner, and the Council shall sell and dispose of it as provided in N.J.S.A. 40:47-20.