[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough of Rutherford Council 12-21-1993 by Ord. No. 2694-93. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Newspaper vending machines — See Ch. 62.
Streets and sidewalks — See Ch. 109.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein:
DISTRIBUTOR
Any person responsible for placing and maintaining a pay telephone.
MUNICIPALITY
The Borough of Rutherford.
PAY TELEPHONE
Any self-service or coin- or credit-card-operated telephone or bank of such telephones placed adjacent to each other, located in or over a public sidewalk or street.
PERSON
An individual, business, firm, corporation, association, partnership or other organization or group of persons.
SIDEWALK
That area dedicated to public use for pedestrian traffic.
STREET
Any street, avenue, boulevard, road, lane, parkway, viaduct, alley or other way which is an existing state, county or municipal roadway, which is shown upon a plat heretofore approved pursuant to law, which is on a plat duly filed and recorded in the office of the county recording officer or which is approved by official actions as provided by municipal ordinance, and includes the land between the street lines, whether improved or unimproved, and may comprise pavement, shoulders, gutters, sidewalks, parking areas and other areas within the street lines.
A. 
No person, association, partnership or corporation may place or maintain any pay telephone on or above any public street or sidewalk without having first obtained a permit as provided in this chapter. Permits shall be issued by the Borough Clerk subject to approval of the location and means of installation of the pay telephone as set forth hereinafter. Permits or denial thereof, with reasons set forth in the event of denial, shall be issued within 20 working days of application for such permits.
B. 
Before installation, a plan or sketch of the pay telephone shall be prepared by the applicant and furnished to the Borough Clerk in sufficient detail to describe the size, location, equipment and means of installation.
C. 
The fee for a permit shall be $200 for the first year and $50 for each year thereafter.
D. 
The Borough of Rutherford shall receive any commissions paid by the distributor arising out of the use of the pay telephones located on municipal property. Said commissions shall be payable on a annual basis at the time of the renewal of the permit.
A. 
Before receiving a permit, an applicant shall execute an indemnification agreement substantially as follows:
"The applicant and any other persons on whose behalf the application is made agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Borough of Rutherford against liability for all claims for damage to property, or injury to or death of persons, arising out of or resulting from the issuance of the permit or the control, maintenance or ownership or use of each pay telephone."
B. 
Before receiving a permit, an applicant shall file with the Borough Clerk evidence of a general liability insurance policy of $1,000,000 for bodily injury and $100,000 for property damage, naming the Borough of Rutherford as additional insured against any injury, loss or damage that may result from placing or maintaining the pay telephone on or above the sidewalk.
A. 
Pay telephones shall permit the following calls to be placed without charge except as may be otherwise provided by applicable tariffs filed with the New Jersey Board of Regulatory Commissioners:
(1) 
Calls to the 911 emergency number.
(2) 
Emergency calls placed through operator assistance to the police and fire departments.
(3) 
Calls for emergency purposes placed through operator assistance to the police and fire departments by members thereof.
B. 
Current local coin-call initial rates shall be posted on the pay telephone or on the pay telephone booth.
Pay telephones installed within the Borough of Rutherford shall comply with the following standards:
A. 
No booth surrounding a telephone shall exceed eight feet in height, four feet in width or four feet in depth.
B. 
Each coin-operated pay telephone shall be equipped with a coin-return mechanism to permit a person using the machine to secure an immediate refund when applicable. The coin-return mechanism shall be maintained in good working order.
C. 
Each pay telephone shall have affixed to it, in a place visible to everyone using the pay telephone, the name and address of the distributor and the telephone number of a working telephone service to report a malfunction or secure a refund.
D. 
Pay telephones shall be maintained in a neat and clean condition and in good repair at all times. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a pay telephone shall be served and maintained so that:
(1) 
It is reasonably free of chipped, faded, peeling and cracked paint in the visible painted areas thereof.
(2) 
It is reasonably free of rust and corrosion in the visible unpainted metal areas thereon.
(3) 
Any clean plastic or glass parts are unbroken and reasonably free of cracks, dents, graffiti, blemishes and discoloration.
(4) 
Any paper or cardboard parts or inserts are reasonably free of tears, peeling or fading.
(5) 
The structural parts thereof are not broken or unduly misshapen.
(6) 
The telephone receiver is attached to the telephone.
E. 
Any distributor who fails to maintain its pay telephone in working condition may be given a ten-day written notice to repair the pay telephone by the Borough Clerk or her agent. If the pay telephone is not in working condition at the end of the ten-day period, the Borough Clerk may revoke the permit and order the removal of the pay telephone by the distributor, or the Borough of Rutherford in default thereof.
F. 
Each pay telephone shall, upon written request of the Borough Clerk, be capable of being restricted to outgoing calls only within 10 days of the request.
A. 
No pay telephones shall be permitted to rest upon, in or over any street or sidewalk when such installation, use or maintenance:
(1) 
Unreasonably interferes with or impedes the flow of pedestrians or vehicular traffic, including any legally parked or stopped vehicles;
(2) 
Unreasonably interferes with the ingress or egress from any residence or place of business; or
(3) 
Interferes with the use of traffic signs or signals, hydrants or mailboxes permitted at or near said location.
B. 
Pay telephone shall be placed, or otherwise secured, so as to prevent their being blown down or around the street or sidewalk, but shall not be chained or otherwise secured to any traffic or street signs, signals, hydrants or mailboxes.
C. 
No pay telephones shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:
(1) 
Within four feet of any marked crosswalk.
(2) 
Within four feet of a curb return of any unmarked crosswalks.
(3) 
Within 15 feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box, police call box or other emergency facilities.
(4) 
Within four feet of any driveway.
(5) 
Within four feet of any public area improved with a lawn, flowers, shrubs, trees or other landscaping.
(6) 
At any location whereby the clear space for the passage way of pedestrians is reduced to less than six feet.
(7) 
Within three feet of any building unless written permission is secured from the property owner and filed with the application.
D. 
In the event that a particular pay telephone does not meet the requirements set forth herein, an applicant may nevertheless be entitled to a permit upon a showing that the issuance of such permit is reasonable under the circumstances present. The issuance of such a permit shall be at the sole discretion of the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Rutherford.
E. 
Pay telephones shall not be placed in sidewalks in front of street addresses where there appears to be continued criminal activity. Continuous criminal activity means reports to the police of more than four criminal incidents at an address within a two-month period prior to the date of the application or more than 12 reported criminal incidents in a year prior to the application, which incidents have resulted in convictions.
F. 
No pay telephone shall be installed on the street or sidewalk of any property located within a residential district.
G. 
No pay telephone shall be placed within 300 feet of any other pay telephone on the same side of the street and within line of sight of such other pay telephone on a sidewalk within a business district as described in the Zoning Ordinance of the Borough of Rutherford.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 131, Zoning.
H. 
No pay telephone shall be placed within 1/4 of a mile of any other pay telephone on the same side and within the line of sight of such other pay telephone on a state highway in the Borough of Rutherford.
No person shall remove a pay telephone without having first notified the Borough Clerk.
A. 
Upon receipt of a written complaint by a citizen or an authorized representative of the Police Department that the location and use of a pay telephone constitutes a threat to the health, safety and welfare of the community, the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Rutherford shall conduct a hearing after providing written notice of same at least 10 days in advance thereof to all affected parties to ascertain whether the location and use of the pay telephone constitutes a threat to the health, safety and welfare of the community. If the Mayor and Council find that the location and use of the pay telephone constitutes a threat to health, safety and welfare of the community, the Mayor and Council shall revoke any permit issued by the Borough Clerk for the use of the pay telephone. The Mayor and Council may also order such other relief as they deem fair, including requiring the pay telephone to be restricted to outgoing calls only.
B. 
Upon removal of the pay telephone as provided for in this section, the distributor shall take all necessary steps to ensure that the sidewalk on which the removed pay telephone was located shall be restored to a condition similar to that which existed prior to the installation of said pay telephone.
All existing pay telephones located on or above sidewalks within the Borough of Rutherford which were installed in accordance with the provisions of the Code of the Borough of Rutherford shall be deemed "grandfathered"; provided, however, that any distributor desiring that its pay telephones be "grandfathered" must notify in writing the Borough Clerk within 30 days of the location of all of said distributor's pay telephones existing on the date of adoption of this ordinance. All pay telephones not so identified shall not be entitled to "grandfathered" status. The provisions of this ordinance shall, however, apply to all future pay telephones and all illegally installed pay telephones located on or above sidewalks within the Borough of Rutherford.
Any person or persons, firm, partnership, association or corporation violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 and, in default of the payment thereof, may be sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding 30 days. Each noncomplying pay telephone violation shall constitute a separate offense. Every day on which such violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.