[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Grand Island as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 8-5-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996 (Ch.
3A, Art. I, of the 1963 Code)]
The purpose of this article is to protect and
promote the health, safety and general welfare of the residents of
the Town of Grand Island by reducing the number of avoidable alarms
of fire, intrusion, robbery/holdup or other emergencies which contribute
to ineffective utilization of emergency response agencies, require
emergency responses which are susceptible to high accident rates,
interfere with genuine emergencies (responses) and produce unnecessary
alarm noise to the surrounding community.
For the purposes of this article, the terms
used herein are defined as follows:
A device or an assembly of equipment which is designed to
identify a robbery/holdup or intrusion or detect smoke, abnormal rise
in temperature, fire, medical emergency or an entry into or exit from
a building, structure or facility and by reason thereof emits an audible
response intended to alert persons outside of the premises and/or
transmit a signal or message to an emergency agency either directly
or through a private answering point.
A device that automatically dials and relays a prerecorded
message to an emergency agency.
The Town employee designated by resolution of the Town Board
to enforce the provisions of this article.
The Sheriff’s Department, New York State Police, the
Grand Island Town Police, the Grand Island Fire Company, and any other
fire company, or any emergency dispatch center.
Any person, partnership, firm, corporation or unincorporated
association.
A.
An avoidable alarm is the activation of an alarm system
through mechanical failure, malfunction, improper installation or
negligence or carelessness of the owner, user, custodian, operator
or lessee of an alarm system or that person's employee(s), guest(s)
or agent(s) requiring an emergency response from an emergency agency
when in fact an emergency requiring such a response does not exist.
An avoidable alarm is also the intentional activation of an alarm
system when the person activating it knows an emergency does not exist
as well as all alarm systems activations in which an investigation
by the designated enforcement officer of the Town reveals no evidence
of the existence of an emergency.
B.
An avoidable alarm is not deemed to include the activation
of an alarm system by violent conditions of nature, acts of God or
similar causes beyond the control of the owner, user, custodian, operator
or lessee of an alarm system or that person's employee(s), guest(s)
or agent(s), nor is an avoidable alarm deemed to be the activation
of an alarm system under any circumstances in which the person activating
the alarm system reasonably believes that an emergency situation exists.
Owners, users, custodians, operators or lessees
of an alarm system and owners, lessees and occupants of the premises
of which an alarm system is installed shall be deemed to have consented
to inspection of the alarm system and premises in which that alarm
system is installed at reasonable hours by the designated enforcement
officer of the Town of their designated representatives.
A.
No person shall install or maintain an external audible
alarm system which does not contain an operational cutoff system which
turns off the external audible alarm after a period not to exceed
10 minutes.
B.
An automatic dialer connected directly to an emergency
agency shall automatically disconnect and/or terminate its message
after the message has been transmitted a maximum of two times. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, however, the total transmission time of all messages
shall not exceed five minutes.
A.
No alarm system shall have an automatic dialer feature
or other type of alarm alert which connects automatically to enhance
911 or the 911 emergency telephone system.
B.
There shall be no automatic alarm system with direct
communication of any type to an emergency agency without prior written
authorization from the emergency agency where the alarms terminate
or connect.
A.
It shall be a violation of this article to cause or
permit an avoidable alarm. The owner, user, custodian, operator or
lessee of the alarm system from which an avoidable alarm emits shall
be held accountable for all avoidable alarms emitting from that alarm
system and shall be fully liable for all fines arising therefrom.
B.
The designated enforcement officer of the Town shall
keep a record of all avoidable alarms relayed by all alarm systems
installed within the Town.
C.
An owner,
user, custodian, operator, or lessee of an alarm system that emits
an avoidable alarm shall be penalized for each avoidable alarm in
each calendar year as follows:[1]
(1)
First
through third avoidable alarm: a written notice of warning shall issue
for each avoidable alarm; no fine shall be assessed.
