[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Uwchlan 6-6-1967 by Ord. No. 67-04[1]. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Solid waste collection and recycling — See Ch. 205.
Zoning — See Ch. 265.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance superseded former Ord. No. 2, adopted 6-3-1957.
Unless otherwise expressly provided, the following words shall, for purposes of this chapter, have the following meanings:
JUNK
Any and all forms of waste and refuse of any type of material, including scrap metal, junked motor vehicles, glass, industrial waste and other salvageable material.
AUTOMOBILE
Any and all types of motor vehicles, including self-propelled machinery of all kinds, with the exception of usable machinery.
PERSON
Any natural person, partnership, firm, corporation or other legal entity, including singular and plural, male and female.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Uwchlan, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
BOARD
The Board of Supervisors of Uwchlan Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
JUNKYARD
Any place where junk, as herein defined, is stored or accumulated. Any premises, as herein defined, having two or more automobiles unlicensed and/or not bearing current Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code inspection sticker thereon shall in any event be deemed a junkyard.
PREMISES
Any parcel of land situate in Uwchlan Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, having a separate Tax Map parcel number for county assessment purposes.
JUNK DEALER
Any person who buys, sells, salvages, stores or in any way deals in junk or owns, leases, operates or maintains a junkyard within the Township.
No person shall be a junk dealer or own, lease, operate or maintain a junkyard, as herein defined, within the Township without first obtaining a license to operate a junkyard as a junk dealer. The annual fee for such a license shall be as set from time to time by resolution of the Board of Supervisors; the license shall be effective for one calendar year only, each license terminating on December 31 of the year for which it is issued subject to renewal upon application. Application for a license or any renewal thereof shall be filed in writing with the Secretary of the Board and shall contain the applicant's sworn statement setting forth the applicant's name and address, together with the names and addresses of all other persons interested in the business, an accurate description of the premises upon which the business is to be conducted and the junkyard located, including the Chester County Tax Map parcel number, and a statement that the applicant will comply with the ordinance and any regulations adopted pursuant to the ordinance. Upon receipt of the application and license fee by the Township, if the application complies with the provisions hereof, the Secretary of the Board or the Board shall, within 10 days, issue its license authorizing the operation and maintenance of a junkyard upon the premises by the junk dealer, Such license shall at all times be conspicuously displayed upon the junkyard premises. The license shall be nontransferable both as to the junkyard premises and junk dealer.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
No person licensed under this chapter shall, by virtue of one license, keep more than one place of business or operate more than one place of business or maintain or operate more than one junkyard within the Township of Uwchlan, nor shall any person engage in business as a junk dealer or operate or maintain a junkyard in any place other than the place designated upon his license, nor shall any person operate upon any of the roads or highways in the Township of Uwchlan, whether from a vehicle or upon foot, as a scavenger or an itinerant buyer or seller of junk, except a junkyard operator licensed hereunder or under any other appropriate Township ordinance.
Every junk dealer licensed under the chapter shall maintain the licensed junkyard and conduct business as hereinafter provided:
A. 
All junk shall be stored behind a fence, as specified in Subsection B below, which fence shall be set back at least 50 feet from all lot lines of the premises occupied by the junkyard. Whenever such fence or any part of such fence is visible from a public road or from a residence of any adjoining property, a landscaped screen of trees and/or shrubs of varieties capable of attaining a continuous height of six feet within two years shall be planted a maximum of four feet apart along such fence or section of fence. All required open areas between fence and lot lines shall be maintained continuously in good order and free of woods and scrub growth.
B. 
Every junkyard shall be completely fenced with a heavy-duty chain-link or wire mesh fence at least six feet in height with gates of similar fencing material, which gates shall at all times be securely looked except during business hours when an adult attendant employed as such is on the premises. Such fence shall have maximum openings of four square inches, and the wire mesh shall be of a minimum size and strength of No. 10 gauge steel wire.
C. 
No junkyard shall cover an area in excess of five acres.
D. 
All junk shall be stored and set back at least 50 feet from any adjoining premises and at least 75 feet from the nearest edge of the cartway of any public road or highway.
E. 
No junkyard shall operate on Sunday nor between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., except to remove any wrecked automobile from any public highway.
F. 
All junk shall be stored and arranged so as to permit access by fire-fighting equipment and to prevent accumulation of stagnant water. Junked automobiles shall be spaced in rows with at least 15 feet between each double row to permit movement of fire equipment. Junk shall not be piled to a height of more than six feet from the ground.
G. 
All gasoline and oil shall be drained from any junked automobile into containers and removed from the junkyard premises within 12 hours from arrival on the said premises of the junked automobile; provided, however, that gasoline or oil shall be stored at only one location on the licensed premises and no more than 100 gallons in aggregate of gasoline and oil shall be stored above ground.
H. 
All weeds on any junkyard shall be kept mowed and shall not be permitted to go to seed.
I. 
An adult attendant shall at all times during business hours remain on the junkyard premises.
J. 
No garbage or organic waste shall be permitted to be deposited or stored in any junkyard.
K. 
No burning or melting of any junk shall be permitted in any junkyard nor in the Township.
L. 
Paper, rags, plastic materials and rubbish shall not be stored outside and shall not be accumulated or remain on any junkyard premises for more than one month.
M. 
Junkyards shall at times be maintained in such a manner as to cause no public or private nuisance nor to cause any menace to health or safety of any persons off the premises nor to cause any excessive or offensive or noxious sounds or odors nor to cause the breeding, harboring or infesting of rats, rodents or vermin, nor to cause a violation of any health or sanitation law, ordinance or regulation of any governmental body.
N. 
Permanent records of all junk received or removed from any junkyard shall be kept by the junk dealer on the premises, containing the name and address from whom received or delivered and the date thereof and a description of the junk, which records shall at all times be open to inspection by any member of the Board or its authorized agent or any law enforcement officer.
O. 
No junk shall be removed from any junkyard nor broken up, reduced or altered in shape or form for a period of 48 hours after the same is placed or the junkyard premises.
Any member of the Board or a duly authorized agent thereof may at any time enter upon and inspect any premises, in the presence of the operator or attendant, for which there is a pending application for a junkyard license or which holds a current junkyard license. Periodic inspections, as determined by the Board, of all junkyards licensed pursuant to the terms of this chapter shall be made and a written report filed of each such inspection. In making such inspections, the Board shall ascertain whether the provisions of this chapter are being complied with, shall note any violations thereof, shall check the licensee's records of junk received and removed with his inventory, shall examine the titles to all junked automobiles on the premises and shall check into such other matters as come within the scope of this chapter.
The Board may, from time to time, adopt regulations to carry out the provisions of this chapter upon giving notice to the licensees affected by such regulations.
[Amended 3-24-1997 by Ord. No. 97-05[1]]
Any person who violates or permits the violation of any provision of this chapter shall be subject to a fine for each violation in an amount not to exceed $1,000, plus the costs of prosecution, including reasonable attorneys' fees. In default of payment thereof, the defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days. A new and separate offense shall be deemed to have been committed for each day that said violation exists. Enforcement of this chapter shall be by action brought before a District Justice in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. The Township Solicitor may assume charge of the prosecution without the consent of the District Attorney.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
Any accumulation of garbage, rubbish or junk in violation of the terms of this chapter shall be deemed a nuisance and shall be removed by the owner of the property on which such accumulation exists within 10 days of the receipt of a notice sent to the property owner by United States certified mail by the Board or its duly authorized agent, in default of which said accumulation may be removed by or at the direction of the Board and the costs of such removal shall be collected from the owner, together with the above-mentioned penalty by summary proceedings.
The Board or any person may take any appropriate action at law or in equity, civil or criminal, to enforce the provisions of this chapter, and this chapter shall in no way restrict any remedies otherwise provided by law.
Junk dealers and junkyards operating and existing in the Township on the effective date of this chapter shall not be required to obtain a license nor comply with the licensing provisions prior to July 1967, and the license fee for the period ending December 31, 1967, shall be $50 only.