[Adopted 8-3-1954 by Ord. No. 126 (Ch.
88 of the 1970 Code)]
In and on any public street, highway, avenue
or alley in the Borough of Runnemede the grade of which has been lawfully
established or which may hereafter be established, curbs and sidewalks
shall be set or reset, laid or relaid, altered, repaired, constructed
and maintained at the expense of the abutting property owner as provided
by law.
All curbs and sidewalks hereafter set, reset,
laid, relaid, altered, repaired or constructed shall be done in compliance
with the regulations of the Borough of Runnemede and under the supervision
of such officer or employee as the said Borough may designate.
Whenever any curb and/or sidewalk is required
to be set, reset, laid, relaid, repaired or constructed in the Borough
of Runnemede, application by the owner of abutting lands or his contractor
for a permit shall first be made to the Construction Code Official,
specifying grade, dimensions, mix materials and method of construction
or repair to be used. The Construction Code Official shall examine
said specifications and register his approval or disapproval thereof;
upon approval thereof, a permit shall be issued to the applicant for
such construction and/or repairs.
The owners of lots, tracts and parcels of land
fronting or abutting on any public street, highway, avenue or alley
in the Borough of Runnemede shall, at his, her or their own cost and
expense, set, reset, lay, relay, alter, repair, construct and maintain
curbs and sidewalks in front of or adjoining the same when notified
so to do by the Borough of Runnemede through its officers or agents
pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Borough Council.
Whenever the Mayor and Borough Council of the
Borough of Runnemede shall deem necessary the construction, repair,
alteration or relaying of any curb or sidewalk in the Borough of Runnemede,
it shall, by resolution, specify the improvements to be made. Upon
the adoption of such resolutions by the Borough of Runnemede, the
Construction Code Official or such other officer or employee so designated
shall cause a notice in writing to be served upon the owners or occupiers
of the lands so designated, requiring the necessary specified work
to said sidewalks and/or curbs to be done by the owners or occupiers
within a period of not less than 30 nor more than 90 days from the
date of service of such notice.
A.
Service of such notice upon owners or occupiers of
said lands shall be made as follows:
(1)
If residents in the Borough of Runnemede, either personally
or by leaving the same at their usual place of residence with a member
of the family above the age of 14 years, or by leaving the same at
their usual place of business with a member of their business staff
above the age of 14 years.
(2)
If such lands are occupied, a copy of such notice
shall be attached to the improvements thereon in a conspicuous place.
(3)
If such lands are unoccupied and the owners are not
residents of the Borough of Runnemede, said notice shall be mailed,
postage prepaid, to his, her or their last known post office address.
(4)
If the owners are nonresidents of the Borough of Runnemede
and his, her or their post office address cannot be ascertained with
reasonable certainty, then said notice shall be published in a newspaper
circulating in the Borough of Runnemede, at least twice and not less
than 40 days before the improvements and/or repairs are made by the
Borough.
B.
Each such notice shall contain a description of the
property affected thereby, sufficiently definite to identify the same;
the plate, block and lot by which property is designated on the Official
Tax Map of the Borough; the name or names of the owner and/or owners
as recorded in the tax records of the Borough; and a brief description
of the required improvements and/or repairs.
C.
Proof of service of such notice shall be filed within
10 days thereafter with the Board of Assessors and with the Collector
of Taxes of said Borough.
If the owners or occupants of such lands shall
not comply with the requirements of such notice, it shall be lawful
for the Construction Code Official or such other officer or employees
so designated to cause the required work to be done by direction of
himself and under his jurisdiction; upon its completion the cost thereof
shall be certified by him under oath to the Borough Clerk. The Borough
Clerk shall submit the same to the Mayor and Borough Council at its
next regular meeting, which body shall examine such report and the
proof of service of the notice requiring said work to be done; if
satisfied of the correctness thereof, said body shall approve and
confirm such report and direct that it be filed with the Board of
Assessors and the Collector of Taxes of the Borough, who shall record
the amount of such costs as a sidewalk and/or curb assessment in the
book in which other assessments of the Borough of Runnemede are recorded.
Said costs shall thereupon be and become a lien upon the abutting
lands adjacent to which said work was done to the extent that assessments
for such improvements are liens, and shall bear interest from the
date of such certification and confirmation at the same rate which
other unpaid liens held by the Borough of Runnemede bear.
The cost of any such improvement, if it becomes
a lien as set forth herein, shall be collected in the manner provided
by law for the collection of other assessments or liens; in addition
thereto the Borough of Runnemede, at its option, may maintain an action
to recover the amount thereof against the owner of said lands in any
court of competent jurisdiction.
The Borough Council may each year include in
its annual budget or tax ordinance an appropriation for curb and/or
sidewalk repairs in addition to any existing maintenance fund, out
of which appropriation all costs of construction and/or repairs of
curbs and sidewalks during the year may be charged when it becomes
necessary for the Construction Code Official or such officer or employees
so designated to make such repairs and/or construction pursuant hereto.
All moneys recovered or paid to the Borough under the provisions of
this article (other than penalties as hereinafter set forth) shall
be credited to the account out of which such work was paid.
The failure of any applicant, owner, his contractor,
servant or agent to construct or repair such curbs and/or sidewalks
in accordance with the specifications filed by him for the purpose
of securing a permit under the terms of this article shall be and
constitute a violation thereof.
[Amended 3-17-1970 by Ord. No. 238; 3-2-2010 by Ord. No.
10-04]
Any person violating terms of this article or refusing or neglecting to comply with any of the provisions hereof shall, upon conviction therefor, be subject to the penalty as provided in § 1-15, General penalty, of this Code.
Each day's persistence in the things or acts
prohibited by this article shall be and constitute a separate and
distinct offense, subject to any and all of the penalties prescribed
in this article.
