Village of Ridgefield Park, NJ Chapter 356 Telephones, Public

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Village of Ridgefield Park 9-22-1992 by Ord. No. 11-92; amended in its entirety 5-11-1993 by Ord. No. 4-93 (Ch. 188 of the 1985 Code). Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Construction codes — See Ch. 160.

Streets and sidewalks — See Ch. 333.

§ 356-1 Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

DISTRIBUTOR

The person responsible for placing and maintaining a pay telephone in a public way, as hereafter defined.

PAY TELEPHONE

Any self-service or coin- or credit-operated telephone which rests in whole or in part in any portion of a public street, public sidewalk or public parking area.

PERSON

An individual, business, firm, corporation, association, partnership or other organization or group of persons.

ROADWAY

That portion of a street improved, designated or ordinarily used for vehicle traffic.

SIDEWALK

Any surface provided for the use of pedestrians.

STREET

All that area dedicated to public use for public street purposes, and shall include but not limited to roadways, parkways, alleys and sidewalks.

VILLAGE

The Village of Ridgefield Park.

§ 356-2 Permit required; fees; indemnity; insurance.

A. No person may place or maintain any outdoor public telephone on or above any public street or sidewalk, building or any parcel of property without having first obtained a permit. Permit applications shall be on a form prescribed by the Village Clerk. All permits shall be submitted to and approved by the Board of Commissioners. Indemnification and insurance information by the applicant must be submitted at the time of the application. Permits shall be issued by the Building Department subject to the approval of the type and location of the telephone from the Board of Commissioners.

B. After review by the Board of Commissioners, the permit application and indemnification and insurance information will be forwarded to the Building Department for review. The Building Department will request an electrical technical application signed and sealed by a New Jersey licensed electrical contractor to be submitted by the applicant. The fee for the electrical permit shall be the minimum electrical fee at the time of the application. Upon payment of the permit fee, the electrical permit will be issued. The Electrical Subcode Official shall inspect the installation of the telephone.

C. Prior to installation, a plan or sketch of the telephone must be furnished in sufficient detail to describe the size, location and cabling. The Building Department shall also receive no less than 30 days' prior written notice before the removal of any telephone.

D. Upon removal of a telephone, the owner or designee shall restore all surfaces to their original condition, which shall be subject to the approval of the Building Department.

E. The Village of Ridgefield Park may reject any application for a permit, revoke a permit or require the removal of an existing outdoor public telephone if it has reason to believe that such telephone detracts from the aesthetic appearance or otherwise infringes on the use of and access to the public sidewalks or does not comply with the terms of this chapter.

F. Approval of the location of each public telephone by the Board of Commissioners of the Village of Ridgefield Park (with input from the Building Department, Police Department and Department of Public Works) is required before approval or disapproval by the Board of Commissioners.

G. Before receiving a permit, an applicant shall:

(1) Execute an indemnification agreement by which the applicant and any other person on whose behalf the application is made agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Village of Ridgefield Park 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, ownership or use of each public telephone.

(2) File with the Clerk of the Village of Ridgefield Park a general liability insurance policy of $1,000,000 for bodily injury and $50,000 for property damage, naming the Village of Ridgefield Park as an additional insured against any injury, loss or damage that may result from placing or maintaining the telephone or telephone equipment on a public street or sidewalk.

H. All phone booths or phones shall carry the identity of the long distance carrier and the information about how to make calls using other carriers.

I. No fee shall be charged pertaining to pay telephones furnished by the Village as an accommodation to the public.

§ 356-3 Standards for maintenance; installation; operation.

A. Any telephone which is subject to this chapter shall comply with the following standards:

(1) No booth surrounding a public telephone shall exceed eight feet in height, four feet in width or four feet in thickness.

(2) Each public telephone shall be equipped with a coin-return mechanism to permit a person using the machine to secure an immediate refund if the call cannot be placed. The coin mechanism shall be maintained in proper working order.

(3) Each public telephone shall have affixed to it, in a place visible to everyone using the telephone, the company name and the complete address (no post office box) of the distributor, and the telephone number of a working telephone service to which to report a malfunction, secure a refund or give the notices provided for in this chapter.

(4) Telephones shall be maintained in a neat and clean condition and in good repair at all times. A telephone shall be serviced and maintained according to standards, including but not limited to the following:

(a) The telephone shall be reasonably free of chipped, faded, peeling and cracked paint in the visible painted areas thereof and rust and corrosion in the visible metal areas thereon.

(b) Any clear plastic or glass parts of a public telephone shall be unbroken and reasonably free of cracks, dents, graffiti, blemishes and discoloration.

(c) Any paper or cardboard parts or inserts of a public telephone shall be reasonably free of tears, peeling or fading.

(d) The structural parts of the public telephone shall not be broken or unduly misshapen.

(e) The public telephone receiver shall be attached to the telephone.

(f) Upon written request by an authorized representative of the Village, setting forth the reasons for the request, the distributor shall disable each pay telephone requested from receiving incoming calls and shall restrict the capability of those pay telephones so that only outgoing calls can be made from them. Those restrictions shall be implemented by the distributor no later than 10 days after receiving the written request. Those restrictions shall continue indefinitely until the Village authorizes their termination in writing. The distributor shall promptly post on the telephone, or the telephone booth, a written notice advising the public of that pay telephone's inability to receive incoming calls.

B. Any person who fails to maintain a public telephone in working condition shall be given a ten-day written notice to repair the telephone by the Building Department. If the pay telephone is not in working condition at the end of the ten-day period, the subject telephone operator shall be subject to the provisions of the violations section set forth below.

§ 356-4 Rates to be posted.

A. The public telephones must permit the following calls to be placed without charge:

(1) Emergency calls placed through operator assistance to the Police and Fire Departments.

(2) Calls placed through operator assistance to the Police and Fire Departments by anyone legitimately identified as a member of either Department.

B. Public telephone rates for a local call shall be posted on the public telephone and on the public telephone booth.

C. Toll rate charges must be available from the operator upon request.

§ 356-5 Placement.

A. No public telephone shall be permitted to rest upon, in or over any public street or sidewalk when such installation, use or maintenance:

(1) Endangers the safety of person or property;

(2) Unreasonably interferes with or impedes the flow of pedestrians or vehicular traffic, including any legally parked or stopped vehicles, or barrier-free accessibility;

(3) Unreasonably interferes with the ingress or egress from any residence or place of business;

(4) Interferes with the use of traffic signs or signals, hydrants or mailboxes permitted at or near said location; or

(5) Interferes with or impedes the normal operation of the Department of Public Works in sidewalk, curb or street maintenance, which includes snow control and removal.

B. Public telephones shall be placed or otherwise secured so as to prevent their being blown down onto or around the public street or sidewalk but shall not be chained or otherwise secured to any traffic or street signs, signals, hydrants, mailboxes, utility poles or any other government-owned property without the prior written request of the owner.

C. No pay telephones shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:

(1) Within any marked crosswalk.

(2) Within three feet of a curb return of any unmarked crosswalk.

(3) Within 15 feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box, police call box or other emergency facility.

(4) Within three feet of any driveway.

(5) Within three 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 passageway 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 in Subsection C, an applicant shall nevertheless be entitled to a permit upon a showing that the issuance of such a permit is reasonable under the circumstances present.

E. Pay telephones shall not be placed on sidewalks in front of street addresses where there appears to be continuous criminal activity. Continuous criminal activity means reports to the police of more than six criminal incidents at an address in the six months prior to the date of the application, which incidents have resulted in felony convictions.

F. No pay telephones shall be installed on the street or sidewalk without the written permission of the abutting landowner and/or property owner.

G. Except for subsequent application by the same distributor for the placement of an additional pay telephone adjacent to said distributor's existing pay telephone:

(1) No pay telephone shall be placed within 120 feet and within a diagonal direction of 50 feet of another pay telephone.

H. No intersection shall be permitted more than four pay telephones that are equally distributed.

I. No pay telephone or telephone booth shall be installed in R-1, R-2, R-3 or R-4 Districts, as described in the Zoning Ordinance of the Village of Ridgefield Park.[1]

[1] Editor's Note: See Ch. 96, Zoning.

J. Pay telephones or telephone booths may be installed:

(1) Within the interior area of any multiple-dwelling building; and

(2) Within OP-1, PD-1, I-1, I-2, I-3, C-1, C-2, C-3 and C-4 Districts as described in the Zoning Ordinance of the Village of Ridgefield Park.

[Amended 10-25-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-12]

K. If a pay telephone or telephone booth is installed within the interior area of a multiple-dwelling building, no outside sign may depict the presence of a pay telephone.

§ 356-6 Revocation.

Upon receipt of a complaint by a citizen or an authorized representative of the Police Department to the Building Department that the location and use of a pay telephone constitutes a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the community, the Board of Commissioners shall conduct a hearing after providing written notice of the same at least 10 days in advance thereof to all parties to ascertain whether the location and use of the public telephone constitutes a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the community. If the Board of Commissioners finds by a preponderance of the evidence presented that the location and the use of the public telephone constitutes a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the community, the Building Department shall revoke any permit issued for use of said public telephone immediately thereafter. In the event that the Board of Commissioners does not find that the location or the use of the telephone constitutes a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the community but does create a negative aesthetic appearance to the Village, the Board of Commissioners may order such other relief as it deems fair under the circumstances, including but not limited to requiring seizure of the public pay telephone equipment.

§ 356-7 Effect on existing telephones.

The owners of existing telephones will have a period of 30 days to obtain the permits required by this chapter. The Village of Ridgefield Park reserves the right to reject any and all locations submitted for approval if such location and installation is not in conformance with this chapter.

§ 356-8 Violations and penalties.

A. Any violation of this chapter shall permit the Building Department to arrange for removal of such public telephone and store it at a designated area at the expense of the owner. At such time the owner will be located and notified of such and shall arrange to pick up and pay for the removal and storage fees.

B. At the time of removal of the telephone, all related costs, including labor and materials for the restoration of all surfaces to which the telephone and its accessories were attached, shall be recorded by the Building Department. The owner of the telephone will incur such costs, which shall be payable when the telephone is claimed.

C. Any violation of this chapter shall subject the violator to punishment as provided in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article II, General Penalty.

[Amended 10-27-2009 by Ord. No. 09-11]

§ 356-9 Fees; expiration of permits.

A. All permits received under this chapter shall expire under this chapter one year after its issuance. Thereafter, an applicant shall be required to apply for a permit every year.

B. An application for a permit or renewal shall be on a form prescribed by the Village Clerk, and all renewals shall comply with the terms of this chapter.

C. The annual permit fee shall be $75, payable to the Village Clerk.

D. No fee shall be charged pertaining to pay telephones furnished by the Village as an accommodation to the public.

§ 356-10 Removal.

In the event that any street or sidewalk has to be disturbed in connection with the installation or removal of any telephone or telephone booth, such installation or removal shall be referred to the Building Department and the Superintendent of the Department of Public Works for their review and appropriate permits, if necessary.