[Adopted by 2-21-1988 by Ord. No. 88-6]
The Borough of Metuchen is crisscrossed by properties
used for railroad purposes, including the main line for Amtrak Service
through the Northeast Corridor. High speed trains travel through the
Borough immediately adjacent to municipally owned parklands heavily
used by Borough residents, especially adolescents and children, for
recreational purposes. Incidents have occurred, and the Borough Council
believes will reoccur, where adolescents and children have been attracted
and drawn to the railroad tracks which have remained accessible to
them because the railroads have either declined to fence their property
or because the gates erected in the fencing constructed are left unlocked
or broken by maintenance personnel employed by the railroad entities.
The express intent of this article is to make explicit and subject
to enforcement by prosecution in the Municipal Court what the Council
believes to be the already existing duty of the railroad to prevent
its unfenced or broken-fenced boundary with municipal recreational
space from continuing to be an attractive nuisance for adolescents
and children using those playing fields with the evident harm from
their walking in or near the railroad tracks.
It shall be unlawful for any owner of property
used for railroad purposes which adjoins publicly owned property used
for recreational purposes to fail to erect, construct and maintain
a secure fence, at least six feet in height, across the entire boundary
of its property with the recreational parklands and extending for
an additional 100 feet beyond the boundary of the parkland or until
the railroad intersects with a public street, whichever first occurs.
Any fence heretofore or hereafter erected by
the railroad along the boundary with publicly owned parklands may
be constructed with one or more gate apertures, so long as each gate
remains locked except when maintenance personnel are performing work
in the immediately adjacent right-of-way within that railroad property.
The owner of the property used for railroad purposes shall provide
the Chief of Police of the Borough with a duplicate set of keys to
the locks in order to allow emergency access to Borough personnel.
Any fence heretofore or hereafter erected along
the boundary of the railroad property with publicly owned parklands
shall be maintained and, if necessary, replaced promptly and in any
event no later than 30 days following the receipt of a notice from
the Construction Code Official or the Chief of Police of the Borough
that describes the maintenance or replacement necessary to reach compliance
with this article.
[Amended 9-15-1997 by Ord. No. 97-20]
Failure to comply with the terms of this article
shall constitute the maintenance of an attractive nuisance[1] which, if unabated in accordance with the terms of § 124-13, shall render the individual(s) or entity violating the provisions of this article subject to arrest and to the imposition of any and all of the general penalties provided within Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article 1, as generally allowed by N.J.S.A. 40:49-5.
