[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of West Bradford 2-14-1967 by Ord. No. XII. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
Unless otherwise expressly provided, the following words shall,
for purposes of this chapter, have the following meanings:
Any and all types of motor vehicles, including self-propelled
machinery of all kinds, with the exception of usable farm machinery.
The Board of Supervisors of West Bradford Township, Chester
County, Pennsylvania.
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.
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.
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.
Any natural person, partnership, firm, corporation or other
legal entity, including singular and plural, male and female.
Any parcel of land situate in West Bradford Township, Chester
County, Pennsylvania, having a separate Tax Map parcel number for
county assessment purposes.
The Township of West Bradford, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
[Amended 1-13-1969 by Ord. No. XVIII; 12-11-1984 by Ord. No. 1984-09]
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 prescribed by a resolution duly adopted by
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 reapplication. 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 located including the Chester County tax parcel number,
and a statement that the applicant will comply with the chapter and
any regulations adopted pursuant to the chapter. Upon receipt of the
application and license fee as set by resolution of the Board of Supervisors
of the Township, by the Township, if the application complies with
the provisions hereof, the Secretary of 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.
No person licensed under this chapter shall, by virtue of one
license, keep more than one place of business or maintain or operate
more than one junkyard within the Township of West Bradford, 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 West Bradford, 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.
[Amended 1-13-1969 by Ord. No. XVIII]
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 locked,
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 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 all 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 and which shall at all times be open to
inspection by any member of the Board or its duly 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 on the junkyard premises.
Any member of the Board or a duly authorized agent thereof may
at any time enter upon and inspect any premises for which there is
a pending application for a junkyard license or which holds a current
junkyard license.
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.
The Board shall appoint and provide for the compensation of
a Township employee to be known as a "junkyard inspector." It shall
be the duty of the junkyard inspector to make monthly inspections
of all junkyards licensed pursuant to the terms of this chapter and
to file with the Board a written report of each such inspection. In
making such inspections, the junkyard inspector shall ascertain whether
the provisions of this chapter are being complied with, shall note
any violations thereof in his report of inspection, 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.
Any person who violates or permits a violation of this chapter
shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding
commenced by the Township before a Magisterial District Judge, pay
a fine of not more than $600, plus all court costs, including reasonable
attorney's fees, incurred by the Township in the enforcement of this
chapter. No judgment shall be imposed until the date of the determination
of the violation by the Magisterial District Judge. If the defendant
neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce
the judgment pursuant to the applicable Rules of Civil Procedure.
Each day a violation exists shall constitute a separate offense. Further,
the appropriate officers or agents of the Township are hereby authorized
to seek equitable relief, including injunction, to enforce compliance
herewith.
Any accumulation of garbage, rubbish or other 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.
