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Borough of Morris Plains, NJ
Morris County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[Ord. No. 28-81, § 1]
For the purposes of this article:
GARAGE SALE
A sale colloquially referred to as a "garage sale," "lawn sale," "attic sale" or "rummage sale" or any other similar casual sale of tangible personal property that is advertised in any way whereby the public at large is or can be made aware of the sale and that involves the personal property of the owner or occupant of the property upon which the sale is to take place and thus does not involve the transporting of goods onto the premises from another or outside source for the purpose of the sale thereof.
GOODS
Is meant to include any goods, warehouse merchandise or other property capable of being the object of a sale regulated hereunder.
PERSON
Includes individuals, partnerships, voluntary associations and corporations.
[Ord. No. 28-81, § 2; No. 24-86, §§ 1, 2; 29-99, § 5]
(a) 
It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct a garage sale in the Borough of Morris Plains without first filing with the Borough Clerk the information hereinafter specified and obtaining from such Clerk a license so to do, to be known as a "garage sales license." The fee for such license shall be as set forth in the Fee Schedule of the Borough, Chapter 2, Section 2-46, of the Revised Ordinances.
(b) 
Only two such licenses shall be issued to any one person or dwelling place within a twelve-month period, and no such license shall be issued for more than three consecutive days. For purposes of this section, sales on successive weekends or with intervening nonsale days are considered separate sales.
(c) 
Each license issued under this article must be prominently displayed on the premises upon which the garage sale is conducted throughout the entire period of the licensed sale.
[Ord. No. 28-81, § 3]
The information to be filed with the Borough Clerk, pursuant to this article shall be as follows:
(a) 
Name of the person, firm, group, corporation, association or organization conducting said sale.
(b) 
Name of the owner of the property on which said sale is to be conducted and the consent of the owner, if applicant is other than the owner.
(c) 
Location at which the sale is to be conducted.
(d) 
Number of days of sale.
(e) 
Date and nature of any past sale.
(f) 
Relationship or connection the applicant may have had with any other person, firm, group, organization, association or corporation conducting any previous sale and the date or dates of such sale.
(g) 
General detailed-description of goods proposed to be sold.
(h) 
Whether or not the applicant has been issued any other vendor's license by any local, state or federal agency.
(i) 
Sworn statement or affirmation by the person signing that the information therein given is full and true and known to him to be so.
[Ord. No. 28-81, § 4]
All garage sales shall be conducted between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. only.
[Ord. No. 28-81, § 5]
Garage sales are permitted only as incidental to the residential use of a property and are not intended to permit business operations in a residential zone.
[Ord. No. 28-81, § 6]
The provisions of this article shall not apply to or affect the following persons or sales:
(a) 
Persons selling goods pursuant to an order or process of a court of competent jurisdiction.
(b) 
Persons acting in accordance with their powers and duties as public officials.
(c) 
Any person selling or advertising for sale an item or items of personal property which are specifically named or described in the advertisement and which separate items do not exceed five in number.
(d) 
Any publisher of a newspaper, magazine or other publication or other communication media who publishes or broadcasts in good faith without knowledge of its false, deceptive or misleading character or without knowledge that the provisions of this article have not been complied with.
(e) 
Any sale regulated under any other ordinance of the Borough of Morris Plains.
(f) 
Any sale conducted by any merchant or mercantile or other business establishment from or at a place of business wherein such sale would be permitted by the Zoning Regulations of the Borough of Morris Plains or under the protection of the nonconforming use section thereof or any other sale conducted by a manufacturer, dealer or vendor and which sale would be conducted from properly zoned premises and not otherwise prohibited under the ordinances of the Borough of Morris Plains.
(g) 
Any bona fide charitable, eleemosynary, educational, cultural or governmental institution or organization; provided, however, that the burden of establishing the exemption under this paragraph shall be on the organization or institution claiming such exemption.
[Ord. No. 28-81, § 7]
This article shall be enforced by the Police Department. It shall be the duty of the Police Department to investigate any violations of this article coming to their attention, whether by complaint or arising from their own personal knowledge, and if a violation is found to exist, they shall prosecute a complaint before the local Municipal Court pursuant to the provisions of this article.
[Ord. No. 28-81, § 8; No. 7-2006, §§ 1, 2]
The following two signs for the garage sale are permitted: one sign on the premises where the sale is being conducted; and one additional directional sign at the nearest intersection to the premises where the sale is being conducted. Said signs and supporting stakes or poles may be put up no sooner than 24 hours before the sale is to begin and must be removed before dusk on the last day of the sale. No sign shall be larger than 24 inches by 18 inches. Signs shall contain information limited only to identifying the type of sale, the sale's location and a directional arrow. Signs shall only be attached to stakes or poles which are then driven or inserted into the ground. No sign for a garage sale shall be placed upon any traffic sign, traffic signal, shade tree, other governmental property or utility pole. Signs may only be displayed as stated and then only during the period allowed and must be removed along with supporting stakes or poles as specified above.
The provisions of Section 1-9 of these Revised Ordinances shall be applicable to this article.