[Ord. No. 7-84, § 1]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A window used by a business for the display of merchandise
offered for sale.
Any newspaper or news periodical of general circulation as
defined by general law or any newspaper or news periodical filed and
recorded with any recording officer as provided by general law.
Any self-service or coin-operated box, container, storage
unit or other dispenser installed, used or maintained for the display
and sale of newspapers or news periodicals.
Any area dedicated to public use as a street, including highways,
sidewalks, parkways or alleys.
Any surface provided for the exclusive use of pedestrians,
including the grass area between the sidewalks and curb of any street,
or if there is no sidewalk, the area between the edge of the roadway
and the property line adjacent thereto.
An area improved with flowers or shrubs that is not protected
by either a man-made barrier such as a fence or a natural barrier
such as a hedge.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 2]
No person, firm or corporation shall install, use, maintain
or operate any news vending machine which is to be located in whole
or in part within the right-of-way of any public street, including
the sidewalk, which use or maintenance endangers the safety of persons
or property or when the location of said news vending machine or machines
interferes with any public utility, public transportation or other
governmental use or when such news vending machine or machines unreasonably
interfere with or impede the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic,
the ingress into or egress from any residence or place of business
or any legally parked or stopped vehicle or the use of poles, posts,
traffic signs or signals, hydrants, mailboxes or other objects permitted
at or near the location of said news vending machine or machines or
when such news vending machine interferes with the cleaning of any
public right-of-way, including sidewalks, with mechanical cleaning
machinery.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 3; No. 13-87, § 1]
No person, firm or corporation shall place, install, use, maintain
or operate any news vending machine contrary to the following rules
and regulations:
(a)
Within one foot of the curbline of any street.
(b)
Within five feet of the curb return of any marked crosswalk.
(c)
Within 15 feet of the curb return of any unmarked crosswalk.
(d)
Within 10 feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box, police call box
or other emergency facility.
(e)
Within five feet of any driveway.
(f)
Within three (3) feet of any unprotected landscaped area.
(g)
Within fifteen (15) feet of any sign marking a designated bus stop.
(h)
Within any residential zone.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 4; No. 13-87, § 2]
Any news vending machine which rests in whole or in part upon
or on any portion of a public right-of-way or which projects onto,
into or over any part of a public right-of-way shall be located in
accordance with the following standards:
(a)
No news vending machine shall exceed sixty (60) inches in height,
thirty (30) inches in width or twenty-four (24) inches in depth.
(b)
No news vending machine shall be chained, belted or otherwise attached
to any property or to any permanently fixed object not owned by the
owner of the news vending machine without said property owner's
permission. News vending machines shall be otherwise secured so as
to prevent them from being blown down or around the public right-of-way.
(c)
News vending machines may be chained or otherwise attached to one
another, provided that no more than three (3) news vending machines
may be joined together in this manner and provided that a space no
less than eighteen (18) inches shall separate each group of news vending
machines so attached.
(d)
Each news vending machine shall be equipped with a coin-return mechanism
which shall be maintained in good working order.
(e)
Each news vending machine shall have affixed to it, in a readily
visible place so as to be seen by anyone using the news vending machine,
a notice setting forth the name and address of the distributor and
the telephone number of a working telephone service to call to report
a malfunction.
(f)
No news vending machine shall be used for advertising signs or publicity
purposes other than that dealing with the display, sale or purchase
of the newspaper or news periodical sold therein.
(g)
Each news vending machine shall be maintained in a neat and clean
condition and in good repair at all times. Specifically, but without
limiting the generality of the foregoing, each news vending machine
shall be serviced and maintained so that:
(1)
It is reasonably free of chipped, faded, peeling or cracked paint
in the visible painted areas thereof.
(2)
It is reasonably free of rust or corrosion in the visible painted
areas thereon.
(3)
The clear plastic or glass parts thereof, if any, through which the
publications therein are viewed are unbroken and reasonably free of
cracks, dents, blemishes and discolorations.
(4)
The paper or cardboard parts or inserts thereof, if any, are reasonably
free of tears, peelings or fading.
(5)
The structured parts thereof are not broken or unduly misshapen.
(6)
Its Borough identification sticker is clearly visible to the public.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 5; No. 13-87, § 3; No. 18-91, § 4]
(a)
Any person wishing to locate or maintain a news vending machine within the Borough of Morris Plains must first obtain a permit from the Borough Construction Official. A permit shall be issued for the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, and shall be good only for the year issued. Applications for permits, initial and/or renewal, shall be accompanied by the appropriate fee as set forth in the Fee Schedule of the Borough of Morris Plains, Chapter 2, Section 2-46, of the Revised Ordinances. For every subsequent year, the owners shall pay the annual fee as aforesaid by January 10 of that year. All fees shall be payable to the Borough Clerk of the Borough of Morris Plains. Only one (1) permit shall be issued for each news vending machine. Applications for permits shall be made on forms provided by the Borough Construction Official, which shall require the applicant to disclose the following:
(1)
Name and address.
(2)
The names and addresses of officers and directors, if applicant is
a corporation.
(3)
The name of an employee or agent to contact concerning the maintenance
and operation of the news vending machine.
(4)
The location of the news vending machine.
(5)
An accurate description of the news vending machine, including its
serial number and dimensions.
(b)
Upon issuance of a permit, the permittee shall be provided a news
vending machine identification sticker, and the Chief of Police of
the Borough of Morris Plains shall be notified by the Borough Construction
Official through the forwarding of a copy of the permit.
(c)
A permit shall be denied if any of the above information is not supplied
by the applicant.
(d)
A permit must be granted if all of the above information is supplied
by the applicant.
(e)
If said request for a permit is not acted on within ten (10) days,
permission will automatically issue.
(f)
The owner shall at all times promptly notify the Borough Clerk of
any changes in the registration information.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 9; No. 13-87, §§ 4, 6]
(a)
Prior to any person locating a news vending machine within the Borough
of Morris Plains, said person shall first receive approval of the
location of the same from the Chief of Police of the Borough of Morris
Plains in order to determine prior to locating the machine that the
same will, in fact, be located in accordance with the restrictions
contained in this Article. Said approval of location shall be granted
by the Chief of Police without any fee being charged.
(b)
Approval shall be denied upon a finding that the machine will not
be operated or maintained in accordance with any restrictions as to
location contained in this Article.
(c)
Approval must be granted if the machine is to be located in accordance
with all restrictions as to location contained in this Article.
(d)
If said request for approval is not acted upon within ten (10) days,
approval will automatically issue.
(e)
Any news vending machine maintained in the Borough which creates
a hazard to pedestrians or obstructs traffic or interferes with the
response to an emergent situation by a public officer, fire fighter,
ambulance corps member or medic or interferes with the safe use of
the public streets and sidewalks may be summarily relocated by a public
officer of the Borough to the nearest location not presenting said
hazard. Any such relocation shall be reported as soon as reasonably
possible to the Borough Clerk, who shall thereafter notify the registered
owner of the news vending machine as soon as possible of the new location.
The owner may thereafter relocate the news vending machine to any
location not presenting a hazard and otherwise complying with the
terms of this chapter.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 8; No. 13-87, § 7]
(a)
Any person who has been refused a permit hereunder, or whose permit
has been revoked or who has been refused approval of a location has
the right to appeal to the Mayor and Borough Council by requesting
a hearing in writing, addressed to the Borough Clerk, within ten (10)
days of the refusal or revocation. Such request shall include an address
at which all notices required may be mailed.
(b)
The Borough Clerk shall immediately notify the Mayor and Council
of the receipt of said request, and, within ten (10) days of such
notification, the Borough Council shall hold a hearing. The notification
of the Mayor and Council shall contain a call for a special meeting
for the purpose of the hearing. The person requesting the hearing
and the Borough Construction Official or the Police Chief shall be
notified in writing of the date, time and place of the hearing at
least five (5) days before the hearing. A letter addressed to the
person requesting the hearing and mailed at least five (5) days prior
to the hearing shall be sufficient to satisfy the requirement of notice.
(c)
At the conclusion of the hearing, the Borough Council shall affirm
the refusal or revocation or shall order the execution and issuance
of the permit or approval or the reinstatement of the same.
(d)
Judicial review of the Borough Council decision shall be available
to any owner or operation of a news vending machine.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 10; No. 13-87, § 8]
Each news vending machine shall have affixed to it its Borough identification sticker in a clearly visible spot at the time it is physically placed at its approved location in the Borough. The permittee is required to maintain each news vending machine as specified in Section 8-40 above.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 11; No. 13-87, § 9]
No person, firm or corporation shall sell, offer for sale or
keep or maintain any newspaper or news periodical in any news vending
machine on any public right-of-way in such a manner as to expose to
the public view any photograph, cartoon or drawing contained within
such publication which:
(a)
Depicts or describes in a patently offensive way, ultimate sexual
acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, masturbation, excretory
functions or lewd exhibition of the genitals;
(b)
Lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value,
when taken as a whole; and
(c)
Is a part of a work which, to the average person applying contemporary
community standards, has a dominant theme, taken as a whole, which
appeals to the prurient interest.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 12]
This Article shall be enforced by the Police Department of the
Borough of Morris Plains.
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 13]
[Ord. No. 7-84, § 7]
Permits issued pursuant to the provisions of this Article may
be revoked by the Borough Construction Official after a written five-day
notice for any of the following causes:
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Section 8-49, Violations and penalties, as amended by Ord. No. 7-84, § 13, was renumbered as Section 8-47 by Ord. No. 13-84, § 10. Said ordinance also repealed former Section 8-42, Indemnification agreement required, and renumbered former Section 8-43 as Section 8-48, Section 8-44 as Section 8-43, Section 8-45 a Section 8-42, Section 8-46 as Section 8-44. Section 8-47 as Section 8-45 and Section 8-48 as Section 8-46.
