[Ord. No. 7-84, § 1]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
DISPLAY WINDOW
A window used by a business for the display of merchandise offered for sale.
NEWSPAPER or NEWS PERIODICAL
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.
NEWS VENDING MACHINE
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.
PUBLIC STREET
Any area dedicated to public use as a street, including highways, sidewalks, parkways or alleys.
SIDEWALK
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.
UNPROTECTED LANDSCAPED AREA
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:
(a) 
Misrepresentation or false statement contained in the application.
(b) 
Operating or maintaining a news vending machine in an unlawful manner or in violation of this Article or in such a manner as to constitute a menace to the health, safety or general welfare of the public.
[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.