[HISTORY: Adopted by the Lewiston Town Board 4-9-2001 by L.L. No. 1-2001; amended in its entirety 5-13-2002 by L.L. No. 1-2002.
(Ch. 1A of the 1965 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the "Town of Lewiston False Alarm
Law."
The purpose of this chapter is to protect and promote the health,
safety and general welfare of the Town of Lewiston by reducing the
number of false alarms of fire, intrusion, holdup or other emergencies
which contribute to the ineffective use of emergency response agencies,
require emergency responses which are susceptible to high accident
rates, interfere with genuine emergencies (responses) and produce
unnecessary alarm noises to the surrounding community.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following words, terms
and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to the term
by this section:
Any person or persons engaged in the sale, leasing, installation,
maintenance or service of alarm systems or who, in any manner, cause
the sale, leasing, installation, maintenance or service of alarm systems
in or on any building, structure or facility within the Town of Lewiston.
An alarm business shall be licensed through New York State.
A notice or decal posted in a prominent location on a building
at which an alarm is operational, which shall contain an assigned
identification number.
Any assembly of equipment or devices arranged to signal the
presence of a hazard requiring urgent attention which is directly
or indirectly connected to police, fire or emergency medical services
and to which police, fire and emergency medical services agencies
are expected to respond. An alarm system shall include automatic dialing
devices.
Any person using an alarm, including the owner or lessee
of real property where an alarm is located.
Any device that automatically dials and relays a prerecorded
message to an emergency agency.
Activation of an alarm system through mechanical failure,
malfunction, improper installation, no auxiliary power supply, or
the negligence of the owner, user, custodian or lessee of any alarm
system or of his or her employees, requiring an emergency response
when, in fact, an emergency does not exist, or the intentional activation
of an alarm system when the activator knows an emergency situation
does not exist. A false alarm does not include alarms activated by
violent conditions of nature or similar causes beyond the control
of the user, owner or operator of the alarm system. The activation
of an alarm system under any circumstances in which the activator
reasonably believes that an emergency situation exists shall not be
deemed to be a false alarm.
A.
All alarm system users or their designees may register said alarm
system with the Town Clerk, on forms by the Town Clerk, within 30
days of written notification. An initial registration fee as set forth
from time to time by resolution of the Town Board for alarms shall
be required. Failure to receive written notification in no way relieves
alarm system users from the false alarm fees, prohibitions and restriction
sections of this chapter.
B.
Whenever there occurs any change in the information provided on said
registration, the alarm system user or his or her designee shall provide
said changes to the Town Clerk.
A.
It is hereby found and determined that false alarms requiring the
Police and/or Fire Departments to respond constitutes a public safety
hazard and nuisance.
B.
An owner or lessee of real property to which an emergency agency
responds as a result of a false alarm shall pay a fee for each such
response in each calendar year. Such fee(s) shall be set from time
to time by resolution of the Town Board of the Town of Lewiston.
[Amended 8-27-2018 by L.L. No. 4-2018]
C.
For purposes of this section, the term "calendar year" for 2002 shall
commence on the effective date of this chapter.
D.
Notice of excessive use. The owner or lessee of real property which
received an emergency response by reason of a false alarm shall be
notified, in writing, by means of first-class mail of all avoidable
alarms up to five police alarms and/or one fire alarm in a calendar
year. The letter shall inform the owner or lessee of real property
of the times and types of emergency responses provided to the address
location and shall contain a copy of this chapter.
E.
The failure to pay service fees assessed pursuant to this section
within 30 days of written notice from the Town Clerk's office of the
imposition of the fee is a violation of this chapter.
F.
Payment of charges. False alarm fees shall be paid to the Town Clerk
of the Town of Lewiston, 1375 Ridge Road, Lewiston, New York 14092.
The Code Enforcement Officer, in cooperation with other Town
officials, shall establish a policy and procedure whereby an owner
of real property or lessee thereof on which an alarm system has been
installed and who has been notified of a false alarm may present evidence
as to why any such alarm should not be classified as a false alarm.
The Police Chief and/or Fire Chiefs shall designate three members
of their departments, not to exceed three in total, to receive such
evidence and make recommendations and findings of fact concerning
such classification. All burglar alarm calls shall be referred to
the Police Chief and/or his designee for a determination and recommendation
to the Code Enforcement Officer. All fire alarm calls shall be referred
to the Fire Bureau or its designee for a determination and recommendation
to the Code Enforcement Officer. The Code Enforcement Officer shall
make the final determination concerning a classification, which determination
shall be reviewable only pursuant to procedures under Article 78 of
the Civil Practice Law and Rules. To challenge the classification
of an alarm as a false alarm, the real property owner or lessee thereof,
or the alarm business responsible for maintenance of the alarm, shall,
in writing, notify the Code Enforcement Officer within 20 days after
the receipt of notice of false alarm. The failure to give timely notice
shall be deemed a waiver of the right to review the determination.
A.
Alarm users shall be subject to a service fee of as set forth from time to time by resolution of the Town Board for each occurrence which the Police or Fire Departments responds to an alarm at a building in which an alarm is operational, but the alarm information notice required by § 95-4 is not posted. This fee shall be in addition to the service fees and charges imposed pursuant to § 95-4.
B.
The failure to pay service fees assessed pursuant to this section
within 30 days of written notice from the Town Clerk's office of the
imposition of the fee shall result in an additional charge as set
forth from time to time by resolution of the Town Board for each occurrence
for which a service fee has been assessed. The failure to pay service
fees assessed pursuant to this section within 30 days of written notice
from the Town Clerk's office of the imposition of the fee is a violation
of this chapter. Service charges shall be paid to the Town Clerk of
the Town of Lewiston, 1375 Ridge Road, Lewiston, New York 14092.
C.
Inspection for displaying of the alarm information notice shall be conducted by the Town of Lewiston Code Enforcement Officer during periodic fire inspections. The Code Enforcement Officer shall notify, in writing, by first-class mail, any property owner or lessee where an alarm information notice is not properly posted. The property owner or lessee shall properly post the required alarm information notice within 15 days of the receipt of notice. Failure to properly post the alarm information notice within 15 days shall be an occurrence, as defined in Subsection A of this section.
A.
No person shall install or maintain an external audible alarm device
which does not contain an operational automatic cutoff system which
turns off the external audible alarms after a period not to exceed
10 minutes after activation.
B.
An automatic dialer shall be connected directly to the Niagara County
Sheriff or New York State Police dispatcher and shall automatically
disconnect and/or terminate its message after the message has been
transmitted a maximum of two times. Notwithstanding the foregoing,
however, the total transmission time of all messages shall not exceed
five minutes.
A.
No alarm system shall have an automatic dialer feature or other type
of alarm alert which connects automatically to enhanced 911 or the
911 emergency telephone system.
B.
There shall be no automatic alarm systems with direct communication
of any type to an emergency agency without prior written authorization
from the emergency agency where the alarms terminate.
The Code Enforcement Officer or his or her designees shall enforce
this chapter. For that purpose, the Code Enforcement Officer and his
or her designees are authorized to issue and serve appearance tickets.
The Building Inspector for the Town of Lewiston shall be the Code
Enforcement Officer for purposes of this section.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed or interpreted to
place the Town of Lewiston or any of its officers or agents under
any obligation or duty to an alarm user or to any person hereunder
by reason of this chapter. The Town specifically disclaims any and
all liability for any and all damages which may be in any way related
to the failure or inability to respond to any alarm.
Any person, business, firm, corporation, partnership, association
or other entity that does not pay the fees as established in this
chapter shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount not less
than twice the amount of such unpaid fees, but not to exceed $1,000
for each offense. Any person, business, firm, corporation, partnership,
association or other entity that violates any other provisions of
this chapter shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount not
less than twice the amount of such unpaid fees, but not to exceed
$1,000 for each offense. A separate offense shall be deemed committed
upon each day during which a violation occurs, continues or is permitted.
