[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the Borough of Lansdale 4-4-1963 by Ord. No. 799 (Ch. 81 of the 1972 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as "The Borough
of Lansdale Junkyard and Refuse Ordinance."
Unless otherwise expressly stated, the following words and phrases
shall be construed throughout this chapter to have the meanings herein
set forth:
The Council of the Borough of Lansdale.
Any used or discarded materials, including, but not limited
to, wastepaper, rags, metal, building materials, house furnishings,
machinery, and vehicles or parts thereof, with or without the dismantling,
processing, salvage, sale or other use or disposition of the same,
and including two or more motor vehicles not having valid inspections
stickers issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation,
or two or more wrecked or broken vehicles or the major parts of two
or more such vehicles.
[Amended 12-5-1963 by Ord. No. 833[1]]
Any person who shall engage in the business of selling, buying,
salvaging and dealing in junk and who maintains and operates a junkyard
within the Borough of Lansdale.
An area of land, with or without buildings, used for the
storage (outside of a completely enclosed building) of junk, as defined
in this chapter.[2]
Any natural person, partnership, association, firm or corporation.
No person shall engage in business as a junk dealer or maintain
a junkyard in the Borough of Lansdale without first having obtained
a license from the Council, for which license the fee shall be as
set by resolution of the Borough Council for each and every calendar
year, to be paid to the Borough Treasurer for the use of the Borough.
The license provided for in this chapter shall be issued by
the Council upon written application setting forth the owner or owners,
in full, of the premises used for the junkyard, the name of the junk
dealer and any fictitious or trade name employed by the junk dealer,
the name of each partner or associate if the junk dealer is a partnership
or association, the name of each officer if the junk dealer is a corporation,
the address of the junkyard and the size of the tract or lot upon
which the junkyard is located. The license shall state the name of
the person to whom the license is issued and the premises on which
the business is to be conducted or the junkyard maintained. The license
shall be posted conspicuously upon the licensed premises. With the
application, the applicant shall submit a plot plan of the premises
drawn to scale with the placement of all buildings, watercourses and
areas to be devoted to the storage of junk.
No person licensed under this chapter shall, by virtue of one
license, keep more than one place of business within the Borough or
maintain more than one junkyard for the purpose of buying, selling
and dealing in junk. No person shall engage in business as a junk
dealer in any place other than the place designated upon his license
or maintain a junkyard in any place other than the place designated
upon his license.
No license issued by the Council shall be transferable by the
licensee to any other person unless such a transfer is authorized
by the Council. Any person who transfers his license shall notify
the Council in writing, enclosing an application for a license signed
by the proposed transferee. In the event that the Council shall approve
the transfer of license, the transferee shall pay to the Borough Treasurer
a fee as set by resolution of the Borough Council.
[Amended 12-5-1963 by Ord. No. 833]
Every person licensed under this chapter shall provide and maintain
a book in which shall be recorded in the English language, at the
time of purchase of any junk, a general description of the articles
or materials purchased or received, except in the case of motor vehicles,
motor vehicle parts, motor-driven appliances and bicycles which shall
be specifically described and enumerated, the date and hour of purchase
or receipt and the name of the person and address of the person from
whom such articles or materials were purchased, received or handled.
This record book shall be subject to inspection by the Borough Council,
the Borough Police Department or any other Borough official designated
by the Council.
[Amended 12-5-1963 by Ord. No. 833]
Every person licensed under this chapter shall keep and retain
upon the licensed premises, for a period of 48 hours after the purchase
or receipt thereof, all junk received or purchased by him, and he
shall not disturb or reduce the same or alter the original form, shape
or condition until such 48 hours have elapsed, with the exception
of automobiles scrapped with proper certificate of title and paper
or rags which must be stored in the form of bales.
Every person licensed under this chapter shall constantly maintain
the licensed premises in the manner prescribed by this chapter as
follows:
A.
Such premises shall at all times be maintained in a manner not to
create a nuisance or menace to the health of the community or the
residents nearby, nor to create a place for the breeding of rodents
and vermin.
B.
No garbage or other organic waste, rubbish or other flammable articles
or materials, except lumber, shall be stored in such premises. Paper
or rags shall not be stored upon such premises unless compressed into
tight, fire-resistant bales by a mechanical baling device and bound
tightly with wire or metal bands.
[Amended 12-5-1963 by Ord. No. 833]
C.
Weeds and vegetation shall be maintained at a maximum height of two
inches in the area actually used for the storage of junk and a height
not in excess of 12 inches above ground surface in the area within
the junkyard property not actually devoted to the storage of junk.
D.
Junk shall not be stored upon sidewalk and curb areas of the junkyard
premises.
E.
Junk shall not be stored upon the junkyard premises in stacks or
piles exceeding 25 feet in height; vehicles shall be stored at ground
level and shall not be piled or stacked one upon another.
[Amended 12-5-1963 by Ord. No. 833]
F.
The manner of storage and arrangement of junk and the drainage facilities
to the premises shall be such as to prevent the accumulation of stagnant
water upon the premises and to facilitate excess for firefighting
purposes.
G.
Whenever any motor vehicle shall be received in such junkyard as
junk, all gasoline and oil shall be drained and removed therefrom
and none shall be permitted to remain upon the premises.
I.
Junkyards shall not be open for business nor shall any work be done
therein in connection with the storage, processing and transporting
or removal of junk at any time on Sunday or on any other day of the
week before 7:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m., prevailing time, with the
exception that emergency calls due to highway accidents may be served
at any time.
J.
Where a junkyard adjoins property actually used for residential purposes,
whether or not the latter is owned by the junkyard owner or another
person, the Council may require the owner of the junkyard, as a condition
of the issuance or re-issuance of the license, to erect a tight wall
or fence not in excess of eight feet in height along the side of the
junkyard adjoining the property devoted to residential use. The Council
shall allow a reasonable time for the erection of such wall or fence,
during which time the use of the junkyard may continue.
Upon due notice and after affording opportunity to be heard,
the license of any junk dealer may be forfeited or revoked by the
Council for any violation of the provisions of this chapter. If at
any time the license of a junk dealer shall be forfeited or revoked,
at least three months shall elapse before another license shall be
granted for conduct of a junkyard upon the same premises.
Any person who violates or permits a violation of this chapter
shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought before a Magisterial
District Judge under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure,
be guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable by a fine of
not more than $1,000, plus court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees
incurred by the Borough in the enforcement proceedings. Upon judgment
against any person by summary conviction, or by proceedings by summons
on default of the payment of the fine or penalty imposed and the costs,
the defendant may be sentenced and committed to the Borough lockup
for a period not exceeding 10 days or to the county jail for a period
not exceeding 30 days. Each day or portion thereof that such violation
continues or is permitted to continue shall constitute a separate
offense, and each section of this chapter that is violated shall also
constitute a separate offense.
In addition to the remedies provided in the preceding section,
any continued violations of this chapter which shall constitute, in
the opinion of the Council, a nuisance in fact may be abated by an
appropriate proceeding against the violator in equity.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to enlarge the uses
permitted within the several districts by the Zoning Ordinance as
amended. In the case of other ordinances of the Borough relating to
junkyards, or the accumulation of rubbish and garbage, the same area,
with the exception of the Zoning Ordinance[1] as amended, repealed to the extent necessary to give effect
to this chapter, and where there is a conflict between earlier ordinances
and this chapter, the latter shall be controlling. As used herein,
the masculine singular shall include the plural as well as the feminine
and neuter, singular and plural.
