A clean, wholesome, attractive environment is declared to be
of importance to the health and safety of the inhabitants, and such
an environment is deemed essential to the economy of the Village and
the general welfare of its citizens. The unrestrained accumulation
of motor vehicles not in operating condition is a hazard to such health,
safety and welfare of the citizens of the Village, necessitating the
regulation and restraint thereof.
Open storage of one or more junk vehicles shall not be permitted
on private or public property within the Village, except as permitted
by this chapter.
Any owner or legal occupant of a parcel of property in the Village
who shall abandon, store, locate, leave or allow or condone any other
person to abandon, store, locate or leave a junk vehicle upon a parcel
of property owned or occupied by him within the Village contrary to
the provisions hereof shall be guilty of a violation hereof. Any person,
whether as owner or driver of a vehicle or an operator of a towing
vehicle or carrier, who shall abandon, store, locate or leave a junk
vehicle upon a parcel of property in the Village of which he is not
either the owner or legal occupant, without the written permission
of the legal occupant, shall be guilty of a violation hereof.
Any person committing an offense against any provision of this
chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a violation pursuant
to the Penal Law of the State of New York, punishable by a fine not
exceeding $250 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 days,
or both such fine and imprisonment. The continuation of an offense
against the provisions of this chapter shall constitute, for each
day the offense is continued, a separate and distinct offense hereunder.
In addition to the penalties set forth above, the Village may
commence an action in its own name against any person in any civil
court of competent jurisdiction to seek an injunction to enforce compliance
with this chapter. Such an action for injunctive relief may be independent
of or a part of an action to collect the civil penalties as hereinabove
provided.
In addition to any penalty or fine as provided in §
369-6 hereof or the remedy provided in this provision hereof, any junk vehicle may be removed from the premises upon which it is located by the Village in the manner hereinafter provided:
A. The enforcement officer, upon detecting a junk vehicle, shall serve
written notice on the person owning the parcel of property upon which
the same is located, ordering such person to remove the same or cause
the same to be removed therefrom within 15 days of the date of such
service. Such notice shall contain a description of the parcel of
property, a statement as to the location thereon of a junk vehicle
and a reference to this chapter and to the fact that the location
of such junk vehicle on such parcel of property is in violation of
this chapter. If such parcel, of property is owned by more than one
person; personal service on any one of such owners shall suffice;
however, as to any owner not personally served with such notice or
if no owner can be located upon whom to make personal service, the
enforcement officer shall mail such notice to owners not personally
served or to the owner and to all owners if no owner was personally
served with such notice or if no owner was personally served by registered
mail to their or his last known address as shown on the latest completed
assessment roll of the Village. In addition, the enforcement officer
shall post conspicuously a copy of such notice on the parcel of property
upon which said junk vehicle is located.
B. At the expiration of 15 days after the service or mailing and posting
of such notice, if such junk vehicle has not been removed, the enforcement
officer shall report such fact to the Village Board in writing. Such
report shall cite the violation, the notices given as required hereunder
and the failure to comply herewith and may include or refer to photographs
of such junk vehicle and of the parcel of property upon which it is
located. Such report shall be entered in the official minutes of the
Village Board by the Village Clerk, and any such photographs shall
be filed in the Village Clerk's office. The Village Board shall
thereafter hold a public hearing on 10 days' prior notice published
in the official newspaper of the Village. Such notice of hearing shall
include a statement that the purposes of the hearing are to give the
person owning such junk vehicle an opportunity to be heard as to why
the same has not been removed and also for the Village Board to receive
proposals for the removal of such junk vehicles.
C. After the hearing, the Village Board may contract for the removal
of such junk vehicles. Any expense to the Village in accomplishing
the removal of such junk vehicle shall be assessed by the Village
Board on the real property from which said junk vehicle was removed,
and the expense so assessed shall constitute a lien and charge upon
the real property on which it is levied until paid or otherwise satisfied
or discharged as other Village charges.
D. Any junk vehicle found to have: been abandoned in the Village in
violation of § 1224 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the
State of New York shall be removed and disposed of in the manner and
as provided in said § 1224. The enforcement officer is authorized
as the proper person to execute all notices and documents required
to be given, mailed or filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles
or any person.
E. Any junk vehicle released to the Village by its owner shall be disposed of at a public auction to the highest bidder, and the proceeds shall be added to the general fund of the Village. Any junk vehicle released to the Village by the owner or legal occupant of the parcel of property from which it is removed, who is not the owner of the junk vehicle, shall be disposed of by the procedure set forth in Subsections
A,
B,
C and
D hereof.
The Village's enforcement officer shall have and is hereby
given the authority to go upon any parcel of real property in the
Village, public or private, exclusive of enclosed structures or buildings,
at any time during daylight hours, to examine and inspect any vehicles
or parts or components thereof to determine whether a violation of
this chapter has been committed or to determine the condition of any
vehicle or parts or components thereof. The officer shall notify the
property owner, in writing, prior to entering on such property.