[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough
of High Bridge as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 2-9-2006as Ch. 53 of the 2006 Code of the Borough of High Bridge]
No person shall keep or maintain any gaming house, house of
ill fame or disorderly house, or allow, suffer or permit any house,
shop, store or other building owned or occupied by him to be used
as a gaming house, house of ill fame or disorderly house or to be
frequented or resorted to by riotous or disorderly persons, prostitutes,
gamblers, vagrants or mendicants.
No person shall set up, keep or maintain, or allow, suffer or
permit to be set up, kept or maintained, in any house, shop, store
or other building or on any premises owned or occupied by him, any
faro table, faro bank, roulette wheel or other wheel or other device
or game of chance for the purpose of gaming, or any cockpit or other
place for the exhibition of animals while engaged in fighting.
No person shall buy, sell or offer for sale what is commonly
known as a "pool" or any interest or share in any such pool or make,
take or offer to take what is commonly known as "book," upon the running,
pacing or trotting, either within or without this state, of any horse,
or other animal, or upon any game, race or contest or conduct or engage
in the practice commonly known as "number-writing" or "picking up
numbers," or have in his possession any ticket, slip or other evidence
of an interest, share, bet or pledge in any pool, lottery, race, contest
or other game, or keep, maintain or attend any place to which persons
may resort for engaging in any such acts or practices or for betting
upon the event of any race, game or contest, either within or without
this state, or for gambling in any form, and no person shall aid,
abet, assist or participate in any way in any of such acts or practices.
No person shall play for money or other valuable thing at cards,
billiards, pool, bowling, shuffleboard, faro bank or other bank of
like kind under any denomination whatever, roulette or other wheel,
at dice or at any other game with one or more die or dice or with
any other instrument or device in the nature of dice; and no person
shall deal, play or engage in faro, roulette or other wheel or other
device or game of chance, whether as banker, player, dealer or otherwise,
for the purpose of gaming.
No person shall play for money or other valuable thing with
any slot machine or device in the nature of a slot machine or with
any other instrument, engine, apparatus or device; and no person shall
have or keep in his place of business or other premises any slot machine
or device in the nature of a slot machine or any other instrument,
engine, apparatus or device which may be used for the purpose of playing
for money or other valuable thing.
No person shall engage in any riot, public disturbance or disorderly
assemblage.
No person shall lounge or sleep in any street, sidewalk, curb,
alley, highway, park or other public place, quasi-public place or
place to which the public is invited, or utter loud and offensive
or indecent language, or make offensive remarks to or about any person
passing along, through or over any street, sidewalk, curb, alley,
highway, park or other public place, quasi-public place or place to
which the public is invited, or obstruct or interfere with any person
lawfully being in or upon any street, sidewalk, curb, alley, highway,
park or other public place, quasi-public place or place to which the
public is invited.
No person shall refuse a police officer's request to move
on when such person stands around, moves slowly, idles, delays or
congregates with others upon any street, sidewalk, curb, alley, highway,
park or other public place, quasi-public place or place to which the
public is invited, with an intention to provoke a breach of the peace
or whereby a breach of the peace may be occasioned.
It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to assemble in
the streets, public places or public halls of the Borough of High
Bridge, or be upon the streets, sidewalks, steps or platforms of any
store, business house, park, church or railroad station, bus or other
conveyance or within or around any building, dwelling house, office,
place of business, factory or private or public place within said
Borough, behaving in a disorderly manner by noisy, rude or indecent
behavior, by using profane, vulgar or indecent language, by making
insulting remarks or comments to others, by begging for alms, by fighting,
by unnecessary congregating in groups upon any street, sidewalk, railroad
station or other public place to the obstruction thereof or to the
annoyance of other persons lawfully there being, or by unnecessarily
doing or performing any other disorderly thing whatsoever that shall
disturb the peace or quiet of any family, neighborhood or any of the
inhabitants of the Borough.
No person shall go about from door to door or place himself
or herself in any street, highway, park or other public or quasi-public
place to beg or gather alms, and no person shall conduct himself or
herself in such manner as to be guilty of vagrancy.
[Amended 9-24-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-25]
No person shall appear in any street, highway, park or other
public or quasi-public place in a state of nudity, or in any indecent
or lewd dress, or make any indecent exposure of his or her person,
or be guilty of any lewd or indecent act or behavior, or exhibit,
sell or offer to sell any indecent or lewd book, picture or thing,
or exhibit or perform any indecent, immoral or lewd play or other
representation.
No person shall throw any stone, stick or other hard or offensive
substance, or shoot any revolver, pistol, gun, air gun, bow and arrow,
slingshot or other device, at, into or upon any street or other public
or quasi-public place, or into any cars, vehicle or private property
except in self-defense when threatened with deadly bodily harm or
in defense of another's person when he is threatened with deadly
bodily harm, or as expressly authorized in this chapter. Legitimate
discharging of firearms during practice shooting or during hunting
season as designated by the New Jersey Fish, Game and Wildlife Commission
is allowed, provided the proper setback requirements from structures
is followed.
No person shall give or cause to be given any false alarm of
fire.
No person shall make or cause to be made any bonfire between
sundown and sunrise without having first obtained a permit therefor
from the Department of Community Affairs, Division of Fire Safety,
Department of Environmental Protection and the Fire Department of
the Borough of High Bridge.
Bicycles are not permitted on public sidewalks and are subject
to motor vehicle regulations.
No person shall injure or damage any lights, wires, poles or
fixtures lawfully in or upon any street or other public place.
No person shall throw water, by the use of a hose or otherwise,
upon any sidewalk on Main Street between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and
6:00 p.m.
It shall be the duty of the police of the Borough of High Bridge,
and they are hereby authorized and empowered, to enter upon any premises
wherein instruments or devices shall be used or employed in gaming
contrary to any of the provisions of this chapter and, except in the
case of ball alleys, bowling alleys and billiard tables, to carry
away and destroy such instruments or devices so employed or used in
gaming.
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter
shall, upon conviction thereof, forfeit and pay a fine of not exceeding
$500 or be imprisoned in the county jail for a term not exceeding
90 days, or both, and the Judge of the Borough of High Bridge before
whom such person shall be convicted may impose such fine or imprisonment,
or both, as he may see fit, but not exceeding the maximum herein fixed.
[Adopted 3-27-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-09[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance was originally adopted as Ch.
265 but was renumbered to maintain the organization of the Code.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A Municipal Court Judge of the State of New Jersey appointed
by the Borough Council. The hearing officer shall not own or lease
any real property within the Borough of High Bridge, nor hold any
interest in the assets of or profits arising from the ownership or
lease of such property.
As defined under the law, N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.12o, as may be
amended.
A.
If, in any twenty-four-month period, two complaints, on separate
occasions, of conduct upon or in proximity to any rental premises,
and attributable to the acts or incitements of any of the tenants
of those premises, have been substantiated by prosecution and conviction
in any court of competent jurisdiction as a violation of any provision
of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes or any municipal ordinance
governing disorderly conduct, the High Bridge Borough Administrator,
or any designee of the Borough Administrator for the purpose, may
institute proceedings to require the landlord of those premises to
post a bond against the consequences of future incidents of the same
character.
B.
In the event a tenant is convicted of any of the conduct described in Subsection A of this section, the Borough Administrator or designee shall cause notice advising that the conduct specified has occurred to be served on the landlord, in person or by registered mail, at the address appearing on the tax records of the Borough.
C.
The Borough Administrator or designee shall cause to be served upon
the landlord, in person or by registered mail to the address appearing
on the tax records of the Borough, notice advising of the institution
of such proceedings, together with particulars of the substantiated
complaints upon which those proceedings are based, and of the time
and place at which a hearing will be held in the matter, which shall
be in the municipal building, municipal court or other public place
within the Borough, and which shall be no sooner than 30 days from
the date upon which the notice is served or mailed.
D.
At the hearing convened pursuant to Subsection C of this section, the hearing officer shall give full hearing to both the complaint of the municipality and to any evidence in contradiction or mitigation that the landlord, if present or represented and offering such evidence, may present. The hearing officer may consider, to the extent deemed relevant by the hearing officer, prior complaints about the residents of the property, even if those complaints did not result in a conviction. At the conclusion of the hearing, the hearing officer shall determine whether the landlord shall be required to post a bond in accordance with the terms of this article.
E.
Bond requirements.
(1)
Any bond required to be posted shall be in accordance with the judgment
of the hearing officer, in light of the nature and extent of the offenses
indicated in the substantiated complaints upon which the proceedings
are based, to be adequate in the case of subsequent offenses to make
reparation for:
(a)
Damages likely to be caused to public or private property and
damages consequent upon disruption or affected residents' rights
of fair use and quiet possession of their premises;
(b)
Securing the payment of fines and penalties likely to be levied
for such offenses; and
(c)
Compensating the Borough for the costs of repressing and prosecuting
such incidents of disorderly behavior.
(2)
No such bond shall be in an amount less than $500 nor more than $5,000.
The Borough may enforce the bond thus required by action in the Superior
Court, and shall be entitled to an injunction prohibiting the landlord
from making or renewing any lease of the affected premises for residential
purposes until that bond or equivalent security, in satisfactory form
and amount, has been deposited with the Borough.
F.
A bond or other security deposited in compliance with Subsection E of this section shall remain in force for three years. Upon the lapse of the three-year period, the landlord shall be entitled to the discharge thereof, unless prior thereto further proceedings leading to a forfeiture or partial forfeiture of the bond or other security shall have been had under section below, in which case the security shall be renewed, in an amount and for a period that shall be specified by the hearing officer. The Borough Council may by resolution shorten the period for which security is required to not less than one year from the date of the transfer of ownership or control, if during that year no substantiated complaints are recorded with respect to the property in question.
A.
If, during the period for which a landlord is required to give security pursuant to § 264-22 above, a substantiated complaint is recorded against the property in question, the Borough Administrator or designee may institute proceedings against the landlord for the forfeiture or partial forfeiture of the security, for an extension as provided in § 264-22F above, of the period for which the security is required, or for increase in the amount of security required, or for any or all of those purposes.
B.
Any forfeiture or partial forfeiture of security shall be determined by the hearing officer solely in accordance with the amount deemed necessary to provide for the compensatory purposes set forth in § 264-22E above. Any decision by the hearing officer to increase the amount or extend the period of the required security shall be determined in light of the same factors set forth § 264-22E above, and shall be taken only to the extent that the nature of the substantiated complaint or complaints out of which proceedings arise under this section indicates the appropriateness of such change in order to effectually carry out the purposes of this article effectually. The decision of the hearing officer in such circumstances shall be enforceable in the same manner as provided in § 264-22F above.
