[Adopted 8-16-2017 by Ord. No. 21-2017]
The Township Council finds and determines that it is important
for the safety of visitors to our community to control vice, disturbances
and narcotics offenses and to protect the general public and for peace
and good order. To meet these goals, the Township requires certain
security measures at motels and temporary housing accommodations,
including requiring the licensing of motels and mandating additional
requirements necessary to ensure safety based in part on minimum standards
required for a motel to receive or renew a motel operation license
and requiring additional registration requirements and limiting the
length of stay of guests.
For the purpose of this article, the following words will have
the following meanings:
CONTRACT GUEST
Any person who exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy
by reason of a contract or voucher or by other payment method from
a state, county or local agency or not-for-profit corporation engaged
in providing housing accommodations for the right to occupy the premises
for a period of one calendar month or less. Any such person so occupying
space in a motel shall be deemed a "transient" up to and including
the last day of a calendar month. In determining whether a person
is a "transient," uninterrupted periods of time extending both prior
or subsequent to the effective date of this article may be considered.
MOTEL
Any structure or any portion of any structure which is occupied
or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling,
lodging or sleeping purposes. For purposes of this article, the term
"motel" shall include any hotel, inn, tourist home or residential
rental housing having 10 or more rental units or apartments or any
other similar structure or portion thereof.
NON-CONTRACT GUEST
Any person who exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy
by reason of concession, permit, right to access, license or by other
payment of any money for the right to occupy the premises for a period
of up to 31 calendar days or less, counting portions of the calendar
days as full days. Any such person so occupying space in a motel shall
be deemed a "transient" up to and including the 31st day of occupancy.
In determining whether a person is a transient, uninterrupted periods
of time extending both prior or subsequent to the effective date of
this article may be considered. "Non-contract guest" shall not include
the owner and the owner's immediate family or one specifically
identified employee and the employee's family occupying a living
unit on site equipped with a full kitchen and separate living and
sleeping quarters, where same is available. Existing motel rooms shall
not, however, be converted to create such living space.
OCCUPANCY
The use or possession or the right to the use or possession
of any room(s) or portion thereof in any motel for sleeping purposes.
OPERATOR
Any person, as defined herein, and including agents, employees,
and independent contractors thereof, responsible for the day-to-day
management and performance of motel activities.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association,
social club, fraternal organization, joint-stock company, corporation,
estate, trust, business trust, receiver, trustee, syndicate or any
other group or combination acting as a unit.
RENT
The consideration charged, whether or not received, for the
occupancy of space in the motel valued in money, whether to be received
in money, goods, labor or otherwise, including all receipts, cash,
credits and property and service of any kind or nature, without reduction
therefrom whatsoever.
TRANSIENT
One whose presence in Pemberton Township is temporary or
fleeting.
VISITOR
Any person, not employed by or a registered guest of a motel,
not including minors and dependents of registered guests.
When any person shall, by the use of signs, circulars, business
cards, newspapers, other publications, radio or television stations,
advertise or solicit patronage, actively or passively, it shall be
considered prima facie evidence of the operation of a motel, and a
license shall be required for the ownership and/or operation of a
motel.
All motels are required to meet the following minimum security
requirements:
A. Guest registration regulations.
(1) Every registering guest shall furnish to an operator of a motel satisfactory
identification as part of the registration process for the hire of
lodgings at that motel by the transient.
(2) No room shall be rented to any person who shall be under 21 years
of age at the time of the rental when not accompanied by a parent
or legal guardian or providing proof of emancipation. Said age is
set to deter security issues associated with underage drinking.
(3) Satisfactory identification shall consist of one of the following:
valid driver's license issued in the transient's state;
a federal, state or county government photograph identification card;
military identification card; a passport; or any other form of valid
government identification on which the guest's photograph appears.
(4) The operator of the motel shall maintain a record log and photocopy of the identification produced by the guest(s). The record log shall include the name of the transient, current address, ID number (i.e., motor vehicle license number) and state or country of issuance of identification, date of birth, date and time of check in and checkout, method of payment and make, model and license plate number of guest vehicle, if guest intends to park the vehicle at the establishment. Irrespective of method of payment, the motel operator shall comply with Subsection
A(1) of this section.
(5) An operator shall notify any guest who falls or refuses to provide
proper identification or refuses to identify occupants to any operator
that a room will not be rented.
(6) The record log shall be made immediately available for inspection
by the Chief of Police, or his designee, who shall be a uniformed
police officer, and shall also be immediately available to any member
of the Pemberton Township Police Department or other law enforcement
agency, in the event of a police service incident at the motel. Said
log shall be kept by the motel owner for a period of no less than
three years.
(a)
The officer shall request to inspect the record log by asking
the operator, or the operator's designee who is "on duty" and/or
working at the time, to inspect the record. If inspection is refused,
the operator or the operator's employee/designee must secure
the record in the presence of the officer or an authorized representative
of the Police Department or other law enforcement agency, in a manner
directed by the officer or authorized representative, to ensure that
no one can tamper with the record and so that the record can be maintained
securely in the presence of the officer or authorized representative
until such time as the officer takes action authorized by law to require
the inspection of the record log and/or a copy of same.
(b)
Whenever possible, the inspection shall be conducted at a time
and in a manner that minimizes any interference with the operation
of the business.
(c)
No person shall alter, deface or erase the record so as to make
the information recorded in it illegible or unintelligible or hinder,
obstruct, or interfere with any inspection of the record under this
section.
(7) The duties imposed on an operator by this article shall not be interpreted
or applied so as to violate or cause the violation of the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-336).
B. Frequency of rental. The operator shall not rent any room more than
two times during any twenty-four-hour period, beginning at 12:00 noon
and ending at 12:00 noon the following day.
C. Occupancy. The sleeping accommodations of a motel shall be rented
only for the use of contract and non-contract guests as transient
occupants and shall not be used or occupied on any permanent basis,
and no such occupant shall be deemed to be a resident therein. Every
licensed premises shall maintain at all times a complete register
of all rentals therein and the true identification and correct dates
of occupancy of each person using any room on the licensed premises.
(1) Contract guests. No contract guest shall use or occupy any room or
a portion of any room in any motel for more than a calendar month
or more than 31 days during any three calendar months.
(2) Non-contract guests.
(a)
No non-contract guest shall use or occupy any room or a portion
of any room in any motel for a period of more than 31 consecutive
days or more than 31 days during any ninety-day period. A portion
of a calendar day shall constitute a full day.
(b)
A minimum of seven days prior to the expiration of the thirty-one-day limit, it shall be an affirmative duty of the operator to petition the Township Business Administrator in writing to permit a non-contract guest to avail himself of the use of the motel for a period longer than 31 days when such non-contract guest provides i) proof of current, valid residency more than 30 miles from the Township of Pemberton and is utilizing the motel while performing a temporary function or service in Pemberton Township, such as employment on a construction project, or ii) where the non-contract guest is in need of temporary quarters while improvements are being performed on the non-contract guest's primary residence making it temporarily uninhabitable, where such time frame remains limited to a definite timeline and where vacancy of the motel premises will occur at the conclusion of the construction project or the primary residence becomes habitable. The decision to permit any stay longer than 31 days remains at the sole discretion of the Township Business Administrator and may be appealed to the Township Council in the same manner as provided for denial of license as provided in §
127-6 of this article.
D. Identification of renters; renting for improper purposes prohibited.
In addition to the other rules and regulations set forth in this article,
no licensee shall knowingly rent, allow or permit any room on the
licensed premises to be used for any illegal or immoral purpose. The
licensee's failure to set forth the true identity and correct
hours shall serve as prima facie evidence of violation of this provision.
E. Restriction on ownership and management. The operation, conduct and
management of a motel shall not be under the management, control or
supervision of any person convicted of a felony or any conviction
involving the sale of drugs and/or narcotics, prostitution or underage
drinking. No person shall own, directly or indirectly, more than 10%
of stock or be an officer or director of any corporation or participate
in any way in the management of any licensed premises if he or she
has been convicted of a crime as described in this subsection.
F. Maintenance and enforcement of no-rent/no-trespass list.
(1) The Township shall maintain and provide a no-rent/no-trespass list
of persons convicted of any crime while on a motel property or while
registered as a guest at a motel in the Township.
(2) The operator shall refuse to rent any room on the premises to said
guest on the list or allow the individuals on said list to remain
on the property. At no time shall the operator allow the person on
the list or members of the person's party to visit other properly
registered guests or visitors.
(3) Names shall remain on the no-rent/no-trespass list for the remainder
of the current calendar year and the next immediate calendar year
(i.e., up to one year and 364 days).
G. Notification to police of suspicious guests. The motel operator shall
make reasonable effort to notify the Pemberton Township Police Department
of the names and permanent addresses of guests that behave suspiciously
after check-in. Suspicious activity shall include an act or event
which causes an ordinarily prudent person to believe that unlawful
behavior is in process or imminent.
H. Requirement of on-site manager 24 hours a day. The operator shall
cause the motel to maintain twenty-four-hour supervision by an on-site
manager. Said manager(s) will have supervisory responsibilities over
all other employees on site and shall serve as the first point of
contact for the Pemberton Township Police Department.
The proper enforcement of the provisions of this article dealing
with licenses shall be within the jurisdiction of the Director of
Community Development and the Township of Pemberton Police Department,
within the jurisdiction of those officers at the state, county and
local levels of government charged with providing the necessary inspections,
regulations and enforcement of the law.