[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Board of the Township of
Three Oaks 4-5-1956 by Res. No.
3. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The following words shall have the following respective meanings
for the purpose of this chapter:
A person engaged in the business of collecting, receiving
or purchasing secondhand property or junk.
Any personal property which is or may be salvaged for reuse,
resale, reduction or similar disposition, or which is possessed, transported,
owned, collected, accumulated, dismantled or assorted for any of the
aforesaid purposes. Without limiting the aforesaid definition of "junk,"
the term shall include used or salvaged iron, brass, lead, copper
and other base metal or metals, and their compounds or combinations;
used or salvaged building material, rope, bags, paper, rags, glass,
rubber, and similar articles or property; and used motor vehicles
which are used, owned or possessed for the purpose of wrecking or
salvaging parts therefrom, and motor vehicle parts thus obtained.
Every person who engages in the business of buying, exchanging,
collecting, receiving, storing or selling any article or articles
hereinabove defined as "junk."
Any place at which a junk dealer buys, exchanges, collects,
receives, stores, accumulates, sells, or otherwise handles junk.
Firm, corporation or individual person.
Any person who engages in the business of buying, exchanging,
collecting, receiving, storing, or selling any property herein defined
as "secondhand property."
Any used household furniture, used wearing apparel, used
lumber, used brick, used tile, used plumbing fixtures, used electrical
fixtures, used articles made of precious metal or metals, used jewelry,
used tools, and used motor vehicles or parts thereof, and any other
used articles or personal property bought and sold by and from other
than the original purchaser and user.
Any place at which a secondhand dealer buys, exchanges, collects,
receives, stores, or sells secondhand property.
A.
No person shall maintain or operate a secondhand store or junk shop
or junkyard or motor dismantling establishment without first obtaining
a license therefor. Application for such license shall be made to
the Township Clerk upon blanks to be provided. The applicant shall
state his name, whether a person, firm or corporation, the place or
places at which such business is to be or is conducted or maintained,
and the applicant's residence for a period of three years preceding
such application. The applications so received by the Township Clerk
shall be referred to the Township Supervisor for purposes of investigation
and recommendation.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
B.
After receipt of such recommendations, the application shall be submitted
to the Township Board. The sole power to grant licenses hereunder
is vested in said Township Board. Licenses granted by said Township
Board shall be issued by the Township Clerk.
C.
Any applicant seeking to establish a secondhand store or junk shop
or junkyard or motor vehicle dismantling establishment in a location
not previously used for that purpose or any licensee seeking to move
or establish same in a location not previously used for that purpose
must first obtain the consent, in writing, of 65% of the owners of
residential property within 300 yards of any part of the area in which
the proposed business is to be conducted. Said area shall include
any portion to be used for the storage of any property in connection
with such proposed business.
D.
No secondhand store, junk shop, junkyard or motor vehicle dismantling
yard or any part thereof shall be hereafter established or located
in any residential zone in the Township of Three Oaks, nor shall same
be hereafter established or located within 200 feet from any public
street or highway in the Township of Three Oaks, nor shall same be
hereafter established or located within 200 feet from any inhabited
building or dwelling except the building or dwelling inhabited by
the licensee, nor shall same be hereafter established or located within
100 feet from any adjoining private property line.
[Amended 9-4-1962]
A.
The following fees shall be paid:
(1)
For each person, corporation, copartnership or firm engaged in or
carrying on the business in the Township of Three Oaks of secondhand
dealer or junk dealer, as hereinbefore defined, having a yard for
the storage of secondhand property and/or junk, the sum of $25 per
annum, provided that separate license must be taken out for each yard
so used for the storage of secondhand property and/or junk.
(2)
For each person, corporation, copartnership or firm engaged in or
carrying on the business in the Township of Three Oaks of secondhand
dealer or junk dealer, as hereinbefore defined, having a storeroom
or building for the storage of secondhand property and/or junk, the
sum of $25 per annum, provided that a separate license must be taken
out for each separate location so used for the storage of secondhand
property and/or junk.
(3)
For each collector in the Township of Three Oaks, as defined herein,
the sum of $5 per annum.
B.
All licenses issued hereunder shall expire on the first day of April
of each year.
A.
No person shall maintain a junkyard or junk shop within the Township
of Three Oaks unless such business is carried on entirely inside a
building or buildings, or unless the premises on which such business
is conducted are entirely enclosed, except for gates, by a solid or
closed-board fence not less than six feet in height. If painted, said
fence shall be painted one solid color, and said fence shall be maintained
in good solid and sightly condition at all times.
B.
Gates for access to said premises shall swing inward, and such gate
shall be closed when the premises are not open for business, and such
gates shall be of solid board construction not less than six feet
high and match the fence.
C.
Barbed wire may be installed on the tops of such fences on arms or
supports projecting over the private property side of the fence.
D.
For a distance of at least 30 feet from the exterior of all buildings
and/or fences enclosing or housing such junkyard or junk shop or motor
vehicle dismantling yard, no grass, weeds, shrubbery or undergrowth
shall be allowed to grow to a height exceeding one foot.
E.
Used motor vehicles, trucks, truck bodies and vans shall not be stacked
one upon the other. In all other instances, junk, as hereinabove defined,
shall not be piled or stacked so as to be higher than the six-foot
fence herein required.
[Added 12-9-1963]
Any person, corporation, member or members of a copartnership
or firm whose business in whole or in part is that of purchasing,
selling, exchanging or receiving secondhand articles of any kind is
hereby declared to be a secondhand dealer or junk dealer, provided
that this definition shall not apply to retail merchants who repossess
their own merchandise sold on a title-retaining contract, or chattel
mortgage basis, nor shall this definition apply to retail merchants
who take trade-ins on the sale of their own merchandise.
No person shall purchase any junk, as defined herein, between
the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. nor on any Sunday.
Such secondhand dealer or junk dealer as defined herein shall
post in a conspicuous place in or upon his shop, store, wagon, vehicle,
barn or other place of business a sign having his name and occupation
legibly inscribed thereon, and shall keep a separate book, open to
inspection by members of the Michigan State Police Force, Berrien
County Sheriff's office and other public officers, in which shall
be written, in the English language, at the time of the purchase or
exchange of such article a description thereof, the name, description,
and residence of the person from whom the same was purchased and received
and the day and hour when such purchase or exchange was made. Each
entry shall be numbered consecutively, commencing with number one.
Such articles purchased or exchanged, as provided herein, shall
be retained by the purchaser thereof for not less than eight days
before disposing of them, in an accessible place in the building,
where such articles are purchased and received. A tag shall be attached
to such article in some visible and conspicuous place with a number
written thereon to correspond with entry number in such book. Such
purchaser shall prepare and deliver on Monday of each week to the
Township Clerk of the Township of Three Oaks before 12:00 noon a legible
and correct copy, written in the English language, from such book,
containing a description of each article purchased or received during
the preceding week, the hour and day when the purchase was made and
the description of the person from whom it was purchased. Such statement
shall be verified by the affidavit of the person subscribing his name
thereto; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to iron,
steel, old rags, or wastepaper; provided, further, that nothing herein
contained shall make it necessary for the purchaser to retain articles
purchased from individuals, firms, or corporations having a fixed
place of business in Three Oaks Township or elsewhere after such articles
shall have been reported to the Township Clerk as herein provided.
No purchase or receipt of any articles shall be made from any
person who is at the time intoxicated or from any habitual drunkard
or from any person known by said junk dealer to be a thief or an associate
of thieves or a receiver of stolen property, or from any person whom
he has reason to suspect or from any minor under the age of 21 years
without the consent of the parents of such minor.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
All premises used as a junkyard or junk shop shall be kept and
maintained in a clean, sanitary and neat condition. The person operating
a junkyard or junk shop shall maintain the premises so used so that
rats, vermin and fire hazards are, as far as practicable, reduced
to a minimum. No rubbish or portion or parts of wrecked machines and
other accumulations which are to be discarded by such junk dealer
shall be burned on such premises without the written consent of the
Township of Three Oaks.
[Amended 9-11-1995 by Ord. No. 25; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch.
1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
A.
Any person or persons, partnership or corporation who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter is responsible for a municipal civil infraction and shall be punishable by the civil fines set forth in Chapter 29, Municipal Civil Infractions, of the Code of the Township of Three Oaks. Repeat offenses shall be subject to an increased civil fine, as set forth in said Chapter 29, Municipal Civil Infractions.
B.
Each day
on which any violation of this chapter continues constitutes a separate
offense and shall be subject to penalties or sanctions as a separate
offense.
No person known to be a thief or an associate of thieves, an
habitual drunkard, a receiver of stolen property or incapable of keeping
the records and making the reports herein provided for shall be deemed
to be a suitable person to receive a license as secondhand dealer
or junk dealer, and any person to whom a license as may have been
granted may have his license revoked by the Township Board of the
Township of Three Oaks on good cause shown and after reasonable notice
and opportunity to be heard before such Township Board or committee
thereof.
Each collector licensed hereunder shall receive from the Township
Clerk a metal tag not exceeding six inches in diameter, bearing the
type of license and the license number. Said tag shall be kept by
such collector on his person or vehicle when engaged in the business
of collecting secondhand property or junk as defined herein. Said
tag must be produced at the request of any police officer or private
person.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any secondhand dealer or junk dealer to
sell or deliver or cause to be sold or delivered any bed mattress
which is stained or discolored, or the contents of which are musty,
or to sell or deliver any secondhand clothing or bedding until the
same has been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected or to sell or deliver
any secondhand linen until the same has been laundered.
B.
The foregoing provisions shall apply only when such articles are
sold or delivered for consumption or use or resold at retail, and
that such provisions are inapplicable when such articles are to be
sold or delivered for reprocessing.
Each and every section and provision of this chapter shall be
deemed a separate, severable, independent and distinct section or
provision hereof, and the invalidity of any section or part thereof
shall not affect the remaining sections or parts thereof.
