[1980 Code § 121-5; Ord. No. O-37-05 § I; Ord. No. O-28-12]
As used in this chapter:
ACCESSORY STRUCTURE
A structure, the use of which is incidental to that of the main building and which is attached thereto or located on the same premises.
AREA INSPECTION
A systematic inspection of more than one premises in close geographic proximity within an area designated in the Town for concentrated area code enforcement.
BASEMENT
The portion of the building that is partly underground and which has more than 1/2 of its height, measured from clear floor to ceiling, above the average adjoining ground level. Where the natural contour of the ground level immediately adjacent to the building is interrupted by ditching, pits or trenching, then the average adjoining ground level shall be the nearest natural contour line parallel to the walls of the building without regard to the levels created by the ditching, pits or trenching.
BATHROOM
The enclosed space containing one or more bathtubs or showers, or both, and which shall also include toilets and sinks.
BUILDING
A combination of materials to form a structure adapted to permanent or continuous occupancy or use for public, institutional, residential, business or storage purposes.
CELLAR
Lowermost portion of the building partly or totally underground, having half or more of its height, measured from clear floor to ceiling, below the average adjoining ground level. Where the natural contour of the ground level immediately adjacent to the building is interrupted by ditching, pits or trenching, then the average adjoining ground level shall be the nearest natural contour line parallel to the walls of the building without regard to the levels created by the ditching, pits or trenching.
CENTRAL HEATING
A heating system in a fire-resistant enclosed space or spaces separate and apart from the area to be heated, which system is permanently affixed on a fireproof base in accordance with the State Uniform Construction Code and all other applicable codes of the State of New Jersey and the Town of Morristown. Direct electric and/or gas heating systems without the use of a boiler, serving all dwelling units in a structure, are exempt from the above requirements.
COMMUNITY KITCHEN
A kitchen facility shared by occupants of one or more rooming units or dwelling units.
DETERIORATION
The condition or appearance of a building or part thereof characterized by holes, breaks, rot, crumbling, cracking, peeling, rusting or other evidence of physical decay or neglect, lack of maintenance or excessive use.
DIVISION MANAGER
The Chief Housing Inspector of the Division of Property Maintenance and Inspections of the Department of Code Enforcement and such other persons as may be designated by him to act on his behalf.
DIVISION OF HEALTH
The Division of Health of the Department of Code Enforcement of the Town of Morristown.
DORMITORY
A space in a building where group sleeping accommodations are provided in one room, or in a series of closely associated rooms, for persons not members of the same family group, under joint occupancy and single management, as in college dormitories or fraternity houses.
[Added 3-13-2018 by Ord. No. O-5-2018]
DWELLING
Any structure designated for use by human occupants for sleeping and living purposes, whether occupied or vacant, except that the foregoing shall not apply to hotels.
DWELLING UNIT
Any room or group of rooms located within a dwelling, forming a single habitable unit, which includes facilities for living, sleeping, cooking, eating, bathing and toilet purposes.
EMANCIPATED MINOR
Any person under the age of 18 who is gainfully employed and self-supporting or who is married to a spouse who is gainfully employed and who supports the minor, or who is a student living away from home and in regular attendance at an institution of higher learning.
EXPOSED TO PUBLIC VIEW
Any premises or any part thereof, or any building or any part thereof, which may be lawfully viewed by the public or any member thereof from a sidewalk, street, alleyway, licensed open-air parking lot or from any adjoining or neighboring premises.
EXTERIOR OF THE PREMISES
Those portions of a building which are exposed to public view and the open space of any premises outside any building erected thereon.
EXTERMINATION
The control and elimination of insects, rodents and vermin by elimination of their harboring places; by removing or making inaccessible material that may serve as their food; by poisoning, spraying, fumigating, trapping or by other approved means of pest elimination.
FAMILY
One or more persons occupying a premises and living as a permanent and stable single housekeeping unit, as distinguished from a group occupying a boardinghouse, rooming house or hotel, as herein defined in Chapter 30.
[Added 3-13-2018 by Ord. No. O-5-2018]
FIRE CHIEF
The Fire Chief of the Town of Morristown.
FIRE HAZARD [also see "NUISANCE"]
Any thing or any act which increases or may cause an increase of the hazard or menace of fire to a greater degree than that customarily recognized as normal by persons in the public service of preventing, suppressing or extinguishing fire, or which may obstruct, delay or hinder or may become the cause of an obstruction, a delay, a hazard or a hindrance to the prevention, suppression or extinguishment of fire.
GARBAGE (see also "REFUSE," "RUBBISH")
Putrescible animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
GROSS FLOOR AREA
The total area within a dwelling unit or rooming unit available and accessible to the occupants thereof for all purposes associated with living in the unit.
HABITABLE ROOMS
Rooms used or designed for use by one or more persons for living or sleeping or cooking and eating, but not including bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, serving and storage pantries, corridors, foyers, vestibules, cellars, heater and boiler rooms, utility rooms and other rooms or spaces that are not used frequently or for an extended period of time or that have less than 50 square feet of net floor area, all of which shall not be considered as "habitable rooms."
HOUSING INSPECTORS
All officials, officers or employees of the Town of Morristown entrusted with the enforcement of this Code.
INDEPENDENT ROOMING UNIT
A rooming unit in other than a single family dwelling which opens directly to the exterior of the premises by way of a common hallway, common areaway or common stairway or door to the exterior of the premises without passing through any other rooming unit or dwelling unit.
INFESTATION
The presence of insects, rodents, vermin or other pests on the premises which constitute a health hazard.
KITCHEN
Any room or part of a room used for cooking or the preparation of food.
MIXED OCCUPANCY
Any building containing one or more dwelling units or rooming units and also having a portion thereof devoted to nondwelling uses or as a hotel.
MULTIPLE DWELLING
Any building or structure and land appurtenant thereto containing three or more apartments, as rented or offered for rent to three or more tenants or family units.
NET FLOOR AREA
The net floor area within the dwelling unit or rooming unit, as the room may be, computed by deducting from the gross floor area the following:
a. 
Built-in equipment, wardrobes and closets, bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, serving and storage pantries, cellars, heating rooms, boiler rooms, utility rooms, kitchens, kitchenettes and areas utilized for cooking purposes.
b. 
Other rooms or spaces that are not used frequently and regularly for living purposes.
c. 
Such parts thereof as are used exclusively as hallways or corridors, entrance foyers or vestibules, or, where part of a larger area, so much thereof as is required to provide a means of passage three feet in width through the room or foyer immediately adjoining from any point of ingress from the exterior of the dwelling unit to any exit from such room or foyer.
d. 
Such part of any room where the floor-to-ceiling height is less than seven feet six inches.
e. 
Any room or part remaining after eliminating areas in any subsection above which would then contain less than 50 square feet.
NUISANCE
a. 
Any public nuisance known at common law or as provided by the statutes of the State of New Jersey or the ordinances of the Town of Morristown.
b. 
Any attractive nuisance which may prove detrimental to the health or safety of children, whether in a building, on the premises of a building or upon an unoccupied lot. This includes but is not limited to: abandoned wells, shafts, basements, excavations; abandoned refrigerators, motor vehicles; any structurally unsound fences or structures; unfenced swimming pool, lumber, trash, fences, debris or vegetation such as poison ivy, oak or sumac, which may prove a hazard for inquisitive minors.
c. 
Physical conditions dangerous to human life or detrimental to health of persons on or near the premises where the conditions exist.
d. 
Overcrowding of a room with occupants in violation of this Code.
e. 
Insufficient ventilation or illumination in violation of this Code.
f. 
Inadequate or unsanitary sewage or plumbing facilities in violation of this Code.
g. 
Unsanitary conditions, noxious smells, or conditions dangerous to health in violation of this Code.
h. 
Whatever renders air, food or drink unwholesome or detrimental to the health of human beings.
i. 
Fire hazards.
OCCUPANT
Any person living, sleeping or having actual possession of a dwelling unit or rooming unit.
OPERATOR
Any person who has charge, care or control of a dwelling or premises or a part thereof, whether with or without the consent and knowledge of the owner.
OWNER
Any person who, alone or jointly or severally with others, shall have legal or equitable title to any premises, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof; or shall have charge, care or control of any dwelling or dwelling unit, as owner or agent of the owner, or as fiduciary, including but not limited to: executor, executrix, administrator, administratrix, trustee, receiver or guardian of the estate, or as a mortgagee in possession regardless of how much possession was obtained. Any person who is a lessee subletting or reassigning any part or all of any dwelling or dwelling unit shall be deemed to be a co-owner with the lessor and shall have joint responsibility over the portion of the premises sublet or assigned by said lessee.
PLUMBING
All of the following supplies, facilities and equipment: gas pipes, gas burning equipment, water pipes, garbage disposal units, waste pipes, toilets, sinks, installed dishwashers, bathtubs, shower stalls, installed clothes-washing machines, catch basins, vents and any other similar supplied fixtures, together with all connections to water, sewer or gas lines, and water pipes and lines utilized in conjunction with air-conditioning equipment.
PREMISES
A lot, plot or parcel of land, including the buildings or structures thereon.
REFUSE (see also "GARBAGE," "RUBBISH")
All putrescible and nonputrescible solid wastes (except body wastes), including but not limited to: garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, dead animals, abandoned automobiles and solid market and industrial wastes.
REGISTERED MAIL
Registered mail or certified mail.
ROOM
Space in an enclosed building, or space set apart by a partition or partitions, and any space in a building, used or intended to be used as a bedroom, dining room, living room, kitchen, sewing room, library, den, music room, dressing room, enclosed sleeping porch, sunroom, party room, recreation room, breakfast room, study, storage room and similar uses.
ROOMING UNIT
Any room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit other than a dwelling unit, which is rented or available for rent for sleeping purposes, with or without cooking facilities.
RUBBISH (also see "GARBAGE," "REFUSE")
Nonputrescible solid wastes consisting of both combustible and noncombustible wastes, such as paper, wrappings, cigarettes, tin cans, yard clippings, leaves, wood, glass, bedding, crockery and similar materials.
SANITARY SEWER
Any sanitary sewer owned, operated and maintained by the Town of Morristown and available for public use for the disposal of sewage.
SEWAGE
Waste from a flush toilet, bathtub, sink, dishwashing or laundry machine, or the water-carried waste from any other fixture or equipment or machine.
SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING
Any dwelling containing one dwelling unit, which may also contain one rooming unit, and which is occupied by not more than one family.
[Amended 3-13-2018 by Ord. No. O-5-2018]
STATE UNIFORM CONSTRUCTION CODE
The New Jersey State Uniform Construction Code, as set forth in N.J.S.A. 52:270-119 et seq. or amendments thereto.
The enforcing agency of the State Uniform Construction Code is established in § 12-1 of Chapter 12, Building and Construction.
STORY
That portion of a building included between the upper surface of any floor and the upper surface of the floor next above, except that the topmost story shall be that portion of a building included between the upper surface of the topmost floor and the ceiling or roof above. If the finished ceiling directly above a basement or cellar is more than six feet above grade, such basement or cellar shall be considered a "story."
STRUCTURE
Combination of any materials, whether fixed or portable, forming a construction, including buildings.
VENTILATION
Supply and removal of air to and from any space by natural or mechanical means.
VENTILATION, MECHANICAL
Ventilation by power-driven devices.
VENTILATION, NATURAL
Ventilation by opening to outer air through windows, skylights, doors, louvers or stacks, with or without wind-driven devices.
WASHROOMS
Enclosed space containing one or more bathtubs or showers, or both, and which shall also include toilets or sinks.
WATER CLOSET COMPARTMENT
Enclosed space containing one or more toilets, which may also contain one or more lavatories, urinals and other plumbing fixtures.
WEATHERING
Deterioration, decay or damage caused by exposure to the elements.