This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the "Air Pollution
Control Code of the City of Plainfield".[1]
[1]
State law reference: As to air pollution, see New Jersey Air
Control Code, 1964, N.J.S.A. 26:2C-1 et seq.
It is hereby declared that pollution of the atmosphere by smoke,
cinders, soot, fly ash, gases, fumes, vapors, odors, dust and other
contaminants is a menace to the health, welfare, and comfort of the
residents of the City and a cause of substantial damage to property.
For the purpose of controlling and reducing atmospheric pollution,
it is hereby declared to be the policy of the City to minimize air
pollution as herein defined and prohibit excessive emission of the
same to establish standards governing the installation, maintenance
and operation of equipment and appurtenances relating to combustion
which are a source or potential source of air pollution and in furtherance
of this purpose to cooperate and coordinate these efforts with the
State Department of Environmental Protection, Air Pollution Control
Program.
The following terms wherever used herein or referred in this
article shall have the respective meanings assigned to them unless
a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
(a)
Air pollution: The presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one (1)
or more air contaminants in such quantities and duration as are, or
tend to be, injurious to human health or welfare, to animal or plant
life, or to property, or would unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment
of life or property throughout the City or such portion as shall be
affected thereby, and excludes all aspects of employer-employee relationship
as to health and safety hazards.
(b)
Economic poisons: Those chemicals used as insecticides, rodenticides,
fungicides, herbicides, nematocides, or defoliants.
(c)
Fuel-burning equipment: Any furnace, boiler, water heater, device,
mechanism, stoker, burner, stack oven, kiln, still or other apparatus,
or a group or collections of such units in the process of fuel-burning
for the generation of heat or power. Refuse-burning equipment shall
be considered incinerators as herein defined and not as fuel-burning
equipment under this definition. Ovens, stoves, or ranges used exclusively
for domestic cooking purposes are not included herein.
(d)
Incinerator: Any device, apparatus, equipment, or structure used
for destroying, reducing or salvaging by fire any material or substance,
including but not limited to refuse, rubbish, garbage, debris, or
scrap or facilities for cremating human or animal remains.
(e)
Odor: A property of a substance which affects the sense of smell.
(f)
Open burning: Any fire wherein the products of combustion are emitted
into the open air and are not directed thereto through a stack or
chimney.
(g)
Operator: Any person who has care, custody, or control of a building
or premises, or a portion thereof, whether with or without knowledge
of the owner thereof.
(h)
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 who shall have charge,
care, or control of any premises or part thereof including but not
limited to a dwelling or dwelling unit, as owner or agent of the owner,
or as a fiduciary, including but not limited to: executor, administrator,
trustee, receiver, guardian, or as a mortgagee in possession regardless
of how such possession was obtained. Any person who is a lessee or
sublessee of all or any part of any premises, including but not limited
to a dwelling or dwelling unit, shall be deemed to be a co-owner with
the lessor and shall have joint responsibility with the owner over
the premises or portion thereof so leased or subleased.
(i)
Refuse: All putrescible and non-putrescible wastes (except body wastes),
and shall include but not be limited to garbage, rubbish, yard trimmings,
leaves, ashes, street cleanings, dead animals, abandoned automobiles,
and solid market and industrial wastes.
(j)
Ringelmann Smoke Chart: Ringelmann's Scale for Grading the Density
of Smoke, published by the United States Bureau of Mines, or any chart,
recorder, indicator, or device for the measurement of smoke density
which is approved by the State Department of Environmental Protection
of the State of New Jersey, as the equivalent of the Ringelmann's
Scale.
(k)
Rubbish: Solids not considered to be highly flammable or explosive,
and shall include but not be limited to rags, old clothes, leather,
rubber, carpets, wood, excelsior, paper, ashes, tree branches, yard
trimmings, furniture, tin cans, glass, crockery, masonry, and other
similar materials.
(l)
Salvage Operations: Any business, trade, or industry engaged in whole
or in part in salvaging or reclaiming any product or material, including
but not limited to metals, chemicals, shipping containers, or drums.
(m)
Smoke: Small gas-borne and air-borne particles arising from a process
of combustion in sufficient number to be observable.
(n)
Trade Waste: All solid or liquid material or rubbish resulting from
construction, building operations, or the prosecution of any business,
trade, or industry, and shall include but not be limited to plastic
products, carton, paint, grease, oil and other petroleum products,
chemicals, cinders, and other forms of solid or liquid waste materials.
(a)
No person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit, open burning of refuse or plant life nor conduct a salvage operation by open burning, except as provided in Subsection (b).
(b)
The open burning of trade waste is not prohibited where no other known method of disposal can be used without hazard to health or property and the required affidavit has been filed with and approved by the Commissioner of the New Jersey State Department of Environmental Protection in accordance with Chapter II, Section 1.4 of the New Jersey Air Pollution Control Code.
[1]
Cross reference: As to open fires, see Fire Prevention Code,
Section 28.1.
(a)
No person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit, smoke from any fuel-burning
equipment, the shade or appearance of which is darker than No. 1 of
the Ringelmann Smoke Chart, to be emitted into the open air.
(b)
The provisions of this section shall not apply to smoke emitted during
the cleaning of a fire box or the building of a new fire, the shade
or appearance of which is not darker than No. 2 of the Ringelmann
Smoke Chart, for a period or periods aggregating no more than three
(3) minutes in any fifteen (15) consecutive minutes.
(a)
No person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit, smoke from any incinerator,
the shade or appearance of which is darker than No. 1 of the Ringelmann
Smoke Chart, to be emitted into the open air; or emissions of such
opacity within a stack or chimney, or exclusive of water vapor, of
such opacity leaving a stack or chimney to a degree greater than the
emission designated as No. 1 of the Ringelmann Smoke Chart.
(b)
The provisions of Subsection (a) shall not apply to smoke emitted during the building of a new fire, the shade or appearance of which is not darker than No. 2 of the Ringelmann Smoke Chart, for a period of no longer than three (3) consecutive minutes; or to emissions of such opacity within a stack or chimney or exclusive of water vapor, of such opacity leaving a stack or chimney to a degree which is not greater than the emissions designated as No. 2 of the Ringelmann Smoke Chart, for a period no longer than three (3) consecutive minutes.
(c)
No person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit, the emission of
particles of unburned waste or ash from any incinerator which are
individually large enough to be visible while suspended in the atmosphere.
(d)
No person shall construct, install, use or cause to be used, any
incinerator which will result in odors being detectable by sense of
smell in any area of human use or occupancy.
(e)
No person shall operate, and no owner or operator of any building
in the City shall permit the operation of, an incinerator prior to
7 A.M. or after 5 P.M. of any day and all operation shall be completely
terminated by 5 P.M., including complete extinction of the fire and
removal of material in a safe manner from the fire-box to a non-combustible
container; provided, however, that by Special Permit, the Director
of Public Affairs and Safety or his designee may, because of exceptional
circumstances, permit different hours of operation under such conditions
as he shall deem necessary for the health, safety and welfare of the
public or of persons in the vicinity.
No person or owner of property, and no person having possession
or control of property, shall cause, suffer, allow or permit, to be
emitted into the open air substances in such quantities as shall result
in air pollution. The provisions of this section shall not apply to
the use of economic poisons.
(a)
All buildings and premises subject to this article are subject to
inspection from time to time by the Director of Public Affairs and
Safety or his designees.
All rooms and areas in the building shall be available and accessible
for such inspection which shall be made during usual business hours
if the premises are used for nonresidential purposes; provided, however,
that inspections may be made at other times if:
(1)
The premises are not available during the foregoing hours for
inspection;
(2)
There is reason to believe that violations are occurring on
the premises which can only be apprehended and proved by inspection
during other than the prescribed hours; or,
(3)
There is reason to believe a violation exists of a character
which is an immediate threat to health or safety requiring inspection
and abatement without delay.
(b)
Emergency inspections may be authorized without warrant if the Director
of Public Affairs and Safety has reason to believe that a condition
exists which poses an immediate threat to life, health, or safety.
Such procedure shall take place only where the time required to apply
for and secure the issuance of a warrant would render ineffective
the immediate action necessary to abate the condition.
(c)
Emergency inspections may also be authorized by the Governor in times
of air pollution emergencies in accordance with R.S. 26:2C-32. Where
the Director of Public Affairs and Safety or his designee is refused
entry or access or is otherwise impeded or prevented by the owner,
occupant, or operator from conducting an inspection of the premises,
such person shall be in violation of this article and subject to the
penalties hereunder.
[1]
Federal law reference: As to inspection of private residences,
see Camara v. Municipal Court of San Francisco, 387 U.S. 523 (1967);
As to commercial buildings, see See v. City of Seattle, 387 U.S. 541
(1967); As to emergency inspections, see Patrick v. State, 227 A.
2d 486 (1967).
(a)
The Director of Public Affairs and Safety or his designee may, upon
affidavit, apply to the Judge of competent jurisdiction for a search
warrant setting forth factually the actual conditions and circumstances
that provide a reasonable basis for believing that a nuisance or violation
of this chapter may exist on the premises, including one or more of
the following:
(1)
That the premises require inspection according to the cycle
established by the Director of Public Affairs and Safety for periodic
inspections of premises of the type involved;
(2)
That observation of external conditions (for example, smoke,
ash, soot, odors) of the premises and its public areas has resulted
in the belief that violations of this chapter exist; or
(3)
Circumstances such as age and design of fuel-burning equipment
and/or system, types of incinerator, particular use of premises or
other factor which renders systematic inspections of such buildings
necessary in the interest of public health and safety.
(b)
If the Judge of competent jurisdiction is satisfied as to the matters
set forth in the affidavit, he shall authorize the issuance of a search
warrant permitting access to and inspection of that part of the premises
on which the nuisance or violation may exist.
[1]
State law reference: As to power to issue search warrants
for health inspection, see N.J.S.A. 26:3-58; As to search warrant
proceedings, see N.J.S.A. 26:3-59.
This Article is to be liberally construed to effectuate the
purposes herein described. Nothing herein is to be construed as repealing
or abridging the emergency powers of any agency of government except
to the extent expressly set forth herein.
(a)
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this article
or who shall fail to comply therewith or with any of the requirements
thereof, shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred
Dollars ($500.00).
(b)
The violation of any Section of this article shall constitute a separate
and distinct offense independent of the violation of any other Section
or of any order issued pursuant to this article. Each day of violation
shall constitute an additional, separate and distinct offense.
