To regulate the control of illegally parked cars within the City of Plainfield since such conditions tend to impede the orderly flow of traffic, interferes with the enjoyment of private property, creates health and safety hazards and disturbs the comfort and well-being of the public.
[MC 1978-15, § 2, July 3, 1978]
(a)
Members of the Police Division are hereby authorized to remove or have removed a vehicle from a street to the nearest garage or other place of safety, or to a garage designated or maintained by the Police Division, or otherwise maintained by the City, when:
(b)
Whenever an officer removes or has removed a vehicle from a street as authorized in this section, and the officer knows or is able to ascertain from the registration records in the vehicle the name and address of the owner thereof, such officer shall immediately give or cause to be given notice in writing to such owner of the fact of such removal and the reason therefor and of the place to which such vehicle has been removed. In the event any such vehicle is stored in a public garage, a copy of such notice shall be given to the proprietor of such garage.
(c)
Whenever an officer removes or has removed a vehicle from a street under this section and does not know and is not able to ascertain the name of the owner, or for any other reason is unable to give the notice to the owner as hereinbefore provided, and in the event the vehicle is not returned to the owner within a period of three (3) days, then and in that event the officer shall immediately send or cause to be sent a written report of such removal by mail to the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles, whose duty it is to register motor vehicles, and shall file a copy of such notice with the proprietor of any public garage in which the vehicle may be stored. Such notice shall include a complete description of the vehicle, the date, time and place from which removed, the reasons for such removal, and name of the garage or place where the vehicle is stored.
(d)
No person shall recover any vehicle removed in accordance with this section except as provided herein. Before the owner or person in charge of such vehicle shall be allowed to recover it from the place where it has been placed or impounded, he shall present to a member of the Police Division evidence of his identity to his right for possession of the vehicle, shall sign a receipt for its return, shall pay the cost of towing and removal, and shall pay any cost of storage accrued. Until paid, these charges constitute a lien on the vehicle which may be enforced in the same manner as a garage keeper's lien in accordance with the provisions of the laws of New Jersey.
(e)
It shall be the duty of the Police Division to keep a record of each vehicle removed in accordance with this section. The record shall include a description of the vehicle; its license number; its serial number; the date and time of its removal; where it was removed from; its location; the name and address of its owner and last operator, if known; its final disposition; and the parking violation involved.
(f)
This Section shall be supplemental to any other provisions of law granting members of the Police Division authority to remove vehicles.
[MC 1984-20, § 4, August 13, 1984; MC 1984-35, § 4, December 3, 1984]
(a)
No removal or impounding as provided for in Section 16:29-2 hereinabove shall take place unless the street or area wherein the illegal parking of a vehicle occurs is posted with a special sign designating the area or street as a "tow away zone".
(b)
The tow away zone sign shall be posted at intervals not exceeding two hundred fifty (250) feet and the sign shall be distinctive and uniform in appearance and shall be plainly readable to persons traveling on the street or area so designated.