[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City of Perth Amboy 9-19-1995 as Ord. No. 796-95. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning indicated:
DIRECTOR
Director of Code Enforcement or the Director's designee.
DISTRIBUTOR
Any person responsible for placing and maintaining a pay telephone on or above a public right-of-way as herein defined.
PAY TELEPHONE
Any self-service or coin- or credit-card-operated telephone.
PERSON
An individual, business, firm, corporation, association, partnership or other organization or group of persons.
RIGHT-OF-WAY
Any surface or area dedicated for public use for the purpose of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, including, but not limited to, all sidewalks, streets, avenues, roadways and alleys.
SIDEWALKS
Any surface provided for the use of pedestrians, including the area from a curb to the facade of any adjacent structure.
TELEPHONE
Any pay telephone.
A. 
No person shall place or maintain any pay telephone on, above or along any public right-of-way without having first obtained a permit as provided in this chapter. Pay telephones installed on the facades of buildings abutting a public right-of-way shall be subject to all of the requirements of this chapter. Pay telephones installed outdoors on private property abutting a public right-of-way shall be subject to all of the requirements of this chapter, except the limitation as to proximity from other pay telephones as set forth herein. Permits shall be issued by the City Clerk subject to the prior approval of the location and means of installation of the telephone by the Director of Code Enforcement in accordance with the standards, limitations and restrictions set forth in this chapter.
B. 
Prior to the installation of any pay telephone, the distributor shall submit a permit application to the Director of Code Enforcement. A separate permit application shall be required for each pay telephone for which a permit is sought.
C. 
Every permit application shall include the following:
(1) 
A nonrefundable permit application fee in the amount of fifty dollars ($50).
(2) 
A plan or sketch of the telephone for which a permit is sought, in sufficient detail to describe the size, location, equipment and means of installation and cabling.
A. 
The Director of Code Enforcement shall advise the applicant, in writing, within thirty (30) days after the submission of an application as to whether the application is approved. In the event that the Director does not approve an application, the Director shall provide the reasons the application was not approved.
B. 
The Director shall also advise the applicant as to what additional permits shall be required pursuant to the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code Act and the city's street opening and zoning ordinances[1] as conditions precedent to issuance of a permit.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 52:27D-119 et seq.; Ch. 386, Streets and Sidewalks. Art. VI, Excavations in Streets; and Ch. 430, Zoning and Land Development, respectively.
C. 
The applicant shall have twenty (20) days from the date the letter disapproving the application was mailed to cure the defects or deficiencies. Proof shall be forwarded by the applicant directly to the Director of Code Enforcement.
D. 
Upon receipt of said proofs, the Director shall advise the applicant of the final decision within twenty (20) days, in writing.
A. 
The initial fee for a permit for each pay telephone shall be one hundred dollars ($100) for the period from the effective date of this chapter to October 31, 1996. A yearly fee of fifty dollars ($50) for permit renewals for each pay telephone shall be remitted to the City Clerk no later than November 1 of each year, commencing in 1996.
B. 
No permit fee shall be required for pay telephones installed on or above the public right-of-way adjacent to property owned by the city. However, the placement of such telephones shall otherwise be subject to the regulatory provisions of this chapter.
A. 
The City Clerk shall issue a pay telephone permit only upon submission by an applicant to the City Clerk of all of the following, which shall be considered prerequisites to the issuance of a pay telephone permit:
(1) 
The permit fee required by this chapter.
(2) 
Proof that the Director of Code Enforcement has approved the proposed location and means of installation consistent with the requirements of this chapter.
(3) 
Proof that all permits required for the installation of pay telephones pursuant to the Uniform Construction Code Act and the city's street opening and zoning ordinances, if applicable, have been obtained from the proper authorities.
(4) 
An executed and notarized indemnification agreement in favor of the City of Perth Amboy which reads as follows:
"The applicant and any other persons on whose behalf the application is made agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the City of Perth Amboy against liability, including any and all losses, for all claims for damage to property or injury to or death of persons arising out of or resulting from the issuance of this pay telephone permit or the control, maintenance or ownership or use of pay telephone for which a permit is issued."
(5) 
Evidence of a general liability insurance policy in the amount of one million dollars ($1,000,000) for bodily injury and fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for property damage, naming the city as an additional insured against any injury, loss or damage that may result from placing or maintaining the pay telephone and telephone equipment on or above a public right-of-way. The general liability insurance policy shall have a deductible or self-insured retention no greater than five hundred dollars ($500).
(6) 
Proof that the distributor has permission from the abutting property owner for the installation of the pay telephone.
B. 
The pay telephone permit shall include a permit number issued by the City Clerk. The distributor shall put the permit number on a small metal tag, which tag shall be affixed to the side of the telephone prior to or during installation.
A. 
Telephones shall permit the following calls to be placed without charge except as may be otherwise provided by applicable tariffs filed with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities:
(1) 
Calls to the 911 emergency number.
(2) 
Emergency calls placed through operator assistance to the Police and Fire Departments and to the first aid squad.
(3) 
Calls placed through operator assistance to the Police and Fire Departments by anyone identified as a member of either department.
B. 
Current local coin call initial rates and the charge for additional minutes shall be posted on the telephone or on the telephone booth, if applicable.
C. 
The identity of the long-distance carrier and the information about how to make calls using other long-distance carriers shall be posted on the pay telephone or the pay telephone booth in a clearly visible location.
All pay telephones shall conform to the following standards:
A. 
No booth surrounding a telephone shall exceed eight (8) feet in height, four (4) feet in width or four (4) feet in depth.
B. 
Each telephone shall be equipped with a coin-return mechanism to permit a person using the telephone to secure an immediate refund if a call cannot be placed. The coin-return mechanism shall be maintained in good working order.
C. 
Each telephone shall have affixed to it, in a place visible to anyone using the telephone, a telephone number of a working telephone service to report a malfunction, to secure a refund or to provide the notices set forth in this chapter.
D. 
Telephones shall be maintained in a neat and clean condition and in good repair at all times. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a telephone shall be serviced and maintained so that:
(1) 
It is reasonably free of chipped, faded, peeling and cracked paint in the visible painted areas thereof.
(2) 
It is reasonably free of rust and corrosion in the visible unpainted metal areas thereon.
(3) 
Any clear plastic or glass parts are unbroken and reasonably free of cracks, dents, graffiti, blemishes and discoloration.
(4) 
Any paper or cardboard parts or inserts are reasonably free of tears, peeling or fading.
(5) 
The structural parts thereof are not broken or unduly misshapen.
(6) 
The telephone receiver is attached to the pay telephone.
E. 
Any owner or permittee who fails to maintain its pay telephone in working condition shall be given a ten-day written notice to repair the telephone by the Director of Code Enforcement. If the telephone is not in working order at the end of the ten-day period, the Director of Code Enforcement shall advise the City Clerk, and the City Clerk shall revoke the permit. Upon the repair of the pay telephone, the Director of Code Enforcement shall advise the City Clerk that the telephone has been repaired. Upon payment of a twenty-five dollar ($25) restoration fee, the City Clerk shall reinstate the pay telephone permit.
F. 
Each pay telephone shall be restricted to outgoing calls. Permits for pay telephones that are not so restricted shall be subject to summary suspension and the penalties set forth in this chapter for each day in service without being restricted to outgoing calls.
A. 
No pay telephone shall be permitted to rest upon, in or above any public right-of-way when such installation, placement, use or maintenance:
(1) 
Endangers the safety of persons or property;
(2) 
Unreasonably interferes with or impedes the flow of pedestrians or vehicular traffic, including any legally parked or stopped vehicles;
(3) 
Unreasonably interferes with the ingress or egress from any residence or place of business; or
(4) 
Interferes with the use of traffic signs or signals, fire hydrants, fire call boxes or mailboxes permitted at or near said location.
B. 
Pay telephones shall be placed or otherwise secured so as to prevent their being blown down or around a public right-of-way, but shall not be chained or otherwise secured to any traffic or street signs, signals, fire hydrants, fire call boxes or mailboxes.
C. 
No pay telephones shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:
(1) 
Within any marked crosswalk.
(2) 
Within three (3) feet of any marked or unmarked crosswalk.
(3) 
Within fifteen (15) feet of any traffic or street sign or signal, fire hydrant, fire call box or emergency facility.
(4) 
Within five (5) feet of any driveway.
(5) 
At any location whereby the pedestrian right-of-way is less than six (6) feet.
(6) 
Within three (3) feet of any building, unless written permission is secured from the building owner and filed with the City Clerk.
(7) 
Within ten (10) feet of any entrance to a residence, place of business or public building.
D. 
Pay telephones shall not be placed on sidewalks in front of street addresses where there appears to be continuous criminal activity. "Continuous criminal activity" means reports to the police of more than four (4) reported criminal incidents at an address in any one-year period.
E. 
No pay telephone shall be placed within six hundred (600) feet of any other pay telephone located on, above or along the public right-of-way in the City of Perth Amboy.
F. 
No pay telephone shall be installed on any street or sidewalk without the permission of the abutting landowner. Permission of a landowner shall not be construed to require the City of Perth Amboy to approve any application for a pay telephone permit.
G. 
The Director of Code Enforcement shall be informed of the intent of any person to install, remove or relocate a pay telephone.
A. 
Only existing pay telephones located on or above sidewalks within the City of Perth Amboy which were placed or installed pursuant to the provisions of Chapter A437 of the Code of the City of Perth Amboy or a contract with the City of Perth Amboy shall be deemed "grandfathered" solely for the purpose of authorizing the location of said pay telephones.
B. 
Grandfathered pay telephones shall be subject to all other requirements as set forth in this chapter, unless otherwise indicated.
C. 
Distributors shall remove all pay telephones located on or above the sidewalks of the City of Perth Amboy for which a permit is not granted by January 1, 1996. Failure of a distributor to remove a pay telephone for which a permit has not been granted or where a permit has been rescinded may be grounds for denial of permits for other pay telephones.
Any violation of this chapter shall subject the violator to a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand ($1,000). Each violation of any of the provisions of this chapter and each day there is a violation thereof shall be deemed and taken to be a separate and distinct offense.