[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Somerville 6-15-87 as Ord. No. 1023; amended in its entirety 9-6-88 by Ord. No. 1053. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
NEWSRACKS
Any self-service or coin-operated box, container, storage unit or other dispenser installed, used or maintained for the display and/or distribution and/or sale of newspapers or news periodicals.
PARKWAY
That area between sidewalks and the curb of any street and, where there is no sidewalk, that area between the edge of the roadway and the property line adjacent thereto. A "parkway" shall also include any area within a roadway which is not public or open to vehicular travel.
ROADWAY
That portion of a street improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.
SIDEWALK
Any surface provided for the exclusive use of pedestrians.
STREET
All that area dedicated to public use for public street purposes and shall include, but not be limited to, roadways, parkways, alleys and sidewalks.
A. 
No person shall install, use or maintain any newsrack in any of the predominantly residential use districts of the borough which, for the purpose of this chapter, shall be the zone districts known as "R-1, (Single-Family Residential District)," "R-2, (Single-Family Residential District)," "G (Garden Apartment District)" and the "A (Apartment District)" as more particularly described in § 102-83, § 102-84, § 102-85 and § 102-86 of the Somerville Borough Code.
B. 
In any other zone district other than described in Subsection A above, the following restrictions shall apply:
(1) 
No person shall install, use or maintain any newsrack or other structure which projects onto, into or over any part of the roadway of any public street or which rests, wholly or in part, upon or over any portion of the roadway of any public street.
(2) 
No person shall install, use or maintain any newsrack which is located in or any public sidewalk or parkway when such installation causes the newsrack to be located within one of the prohibited locations described in § 113-4F below.
A. 
Any person or entity that installs a newsrack within the Borough of Somerville shall notify the Director of Public Works of the Borough of Somerville within fifteen (15) days of its installation and shall supply the following information:
(1) 
The location of each newsrack to be installed or maintained in the borough by the applicant.
(2) 
The name, address and telephone number of the applicant.
(3) 
The name, address and telephone number of the circulation director of the newspaper or news periodical which is to be displayed, sold or distributed in the particular newsrack.
(4) 
A rough sketch of the location of each newsrack sketch shall show its location with respect to any of the restricted locations described in § 113-4F of this chapter.
B. 
No more than one (1) notification shall be required per applicant, regardless of the number of newsracks the applicant maintains in the borough.
C. 
From the information supplied by the applicant, the Director of Public Works shall determine whether the newsrack has been properly located.
Within thirty (30) days after this chapter becomes effective, every person or other entity which places or maintains a newsrack on the streets of the Borough of Somerville shall have his or its name, address and telephone number of the circulation director of the newspaper or news periodical affixed thereto in a place where such information may be easily seen. The applicant shall present evidence of compliance with this section when application is made to the Director of Public Works under § 113-3 hereof.
A. 
Any newsrack installed, used or maintained in violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be tagged with a notice of violation stating the violation, date of tagging, notice of intention to remove the newsrack if the violation is not corrected within ten (10) days and procedure for obtaining a hearing before the Director of Public Works, if desired. Tagging shall include notice sent to the circulation director by certified mail, return receipt requested, at the address provided in § 113-3 above.
B. 
Notwithstanding Subsection A in the case of violations of this chapter relative to restrictions upon attachments of newsracks to property other than that owned by the owner of the newsrack, to fixed objects or to each other and upon the location of the newsrack, the Director of Public Works or his designate may, as an alternative to tagging said newsrack, move, align, remove such attachment or otherwise move such rack or racks in order to restore them to a legal condition.
C. 
Any newsrack which has been tagged and remains in violation of the provisions stated on the tag past the ten-day correction period, and no hearing has been requested, said newsrack shall be removed by the Director of Public Works or his designate and stored in any convenient place. The Director of Public Works or his designate shall notify the owner thereof by mailing a notice of removal to the circulation director by certified mail, return receipt requested, at the address provided in § 113-3 above. Such notice shall state the date the newsrack was removed, the reason therefor, the location and the procedure for obtaining a post-removal hearing before the Director of Public Works, if desired. Any such newsrack removed and stored pursuant to these provisions shall be released to the owner thereof if claimed within forty-five (45) days after such removal and upon the payment of reasonable charges of removal and storage therefor. Upon the failure of the owner to claim such newsrack and pay the reasonable charges within forty-five (45) days after the mailing of written notice of removal, such newsrack shall be deemed to be unclaimed property in possession of the Police Division and may be disposed of pursuant to the provisions of applicable law.
D. 
In the case of any newsrack in violation of the provisions of this chapter, which violation creates an immediate danger to the health, safety or welfare of the public, which violation cannot be corrected by moving or otherwise repositioning the newsrack, said newsrack may be summarily removed and stored in a convenient location so as to eliminate the danger to the health, safety and welfare of the public. The Director of Public Works or his designate shall notify, as soon as reasonably practicable, the owner thereof by mailing a notice of removal to the last known address of the owner. Such notice shall state the date the newsrack was removed, the reasons therefor, the location and procedure for claiming the newsrack and the procedure for obtaining a post-removal hearing before the Director of Public Works, if desired. Any such newsrack removed and stored pursuant to this subsection shall be released to the owner thereof if claimed within forty-five (45) days after the mailing of a written notice of removal and upon the payment of reasonable charges of removal and storage.
The provisions of this chapter shall apply to all newsracks, whether installed and maintained prior to or after the effective date of any of the provisions herein. Those newsracks installed prior to the effective date of any provision enacted hereunder shall be brought into compliance with said provisions within thirty (30) days of the effective date thereof. Any newsrack not brought into compliance within the aforementioned time period shall be deemed to be in violation of this chapter.
Notwithstanding the provisions of § 113-6 of this chapter, whenever the owner of a newsrack placed in the Borough of Somerville is in violation of this chapter or in any section thereon, that person or entity, if convicted of such offense, should be punished by a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500).
Each coin-operated newsrack shall be equipped with a coin-return mechanism to permit a person using the machine to secure an immediate refund in the event that the newsrack door does not open. The coin-return mechanism shall be maintained in good working order.
A. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to place or to maintain any publication or material in newsracks which exposes to public view any pictorial material which depicts or appears to depict nudity, offensive or sexually explicit material.
B. 
Definitions.
(1) 
As used in this section, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
NUDITY
The showing of less than fully opaque covering of the genitals, public hair, buttocks, natal cleft, perineum, anus or anal region of any person, other than a child under the age of puberty, or any portion of the breast at or below the areola thereof of any female person, other than a child under the age of puberty, or the depiction of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.
OFFENSIVE MATERIAL
Material such that the work in which the representations appear, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest and patently depicts or portrays the prohibited sexually explicit material in a manner which, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL
Any pictorial material depicting human sexual intercourse, human or animal masturbation, bestiality, oral intercourse and intercourse, human-animal intercourse, excretory functions, homosexual acts, direct physical stimulation or touching of unclothed genitals or public areas of the human male or female or flagellation or torture by or upon a person in the context of a sexual relationship or sexual stimulation.
(2) 
The materials shall be judged without regard to any covering which may be affixed or printed over the material in order to obscure genital areas in a depiction otherwise falling within the definition of this section. Works of art or works of anthropological significance are not included within the definitions of this section.