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Township of Fairfield, NJ
Essex County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[New]
The book shall be known and may be cited as the "Revised General Ordinances of the Township of Fairfield, 1997" and may be cited as the "Code" or "Revision".
[New]
For the purpose of this Code, and in the interpretation and application of all other ordinances heretofore or hereafter adopted, except as the context may otherwise require, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CHARTER
Shall mean the Small Municipality Plan of the Optional Municipal Charter Law, Chapter 210 of New Jersey Laws of 1950, as amended and supplemented, N.J.S.A. 40:69A-139 through 143, and any and all general laws as therein defined which are or may be applicable to the Township.
CLERK OR TOWNSHIP CLERK
Shall mean the Municipal Clerk duly appointed pursuant to law.
COUNTY
Shall mean the County of Essex.
DAYS
Shall mean calendar days.
DEPARTMENT
Shall mean an organization unit or group of organization units of the administrative branch of the Township government so designated by the Administrative Code.
GOVERNING BODY
Shall mean the Mayor and Township Council of the Township of Fairfield.
LICENSED
Shall mean licensed in accordance with the appropriate section or chapter of this Code.
MAINTAIN
Shall mean to file, codify, index or preserve.
MONTH
Shall mean a calendar month unless otherwise specifically provided.
MUNICIPAL OFFICER OR TOWNSHIP OFFICER
Shall mean any person elected to, appointed to or employed in any position defined by this Code.
OATH
Shall be construed to include an affirmation where an affirmation may be substituted for an oath. In such cases the words swear and sworn shall be construed to be equivalent to the words affirm and affirmed.
OCCUPANT
As applied to buildings or land, shall include any person who occupies the whole or part of such building or land, whether alone or with others.
OFFICER OR OFFICIAL
And the title of an officer or official shall be construed as if the words of the Township of Fairfield followed it.
ORDINANCE
Shall mean any act of local legislation heretofore or hereafter adopted, and including this Code, so long as it is adopted by the procedure required for the adoption of an ordinance and so long as it remains in force and effect pursuant to law.
OWNER
When applied to a building or land shall include any part owner, any corporation, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, of the whole or of a part of such building or land.
PERSON
Shall mean an individual, natural persons, partnerships, joint ventures, societies, associations, clubs, trustees, trusts, corporations or unincorporated groups; or any officers, agents, employees, servants, factors of any kind or personal representatives of any kind thereof in any capacity, acting either for himself or for any other person, under either personal appointment or pursuant to law.
PRECEDING AND FOLLOWING
Shall mean next before and next after, respectively.
PROPERTY
Shall mean real and personal property.
PUBLIC GROUNDS, PUBLIC SQUARES, PUBLIC PLACE OR PUBLIC PLACES
Shall severally be construed to mean any and every public ground, public square, public park or other public place within the Township.
REAL PROPERTY
Shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments, all rights thereto and interests therein.
RESOLUTION
Shall mean and include any act or regulation of the Mayor and Township Council required to be reduced to writing, but which may be finally passed at the meeting at which it is introduced.
SIDEWALK
Shall mean any portion of a street between the curb line and the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians, excluding parkways.
SIGNATURE AND SUBSCRIPTION
Shall mean and include a mark when the person cannot write.
STREET
Shall include an avenue, road, alley, lane, highway, boulevard, concourse, driveway, culvert, sidewalk, and crosswalk and every class of road, square, place or municipal parking field used by the general public. Street shall be considered to include a sidewalk or footpath, unless the contrary is expressed or unless such construction is inconsistent with the apparent intent.
TENANT
As applied to a building or land, shall include any person who is the lessee of the whole or part of such building or land, whether alone or with others.
TOWNSHIP
Shall mean the Township of Fairfield in the County of Essex, State of New Jersey.
TOWNSHIP COUNCIL
Shall mean the elected Council of the Township of Fairfield.
TOWNSHIP OFFICER
Shall mean any person elected to, appointed to or employed in any position defined by this Code.
WEEK
Shall mean seven days.
YEAR
Shall mean a calendar year unless otherwise specifically provided.
[New]
For the purpose of this Code and any other ordinances heretofore or hereafter adopted, except as the context may otherwise require:
The present tense includes the past and future tenses and the future, the present.
The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.
The singular number includes the plural and the plural the singular.
"Shall" is mandatory and "may" is permissive.
The time within which an act is to be done shall be computed by excluding the first and including the last day and if the last day is Sunday, a legal holiday, or a day on which the offices of the Township are closed, that day shall be excluded.
"Writing" and "written" shall include printing, type-writing and any other mode of communication using paper or similar material which is in general use, as well as legible handwriting.
"Chapter" shall mean one of the major divisions of this Code identified by an Arabic number and divided by subject matter.
"Section" shall mean a major subdivision of a chapter.
"Subsection" shall mean a subdivision of a section, identified by a decimal number.
"Paragraph" shall mean a subdivision under a subsection, identified by an alphabetical letter and/or Arabic number.
Whenever a specific time is used in this Code, it shall mean the prevailing and established time in effect in the State of New Jersey during any day in any year.
Any citation of a Statute, law or ordinance contained in this Code shall be deemed to refer to such Statute, law or ordinance as amended, whether or not such designation is included in the citation.
[1969 Code § 1-12; New]
If any chapter, section, subsection or paragraph of this Code shall be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or inoperative, in whole or in part, by a court of competent jurisdiction, such chapter, section, subsection or paragraph shall, to the extent that it is not unconstitutional, invalid or inoperative, remain in full force and effect, and no such determination shall be deemed to invalidate the remaining chapters, sections, subsections or paragraphs of this Code.
[1]
Editor's Note: The penalty clause is in conformance with N.J.S.A. 40:49-5.
[N.J.S.A. 40:69A-29]
For violation of any provision of this Code, or other ordinance of the Township of Fairfield, unless a specific penalty is otherwise provided in connection with the provision violated, the maximum penalty upon conviction of the violation shall be one or more of the following: a fine not exceeding $1,250 for each and every offense, or imprisonment in the County Jail for not more than 90 days, or to a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, at the discretion of the Municipal Court Judge.
[New]
Except as otherwise provided, each and every day in which a violation of any provision of this Code or any other ordinance of the Township exists shall constitute a separate violation.
[New]
The maximum penalty stated, in the general penalty clause of this section is not intended to state an appropriate penalty for each and every violation. Any lesser penalty, including a nominal penalty or no penalty at all, may be appropriate for a particular case or a particular violation.
[N.J.S.A. 40:69A-29]
The Mayor and Township Council may prescribe that, for the violation of any particular Code provision or ordinance, at least a minimum penalty shall be imposed which shall consist of a fine which may be fixed at an amount not exceeding $100.
[N.J.S.A. 40:69A-29]
Any person who is convicted of violating an ordinance within one year of the date of a previous violation of the same ordinance and who was fined for the previous violation, shall be sentenced by a court to an additional fine as a repeat offender. The additional fine imposed by the court upon a person for a repeated offense shall not be less than the minimum or exceed the maximum fine fixed for a violation of the ordinance, but shall be calculated separately from the fine imposed for the violation of the ordinance.
If the Township Council chooses not to impose an additional fine upon a person for a repeated violation of any ordinance or provision of the Code, the Township Council may waive the additional fine by ordinance or resolution.
[Ord. No. 91-5; Ord. No. 94-6; Ord. No. 2004-04; Ord. No. 2009-21 § 1]
a. 
The following fees have been amended so as to increase the fines to the amounts specified:
Description
Fine
Soliciting without a permit
$42
Littering
$32
b. 
Motor Vehicle Fines. Except where the offense has occurred in a "Safe Corridor", "65 Miles Per Hour Zone" or "Construction Zone", the following schedule of motor vehicle fines shall be applicable in the Township of Fairfield:
Title 39: Offense
Penalty
3-4
Unregistered vehicle
$47
3-29
Failure to exhibit docs.
$176
3-33
Unclear Plates
$47
3-66
Maintenance of lamps
$47
3-76.2f
Failure to wear seatbelt
$45
4-81
Failure to observe signal
$81
4-85
Improper passing
$81
4-97
Careless driving
$81
4-124
Failure to turn
$81
4-144
Failure to stop or yield
$81
8-1
Failure to inspect
$126
8-4
Failure to make repairs
$126
4-98
Speeding — Exceeding the speed limit by:
1-9 MPH
$81
10-14 MPH
$91
15-19 MPH
$101
c. 
The following schedule of Local Ordinance violation fines shall be applicable in the Township of Fairfield:
LOCAL SUPPLEMENTAL VIOLATIONS BUREAU SCHEDULE
Ord. No.
Offense
Penalty
Parking
39:4-138 a-n
$47
L.O. 760
Fire Zone Parking
$64
L.O. 666
Obstruction of Lane
$44
L.O. 715
Overnight Parking
$40
L.O. 45-OA8
Impeding Access Lane
$44
L.O. 46-076
Restricted Zone
$44
L.O. 799
Handicapped Parking
$280
L.O. 97:14
Parking in Prohibited Area
$53
L.O. 773
No Parking — Snow Plowing
$50
L.O. 777
Parking in Fairfield Recreation Complex
$37
[1969 Code § 1-8]
Any and all additions, amendments or supplements to the "Revised General Ordinances of the Township of Fairfield", when passed and adopted in such form as to indicate the intention of the Mayor and Council to be a part thereof, shall be deemed to be incorporated in such Code, so that reference to "The Revised General Ordinances of the Township of Fairfield, 1997" shall be understood and intended to include such additions and amendments. Whenever such additions, amendments or supplements to the "Revised General Ordinances of the Township of Fairfield, 1997" shall be adopted, they shall thereafter be printed and, as provided hereunder, inserted in the book containing the Code, as amendments and supplements thereto.
[1969 Code § 1-9]
It shall be the duty of the Township Clerk or someone authorized and directed by the Township Clerk to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the book containing the "Revised General Ordinances of the Township of Fairfield, 1997" which is required to be filed in the office of the Township Clerk for the use of the public. All changes in Code and all ordinances adopted by the Mayor and Council subsequent to the adoption of the Code shall be specifically adopted as a part of the Code, and shall be included therein by reference until such changes or new ordinances are printed as supplements to the Code, at which time such supplements shall be inserted therein.
[1969 Code § 1-10]
Copies of the "Revised General Ordinances of the Township of Fairfield, 1997" may be purchased from the Township Clerk upon the payment of a fee to be set by resolution of the Mayor and Council, who may also arrange by resolution procedures for the sale of the periodic supplements to the Code.
[New]
It shall be unlawful to improperly change or amend, by additions or deletions, any part or portion of the Code, or to alter or tamper with this Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the Township to be misrepresented thereby.