[HISTORY: 1973 Code §§ 98-1—98-8 as amended through October 13, 2016. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter:
MOTOR VEHICLE — Any vehicle propelled otherwise than by muscular power, excepting such vehicles as run only upon rails or tracks.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, association, partnership or corporation.
POLICE DEPARTMENT
The Police Department of the Borough of North Caldwell.
It is hereby determined and declared that the placing, abandonment, leaving, keeping or storage out of doors of any motor vehicle not currently in use for transportation on public or private lands in the borough is contrary and inimical to the public welfare in that such motor vehicles so placed, abandoned, left, kept or stored attract or may attract persons of tender years who, being so attracted, may play in and about them and be injured in so doing, and in that such motor vehicles so placed, abandoned, left, kept or stored out of doors, exposed to the elements, deteriorate and in themselves are unsightly and, deteriorating, become more unsightly and are detrimental to, and depreciate, the value of properties in the neighborhood where they are located and in the borough as a whole.
No person shall place, abandon, leave, keep or store, or suffer or permit the placing, abandoning, leaving, keeping or storage of, any motor vehicle described in Sections 98-1 and 98-2 of this chapter out of doors upon any public or private land in the borough or between the right-of-way side lines of any public thoroughfare therein. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to prohibit the placing, keeping or storage of any such motor vehicle in an enclosed garage, barn or other building.
[New]
A. 
If any motor vehicle described in Section 98-1 of this chapter shall be left, placed, kept or stored on private lands for 15 days or more, it shall be presumed that the owner or tenant in possession of said land left, placed, kept or stored it there or permitted or suffered it to be left, placed, kept or stored there, and that the owner of the motor vehicle has abandoned said vehicle. The owner or tenant in possession shall be responsible for and charged for the cost of removal of the vehicle from the land.
B. 
If any motor vehicle described in Section 98-1 of this chapter shall be left, parked, placed, stored or abandoned on or along any highway, other than a limited access highway or other public property or on any private property without the consent of the owner or other person in charge of the private property for a period of 48 hours or for any period without current license plates shall be presumed to be an abandoned motor vehicle pursuant to N.J.S.A. 39:4-56.5 and subject to the penalties provided by law.
C. 
In the event that the owner or tenant in possession of the land removes or causes to be removed the vehicle to other lands, he shall immediately advise the Police Department of the location of the vehicle.
Whenever an investigation by the Police Department discloses that Section 98-3 and/or Section 98-4 of this chapter is being violated, and that the land on which the violation exists is privately owned, it shall, in writing, notify the owner of record or tenant in possession of the land on which the violation exists to abate the violation by removing the motor vehicle or motor vehicles constituting the violation from the borough or into an enclosed garage, barn or other building within 10 days of the service of the notice, which shall be served upon such owner or tenant, if he resides in the borough, personally or by leaving it at his usual place of abode with some member of his household over the age of 14 years; but if any such owner or tenant shall reside outside the borough, the notice shall be served upon him by registered or certified mail addressed to him at his usual residence if ascertainable, otherwise by notice published in the newspaper in which the legal notices of the borough may be published, and the said owner or tenant shall so abate the violation within the time fixed by the notice.
A. 
Whenever an investigation by the Police Department discloses that Section 98-3 of this chapter is being violated and that the violation exist on public lands or between the right-of-way lines of any public street, the motor vehicle shall be taken in possession by the Police Department and removed to a storage place designated by the Chief of the Police Department of the Borough of North Caldwell.
B. 
Upon the taking into possession of such motor vehicle, the Police Department shall follow the procedure established by Title 39, Chapter 10A of the State Statues, New Jersey, as amended and supplemented, to sell such vehicles at public auction.
This chapter shall not apply to motor vehicles kept temporarily in the operation of a business primarily conducted for the sale and repair, or either, of motor vehicles.
[New]
Unless otherwise provided by law, any person who shall violate the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be liable to a penalty as stated in Chapter I, Article II General Penalty, Section 1-5 et seq., in the discretion of the Judge.