[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee 7-10-79 as Ord. No. 79-5. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A. 
Word usage. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future; words used in the plural number include the singular number; and words used in the singular number include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
B. 
Definitions. For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meanings given herein:
ABANDONED AUTOMOBILE
Any unlicensed or unregistered automobile including all motor vehicles defined in N.J.S.A. 39:1-1 as "every device in, or by which a person or property is or may be transported upon a highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks or motorized bicycles", which is in such condition that it cannot be operated under its own power. Any automobile in such condition which is permitted to remain on any property for more than 48 hours as to which the owner has taken no steps to effect the repair or removal thereof, shall be deemed to be abandoned.
[Amended 11-24-15 by Ord. No. 2015-20]
OPERATING CONDITION
A motor vehicle shall be deemed to be in nonoperating condition if said vehicle cannot be started under its own power at the request of a constable or cannot be driven upon the highways of the State of New Jersey by reason of its being in such condition that it would not meet the motor vehicle inspection standards of the State of New Jersey.
[Amended 7-13-82 by Ord. No. 82-10]
PRIVATE PREMISES
Any dwelling house, building or other structure designed or used, whether wholly or in part, for private residential purposes, whether inhabited or temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant, and includes any yard, ground, walk, driveway, porch, steps or vestibule belonging or appurtenant to such dwelling house, building or other structure.
PUBLIC PLACE
Any street, sidewalk, alley or other public way, and any and all public parks, squares, grounds and buildings.
PUBLIC STRUCTURE OR BUILDING
Any structure or building owned or operated by the federal, county or state government or any governmental agency.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Montague, located in Sussex County, New Jersey.
[Amended 6-9-81 by Ord. No. 81-9; 8-8-95 by Ord. No. 95-12]
This chapter shall be administered and enforced by the Constable/s or the Township Code Enforcement Officer.
No person shall place, abandon or leave, keep or store, or suffer or permit the placing, abandoning, leaving, keeping or storage of, any abandoned automobile, as described in § 69-1 of this chapter, out of doors, upon any public or private land in the township or between the right-of-way side lines of any street or public highway. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to prohibit the placing, keeping or storage of any such abandoned automobile in an enclosed garage, barn or other building.
If any abandoned automobile, as described in § 69-1 of this chapter, shall be left, placed, kept or stored on private lands for 48 hours or more, it shall be presumed that the owner, tenant or occupant 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.
[Added 11-24-15 by Ord. No. 2015-20]
Nothing heretofore mentioned shall be deemed to prevent any of the following activities from being conducted on private lands under the conditions or by the people referred to:
A. 
One motor vehicle which does not possess the current year's registration may be maintained on a single parcel of land having on it a single-family residential dwelling, as long as the motor vehicle is in a complete and operable condition.
B. 
Any person may maintain motor vehicles altered for drag or stock car racing, as long as said motor vehicles are maintained on registered trailers.
C. 
Owners of motor vehicles being held for sale or resale in compliance with the Zoning Ordinance of the Township of Montague[1] are exempt from the provisions of this chapter, as long as the motor vehicle being stored is in a complete and operable condition.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 76, Zoning.
D. 
Owners of motor vehicles which would otherwise come under the provisions of this chapter who are in the military service stationed outside the State of New Jersey shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in Subsection A above.
E. 
Owners of antique motor vehicles which are classified as such under state statutes are exempt from the provisions of this chapter.
F. 
Motor vehicles which are in a repair garage which is in full compliance with the provisions of the Zoning Ordinances of the Township of Montague.
G. 
Motor vehicles which are parked in an approved garage or in a fully enclosed registered trailer.
Whenever it shall appear to the enforcing officer that the provisions of this chapter are being violated and that the land on which the violation exists is privately owned, he shall, in writing, notify the owner, tenant or occupant in possession of the land on which the violation exists to abate the violation by removing the article or articles constituting the violation from the township or into an enclosed garage, barn or other building within 10 days of the service of the notice, which notice shall be served upon such owner, tenant or occupant, if he resides in the township, 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, tenant or occupant shall reside outside of the township, the notice shall be served upon him by registered or certified mail addressed to him at his usual residence, if ascertainable, or otherwise by notice published in the newspaper in which the legal notices of the township may be published, and the said owner, tenant or occupant shall so abate the violation within the time fixed by the notice.
Whenever the enforcing officer finds any abandoned automobile which has been abandoned, kept or stored contrary to the provisions of this chapter, said enforcing officer shall remove, secure the removal of and/or impound said abandoned automobile after notice has been given as provided in § 69-6 above.
A. 
Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter shall, in addition to such other penalties as may be prescribed, pay all costs of removal of said abandoned automobile, and, in the event that the violator is a property owner, said costs and such other fines and penalties as may be levied in accordance with this chapter shall become a lien upon his property in accordance with law and shall be collected in the manner prescribed and established for the collection of liens.
B. 
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding 90 days, or both, at the discretion of the Municipal Judge, and each day that the violation shall continue shall be deemed a separate offense.
C. 
A continuance of a violation or a noncompliance with the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed a nuisance, and the Township Committee shall have the right to apply to the courts of this state for injunctive relief or other relief in addition to the penalties provided for herein.