[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township
of West Deptford 6-18-1970 as
Section 18:1 of the General Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A vehicle or chattel shall be considered abandoned if it
remains continuously upon unoccupied property for a period exceeding
24 hours unless it is upon such property in connection with a business
operation currently being conducted thereon and the vehicle or chattel
is under reasonable periodic supervision in connection with said business
operation, or a motor vehicle or part thereof is not currently licensed
for the current year and is not being used for transportation or cannot
be readily operated under its own power; provided, however, that nothing
herein contained shall be deemed to prohibit the placing, keeping
or storing of any such motor vehicles in a closed garage or other
type of closed building.
Includes vehicles, iceboxes, refrigerators, sinks, stoves,
tanks, plumbing fixtures, machinery, appliances and articles or objects
of a similar nature.
[Repealed 3-2-1989 by Ord. No. 89-4]
Any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer which is missing
tires, wheels, engines or any essential parts; which displays extensive
body damage or deterioration; which does not display a current, valid
state license; or which is wrecked, disassembled or partially disassembled.
[Added 3-2-1989 by Ord.
No. 89-4]
Includes every device in, upon or by which a person or property
is or may be transported, excepting a device used exclusively upon
stationary rails or tracks.
[Amended 3-2-1989 by Ord.
No. 89-4; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1,
General Provisions, Art. I)]
By virtue of the authority created in it by N.J.S.A. 26:3-45
and 40:48-2.13 et seq. and other appropriate statutes in such case
made and provided, the Township Committee of the Township of West
Deptford hereby declares that:
A.Â
Abandonment prohibited. The abandonment of any vehicles, iceboxes,
refrigerators, sinks, stoves, tanks, plumbing fixtures, machinery,
appliances and articles or other chattels of a similar nature as described
herein upon private or public property in the Township of West Deptford
is a nuisance and inimical to the public health, safety and general
welfare in that children or other persons in the vicinity of said
abandoned vehicles or chattels may meet with serious injury therefrom
or be affected so far as health is concerned from the conditions of
said vehicles and/or chattels from a health point of view.
B.Â
Storage prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person to keep or
permit the keeping on streets or vacant lots, except in a fully enclosed
structure, any junk motor vehicle.
A.Â
Complaint and investigations. Upon complaint of any resident or property
owner of the Township of West Deptford or any employee of said Township,
the Sanitary Inspector or the Police Chief or their designated agents
shall make an investigation of the conditions complained of.
B.Â
Notice of violation. If, after making the investigations called for in Subsection A, the Sanitary Inspector or the Police Chief or their designated agents find that the conditions complained of exist on the properties referred to, said Sanitary Inspector, Police Chief or their designated agents shall cause a notice of violation to issue against the owner and/or possessor of the land upon which the violation is occurring. Said notice shall be served personally or by other adequate service as the law may require. Said notice shall request that said owner and/or possessor take such steps as will effectively remove said violations from the land within 10 days after receipt of said notice.
C.Â
Reinspection. The Sanitary Inspector or Police Chief or their designated agents shall reinspect said lands after the ten-day period specified in Subsection B has expired. Where the reinspection by the Sanitary Inspector, Police Chief or their designated agents discloses that the unlawful conditions complained of and previously found to exist in violation of this chapter are still in existence and have not been abated or remedied, said Sanitary Inspector, Police Chief or their designated agents shall cause a complaint and summons to issue out of the Municipal Court of the Township of West Deptford, charging the owner and/or possessor with the violation of the terms of this chapter. At the time the complaint and summons are issued pursuant to the terms of this provision, said Sanitary Inspector, Police Chief or their designated agents shall file a report with the Clerk of the Township, indicating that the violation is in existence.
A.Â
Municipal action. Where the report referred to in § 158-3C discloses that the owner and/or possessor within the Township has refused to abate or remedy the conditions complained of, which constitute a violation of this chapter, after a ten-day notice has been given, the Township Committee shall cause the conditions complained of to be abated and remedied.
B.Â
Taxation of costs. Upon the removal of any of the materials prohibited
to be stored or abandoned on lands by this chapter by or under the
direction of such officer or officers of this Township in cases where
the owner or tenant shall have refused or neglected to remove same
in the manner and within the time provided above, such officer or
officers shall certify the cost thereof to the Township Committee,
which shall examine the certificate and, if found correct, shall cause
the cost as shown thereon to be charged against said lands; the amount
so charged shall forthwith become a lien upon such lands and shall
be added to and become and form part of the taxes next to be assessed
and levied upon said lands, the same to bear interest at the same
rate as taxes, and shall be collected and enforced by the same officers
and in the same manner as taxes.
A.Â
Owners of motor vehicles. In addition to the right and authority
provided for herein with reference to said motor vehicles and/or chattels,
the owner or possessor of said motor vehicles and/or chattels shall
be liable to the penalties imposed under this chapter for violation
hereof in permitting the conditions constituting a nuisance and inimical
to the public health, safety and welfare.
B.Â
Abandoning possessors. Any person, firm or corporation causing or permitting the abandonment of a vehicle or chattel as covered by this chapter upon private or public property in the Township of West Deptford, or permitting the abandonment of a vehicle or chattel upon property owned, leased, managed, occupied or controlled by such person, firm or corporation, or failing to remove the same, shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to penalties established in § 158-6.
