[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Green Lane as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 9-13-1976 by Ord. No. 76-4 (Ch. 10, Part 1, of the 1995 Code
of Ordinances)]
It shall be unlawful to store or deposit abandoned or junked
automobiles, trucks, other vehicles or parts thereof on any public
or private property, vacant or occupied, within the Borough of Green
Lane, where the same is found to be a nuisance in fact.
[Amended 10-13-1980 by Ord. No. 80-7; 6-12-1995 by Ord. No. 95-4]
A.
Any person, firm, association or corporation carrying on the business
of or maintaining a storage place or deposit for one or more abandoned
or junked automobiles, trucks or vehicles or parts thereof within
the Borough of Green Lane, shall secure a license and pay a license
fee in amount to be established from time to time by resolution of
Borough Council payable to the Borough Secretary on or before January
1 of each year.
B.
Such license shall not be issued until the following conditions have
been complied with:
(1)
The storage area is enclosed with a six-foot high opaque fence; provided,
that one gate of a maximum width of 10 feet shall be permitted if
the gate is locked during hours when the business or storage area
is not being used.
(3)
Such other conditions and specifications which the Borough by resolution
may prescribe to protect the health, safety and general welfare of
the Borough of Green Lane.
D.
Any individual, firm, association or corporation that shall fail or refuse to obtain such a license shall be subject to the fines and penalties set forth in § 257-7 of this article.
E.
When used in this article, "abandoned or junked" automobile, truck
or vehicle shall mean any one or more of the following:
(1)
A vehicle for which a certificate of junk has been issued by the
Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation or the official designated
by any other state to issue such certificates.
(2)
Any vehicles in or which it is found that any of the following exists:
(a)
Its engine or motor or essential motor parts have been removed
for more than 30 days.
(b)
Its tires or any tire has been deflated or its wheels have been
removed for more than seven days.
(c)
It bears no official inspection sticker or any such sticker
is not current by more than 30 days; provided, that a vehicle under
repair which is bona fide intended for future use shall not be deemed
within the foregoing definition so long as it bears an inspection
sticker which is not past due by more than six months.
(d)
It is not currently registered and has no current registration
plate issued to it or displayed on it.
(e)
Its doors and windows or any of its doors or windows are not
intact or cannot be secured.
(f)
It has been damaged by fire or collision and is inoperable.
(g)
It is in such condition or situated in such circumstances as
to reasonably appear to be abandoned.
F.
All persons, firms, association, partnerships or corporations carrying
on an activity for which a license is required under this article
shall have six months from the effective date of this article to comply
with its terms.
It shall be unlawful to carry on or maintain any offensive manufacturing
or business or any activity anywhere within the Borough of Green Lane
where the same shall constitute a nuisance in fact.
It shall be unlawful to use, maintain, occupy or own any unsafe
building, structure or appurtenances or any part thereof, anywhere
within the Borough of Green Lane.
Whenever it shall be found that any person, partnership, association
or corporation maintains any nuisances in fact or maintains any unsafe
dangerous building, structure or appurtenance within the Borough of
Green Lane, the Borough Council shall serve notice to that effect
upon such person, partnership, association or corporation. Such notice
shall specify and describe the condition complained of and shall require
the same to be abated or to be made safe or to be corrected or be
removed, as the case may be, by the person, partnership, association
or corporation to whom or to which such notice was directed, within
the time limit stated in such notice.
Should such person, partnership, association or corporation
fail, neglect or refuse to make any such structure or condition safe,
or to correct or remove any dangerous structure or to abate any nuisance
to the end that the same shall not constitute a nuisance in fact,
the Borough Council may abate or cause to be abated such nuisance
or shall make safe or remove such structure, as the case may be, and
the expense of such abatement or of the making safe or removal of
such structure, with an additional penalty of 10% of such expenses,
shall be collected from such person, partnership, association or corporation
by the Borough in the manner provided by law for the collection of
municipal claims, or by action in assumpsit, or the Borough may seek
relief by bill in equity.
[Amended 1-6-1992 by Ord.
No. 92-3; 6-12-1995 by Ord. No. 95-4]
Any person or persons, partnership, association or corporation
violating any of the provisions of this article, or failing to comply
with any notice of the Borough Council aforesaid shall, upon conviction
thereof, in proceedings initiated by the Borough through its Code
Enforcement Officer, for every such violation or failure to comply,
be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 plus costs and, in
default of payment of such fine and costs, to imprisonment for not
more than 30 days. Each day's continuance of a violation or failure
to comply shall constitute a separate offense.
[Adopted 8-10-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-01]
The Borough of Green Lane Code Enforcement Officer and/or any
other person(s) designated by the Borough Council for the enforcement
of this article are hereby empowered to require the cessation, removal
or abatement of any activity that is determined to be a nuisance by
any provision of the Code of the Borough of Green Lane.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or any organization as well as all officers, agents, servants,
employees or others acting for any of the same, and shall be taken
as applying in the singular or plural as the case may require.
Any private lot or area within the Borough limits, whether
it be improved, unimproved, vacant, occupied or unoccupied.
That which is set up, maintained or continued so as to be
injurious to health or that which is an obstruction to the use of
property by interfering with the health, safety, comfort or repose
of the public.
Any and all streets, sidewalks, boulevards, alleys or other
public ways with parks, squares or grounds upon them for the common
or general use and enjoyment of the community at large.
Any trash, debris, packing boxes, cardboard, wood, metal,
nails, glass, trash, garbage or rubbish of any kind.
Any person who creates, continues, maintains or permits any
public nuisance within the Borough of Green Lane shall be deemed guilty
of a violation of this article and shall be liable for the expense
and abatement and remedy thereof as well as such fines and penalties
as may be imposed.
Without in any manner intending to limit or restrict the generality
of the above definition of and prohibition against a public nuisance,
the following are hereby declared to constitute public nuisances:
A.
Dumping. It shall be unlawful to throw, deposit or dump any paper,
building material, construction material, ashes, junk, waste, discarded
materials of any kind, or trash, garbage, rubbish and the like on
any street, highway or any public place or on any private property
within the limit of the Borough of Green Lane.
B.
Accumulation of trash, garbage, rubbish and the like. It shall be
unlawful to store accumulations of trash, rubbish or the like on any
street, highway or any public place or on any private property within
the limits of the Borough of Green Lane.
C.
Garbage, rubbish and the like obstructions. It shall be unlawful
to permit any wood, barrels, boxes, trash, rubbish, cardboard, paper
or any other types of refuse, trash, glass or metal to remain except
for purposes of immediate loading, removing or storing on any private
property or public place.
In the event that such person should fail, neglect or refuse
to make such conditions safe or to correct or remove such conditions
to the satisfaction of the Borough of Green Lane, then the Borough
of Green Lane may abate or cause to be abated said public nuisance,
and the expense of such abatement shall be paid by the responsible
person.
All costs and expenses, including attorney fees, incurred by
the Borough of Green Lane in the abatement of such condition shall
be a lien upon the premises, and whenever a bill therefor remains
unpaid for a period of 60 days after it has been rendered, the Borough
of Green Lane Solicitor shall file a municipal claim or an action
of assumpsit for such cost and expenses, together with a penalty of
10%, in the manner provided by law for the collection of municipal
claims.
In addition to the remedies hereinabove set forth, any person
who shall create or operate any of the aforesaid as set forth hereinabove
shall, upon conviction thereof, in proceedings initiated by the Borough
of Green Lane through its Code Enforcement Officer and/or any other
person(s) designated by the Borough Council, be sentenced to a fine
of not more than $600 plus costs and expenses, including attorney
fees, and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, to a term
of imprisonment for not to exceed 30 days. Each day on which a violation
of this article shall continue shall be deemed a separate offense.
The provisions of this article are deemed retroactive and applicable
to ordinances in effect prior to the date of this article.
