[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township
of Dennis 11-14-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-09. Prior history includes Ord. No.
2000-06. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter.
Remaining idle or walking aimlessly about in essentially
one location.
Any adult person having care or custody of a minor, whether
by reason of blood relationship, the order of any court or otherwise.
A place to which the public has access and shall include
any public building and grounds, street, boardwalk or sidewalk. It
shall also include the front or neighborhood of a store, shop, restaurant,
tavern or other place of business, and public grounds, areas, parks
and marinas, as well as parking lots or other vacant private property
not owned by or under the control of the person charged with violating
this section or in the case of a minor, not owned or under the control
of his parent or guardian.
Private or publicly owned property utilized for proprietary
or business uses which invites patronage by the public or which invites
public ingress and egress.
No person shall loiter in a public or quasi-public place in
such a manner as to:
A.Â
Obstruct the free passage of pedestrians or vehicles.
B.Â
Obstruct, molest or interfere with any person lawfully in a public
or quasi-public place. This section shall include the making of unsolicited
remarks of an offensive, disgusting or insulting nature or which are
calculated to annoy or disturb the person to, or in whose hearing,
they are made.
Any person violating the provisions of this chapter shall be
ordered to move on by a police officer, constable or other law enforcement
officer and failing which shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter.
The parent or guardian of a minor under the age of 18 years
shall knowingly permit that minor to loiter in violation of this chapter.
Whenever any minor under the age of 18 years is charged with a violation
of this chapter, his parent or guardian shall be notified of this
fact. If at any time within 30 days following the giving of notice,
the minor to whom such notice relates again violates this chapter,
it shall be presumed in the absence of evidence to the contrary that
the minor did so with the knowledge and permission of his parent or
guardian.
Any person violating the terms or provisions of this Article I of Chapter 128 for a first offense shall be liable for a fine of up to $500, incarceration in the Cape May County Jail for a period not to exceed 30 days and ordered to perform community service for a period of time not to exceed 100 hours.
No person shall disobey or fail to follow the order, direction
or other signal of any police officer, sheriff's deputy, New
Jersey State Trooper, constable or other properly authorized law enforcement
official within the Township; nor shall any persons disobey or fail
to follow the traffic instructions on any properly posted traffic
control device or traffic signal within the Township.
A.Â
No person shall intentionally obstruct pedestrian or vehicular traffic
upon the public streets, public sidewalks, public pavilions, public
parks or other public places. Acts authorized as an exercise of one's
Constitutional right to picket or legally protest and acts authorized
by a permit issued pursuant to the Code of the Township of Dennis
shall not constitute obstruction of pedestrian or vehicular traffic.
B.Â
No person shall sleep in or on any public or quasi-public street,
sidewalk, pavilion, park or other place so as to obstruct or interfere
with the passage of any person or persons lawfully being on or upon
said streets, sidewalks, pavilions, parks or places.
C.Â
It shall be unlawful to sleep in any parked vehicle, either day or
night, within the Township limits or to sleep or lie upon any public
or quasi-public bench or seat or to usurp the use of such bench or
seat for the storage of bundles or other objects so as to prevent
the reasonable use thereof by others.
D.Â
No person shall loiter on governmentally owned property within the
confines of the Township of Dennis between the hours of between the
hours of 10:00 p.m. to sunrise except for unusual and unforeseen emergencies,
Township sponsored activities, and/or otherwise approved by Township
Committee.
It shall be unlawful and illegal to enter, without legitimate
and reasonable errand or business, upon any private property, hotel,
rooming house, lodging place or other place of public accommodation,
and not having previously obtained express or implied permission of
the owner or person in lawful control and possession of such places
above described, to make use of the furniture, showers, toilets or
other like facilities there installed, or wander or roam about the
premises.
A.Â
It shall be unlawful and offensive conduct for any individual, either
alone, or in the company of others, to revel, quarrel, brawl, disport
or behave in a noisy, boisterous manner, emitting loud cries and other
noises, or jostling those about them, or causing inconveniences to
those about them, or to otherwise disrupt and disturb the public peace
and dignity, in any public or quasi-public place, public rights-of-way,
public sidewalk, public park, or in any building open for the accommodation
of the public for entertainment, or for room accommodations.
B.Â
It shall be unlawful and offensive to enter upon any public or quasi-public
place or private property without the consent of the owner or person
in lawful control and possession thereof and to there picnic, change
apparel, dress or undress or to urinate or defecate upon the premises
or commit any other nuisance.
Any person of association or persons convicted of a violation of any provision of this Article II of Chapter 128 shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or 90 days imprisonment in the City or county jail, or for a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, or any combination of the three.
