No person or corporation shall prevent, delay
or interfere with the Department of Public Works, or its employees,
while in the operation of snow plowing or snow and ice control operations.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Any persons or corporation violating any provision
of this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by one
or more of the following: a fine not exceeding $2,000 or by a period
of community service not exceeding 90 days or imprisonment in the
county jail or in any other place provided by the municipality for
the detention of prisoners for any term not exceeding 90 days, to
become effective on the effective date of this section. Each and every
twenty-four-hour period in which the violation subsists shall be a
separate and distinct violation subject to the penalties stated herein.
Authority is hereby given to the various department heads of the Township
of Union to enforce such portions of this article as be within their
respective jurisdictions.
[Amended 10-26-2004 by Ord. No. 4842; 2-23-2016 by Ord. No. 5364]
A. A snow emergency may be declared
by the Mayor, Deputy Mayor or, in their absence, any member of the
Township Committee, Township Administrator or Police Director when
a hazardous condition exists due to a snowfall that poses a substantial
threat to the health, welfare and safety of the Township.
B. Whenever a snow emergency is found to exist, in order to afford the Township the opportunity to clear its streets, no vehicle, except those designated in Subsection
F hereof, shall be allowed to stand or park, whether attended or not, upon any street or highway of the Township, except for picking up or discharging passengers or for picking up or delivering essential merchandise or other commodities; until such time that the snow emergency is lifted.
C. Whenever a vehicle has been parked
or left standing in violation of the provisions of the preceding subsection,
any police officer of the Township of Union or the Township Public
Works Superintendent or authorized agent or his representative may
move or cause the removal of such vehicle to such place as may be
designated by the Police Director or authorized agent for the impounding
of such vehicle. Such vehicle shall be there retained and impounded
until the person owning such vehicle shall pay the cost of removal,
together with storage. Within 72 hours after the vehicle has been
so removed, the Police Director or any member of the Police Department
acting for him shall give written notice thereof to the registered
owner, if the name and address may be ascertained, which notice may
be given by personal service of mail addressed to such owner at his
last known address.
D. After any vehicle removed as
provided in the preceding subsection has been in the possession of
either the Police Department or its designated representative for
a period of six months and the owner cannot be found or refuses to
receive and remove such vehicle and pay the costs imposed thereon,
then the Police Director may proceed to sell such vehicle in accordance
with the provisions of the laws of the State of New Jersey.
E. The registered owner of the removed
vehicle shall be presumed to be the person who parked such vehicle
in violation of this section or that the same was so parked by his
duly authorized agent, unless proven otherwise, and therefore shall
be held responsible for violation of this section.
F. The provisions of this section
forbidding parking on streets due to snowfall shall not apply to any
municipal, county or state vehicle nor to any ambulance nor to the
vehicle of a physician while operated by such physician for the treatment
of patients in an emergency situation nor to any vehicle of the United
States Postal Service nor to vehicles of any public service corporation
while being operated in any emergency arising in the Township.
In residential areas of the Township, homeowners or tenants or occupants shall be required to remove their vehicles from the streets and park them in their driveways upon the beginning of a snowfall. Violation of this section shall subject the owner to the penalties in §
530-41 or the removal of the vehicle under §
530-42C. It shall be an affirmative defense to this section that one does not have a driveway in which to park the vehicle.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
SIDEWALK
Any walkway customarily used by or designed for the use of
pedestrian traffic, whether the same is constructed of concrete, blacktop,
gravel or cinder.