The recitals set forth above are incorporated herein by reference
as if set forth at length.
The Township Council finds and determines that it is important
for the safety of visitors to our community to control vice, disturbances
and narcotics offenses; and to protect the general public and for
peace and good order. To meet these goals, the Township requires certain
security measures at hotels and temporary housing accommodations,
including requiring the licensing of hotels and mandating additional
requirements necessary to ensure safety based in part on minimum standards
required for a hotel to receive or renew a hotel operation license
and requiring additional registration requirements and limiting the
length of stay of guests.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following words will have
the following meanings:
CONTRACT GUEST
Any person who exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy
by reason of a contract or voucher or by other payment method from
a state, county or local agency or not-for-profit corporation engaged
in providing housing accommodations for the right to occupy the premises
for a period of one calendar month or less. Any such person so occupying
space in a motel shall be deemed a transient up to and including the
last day of a calendar month. In determining whether a person is a
transient, uninterrupted periods of time extending both prior or subsequent
to the effective date of this chapter may be considered.
HOTEL
Any structure or any portion of any structure which is occupied
or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling,
lodging or sleeping purposes. For purposes of this chapter, the term
"hotel" shall include any hotel, motel, inn, tourist home or residential
rental housing having three or more rental units or apartments, or
any other similar structure or portion thereof.
NONCONTRACT GUEST
Any person who exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy
by reason of concession, permit, right to access, license or by other
payment of any money for the right to occupy the premises for a period
of up to 31 calendar days or less, counting portions of the calendar
days as full days. Any such person so occupying space in a hotel shall
be deemed a transient up to and including the 31st day of occupancy.
In determining whether a person is a transient, uninterrupted periods
of time extending both prior or subsequent to the effective date of
this chapter may be considered. "Noncontract guest" shall not include
the owner and his immediate family or one specifically identified
employee and his family occupying a living unit on-site equipped with
a full kitchen and separate living and sleeping quarters, where same
is available. Existing hotel rooms shall not, however, be converted
to create such living space.
OCCUPANCY
The use or possession or the right to the use or possession
of any room(s) or portion thereof in any hotel for sleeping purposes.
OPERATOR
Any person, as defined herein, and including agents, employees,
and independent contractors thereof, responsible for the day-to-day
management and performance of hotel activities.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association,
social club, fraternal organization, joint-stock company, corporation,
estate, trust, business trust, receiver, trustee, syndicate or any
other group or combination acting as a unit.
RENT
The consideration charged, whether or not received, for the
occupancy of space in the hotel valued in money, whether to be received
in money, goods, labor or otherwise, including all receipts, cash,
credits and property and service of any kind or nature, without reduction
therefrom whatsoever.
TRANSIENT
One whose presence in East Hanover Township is temporary
or fleeting.
VISITOR
Any person, not employed by or a registered guest of a hotel,
not including minors and dependents of registered guests.
When any person shall, by the use of signs, circulars, business
cards, newspapers, other publications, radio or television stations,
advertise or solicit patronage, actively or passively, it shall be
considered prima facie evidence of the operation of a hotel, and a
license shall be required for the ownership and/or operation of a
hotel.
All hotels are required to meet the following minimum security
requirements:
A. Guest registration regulations.
(1) Every registering guest shall furnish to an operator of a hotel satisfactory
identification as part of the registration process for the hire of
lodgings at that hotel by the transient.
(2) No room shall be rented to any person who shall be under 21 years
of age at the time of the rental when not accompanied by a parent
or legal guardian or providing proof of emancipation. Said age is
set to deter security issues associated with underage drinking.
(3) Satisfactory identification for legal residents of the United States
shall consist of one of the following: valid driver's license
issued in the transient's state; a federal, state or county government
photograph identification card; military identification card; a passport;
or any other form of valid government identification on which the
guest's photograph appears. For persons legally residing outside
the United States, valid government identification shall include an
official passport, U.S. visa, INS alien registration card or INS border
crossing card.
(4) The operator of the hotel shall maintain a record log and photocopy of the identification produced by the guest(s). The record log shall include the name of the transient, current address, ID number (i.e., motor vehicle license number) and state or country of issuance of identification, date of birth, date and time of check-in and checkout, method of payment and make, model and license plate number of guest vehicle, if guest intends to park vehicle at establishment. Irrespective of method of payment, the hotel operator shall comply with Subsection
A(1) of this section.
(5) An operator shall notify any guest who fails or refuses to provide
proper identification or refuses to identify occupants to any operator
that a room will not be rented.
(6) The record log shall be made immediately available for inspection
by the Chief of Police, or his designee, who shall be a uniformed
police officer, and shall also be immediately available to any member
of the East Hanover Police Department or other law enforcement agency,
in the event of a police service incident at the hotel. Said log shall
be kept by the hotel owner for a period of no less than three years.
(a)
The officer shall request to inspect the record log by asking
the operator, or the operator's designee who is on duty and/or
working at the time, to inspect the record. If inspection is refused,
the operator or the operator's employee/designee must secure
the record in the presence of the officer or an authorized representative
of the Police Department or other law enforcement agency, in a manner
directed by the officer or authorized representative, to ensure that
no one can tamper with the record and so that the record can be maintained
securely in the presence of the officer or authorized representative
until such time as an administrative subpoena, an administrative search
warrant, or other court order has been issued or denied. If the operator
or the operator's designee cannot be located, or if inspection
is refused, the police officer or an authorized representative may
seek entry by serving the issuance of the administrative subpoena,
an administrative search warrant, or other court order authorizing
the inspection of the record log.
(b)
Whenever possible, the inspection shall be conducted at a time
and in a manner that minimizes any interference with the operation
of the business.
(c)
No person shall alter, deface or erase the record so as to make
the information recorded in it illegible or unintelligible or hinder,
obstruct, or interfere with any inspection of the record under this
section.
(d)
If, upon refusal to allow the officer to inspect the record,
and the officer requires the record to be secured, the officer or
authorized representative must apply for the administrative subpoena,
administrative search warrant, or such other court order in an expeditious
fashion, but within no less than 48 hours following said refusal.
(e)
Administrative subpoena/administrative search warrant.
[1]
In the event that the law enforcement officer or authorized
representative seeks an administrative search warrant, same shall
be sought and processed and the conduct of same shall be in accordance
with applicable New Jersey Court rules and/or other statutes.
[2]
In the event that the law enforcement officer or authorized
representative seeks an administrative subpoena, then same may only
be sought if the Township's governing body has established an
investigative council under the New Jersey Municipal Investigations
Act, N.J.S.A. 40:48-25 et seq. Should the governing body form such
an investigative council, it shall be entitled to exercise all powers
delegated to it under said statutory provisions, including the authority
to issue subpoenas such as those contemplated herein.
(7) The duties imposed on an operator by this chapter shall not be interpreted
or applied so as to violate or cause the violation of the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-336).
B. Parking requirement regulations.
(1) The operator shall inform each guest that vehicles must be parked
nose in to the parking space. For security reasons, back-in parking
will not be permitted. In addition to informing the guest at check-in
that nose-in parking is required, the operator shall conspicuously
post the property with permanent signs no less than 10 inches in height
by eight inches in length which state "Nose-in Parking Required."
(2) The operator shall inform the guest that failure to abide by this
request may result in Police Department action.
(3) All persons utilizing parking spaces on a hotel property shall park
their vehicles nose into the parking space. For security reasons,
back-in parking will not be permitted.
C. Frequency of rental. The operator shall not rent any room more than
two times during any twenty-four-hour period, beginning at 12:00 noon
and ending at 12:00 noon the following day.
D. Occupancy. The sleeping accommodations of a hotel shall be rented
only for the use of contract and noncontract guests as transient occupants
and shall not be used or occupied on any permanent basis, and no such
occupant shall be deemed to be a resident therein. Every licensed
premises shall maintain at all times a complete register of all rentals
therein and the true identification and correct dates of occupancy
of each person using any room on the licensed premises.
(1) Contract guests. No contract guest shall use or occupy any room or
a portion of any room in any hotel for more than a calendar month
or more than one month during any three calendar months.
(2) Noncontract guests.
(a)
No noncontract guest shall use or occupy any room or a portion
of any room in any hotel for a period of more than 31 consecutive
days or more than 31 days during any ninety-day period. A portion
of a calendar day shall constitute a full day.
(b)
A minimum of seven days prior to the expiration of the thirty-one-day limit, it shall be an affirmative duty of the operator to petition the Chief of Police, in writing, to permit a noncontract guest to avail himself of the use of the hotel for a period longer than 31 days when such noncontract guest provides i) proof of current, valid residency more than 30 miles from East Hanover Township and is utilizing the hotel while performing a temporary function or service in East Hanover Township, such as employment on a construction project, or ii) where the non-contract guest is in need of temporary quarters while improvements are being performed on the noncontract guest's primary residence making it temporarily uninhabitable, where such time frame remains limited to a definite timeline and where vacancy of the hotel premises will occur at the conclusion of the construction project or the primary residents becomes habitable. The decision to permit any stay longer than 31 days remains at the sole discretion of the Chief of Police and may be appealed to the Township Council in the same manner as provided for denial of license as provided in §
93-7 of this chapter.
E. Identification of renters; renting for improper purposes prohibited.
In addition to the other rules and regulations proposed hereunder,
no licensee shall knowingly rent, allow or permit any room on the
licensed premises to be used for any illegal or immoral purpose. The
licensee's failure to set forth the true identity and correct
hours shall serve as prima facie evidence of violation of this provision.
F. Restriction on ownership and management. The operation, conduct and
management of a hotel shall not be under the management of, control
or supervision of any person convicted of a felony or any conviction
involving the sale of drugs and/or narcotics, prostitution or underage
drinking. No person shall own, directly or indirectly, more than 10%
of stock or be an officer or director of any corporation or participate
in any way in the management of any licensed premises if he or she
has been convicted of a crime as described in this subsection.
G. Maintenance and enforcement of no-rent/no-trespass list.
(1) The Township shall maintain and provide a no-rent/no-trespass list
of persons convicted of any crime while on a East Hanover hotel property
or while registered as a guest at a hotel in the Township.
(2) The operator shall refuse to further rent any room on the premises
to said guest on the list or allow the individuals on said list to
remain on the property. At no time shall the operator allow the person
on the list or members of the person's party to visit other properly
registered guests or visitors.
(3) Names shall remain on the no-rent/no-trespass list for the remainder
of the current calendar year and the next immediate calendar year
(i.e., up to one year and 364 days).
H. Notification to police of suspicious guests. The hotel operator shall
make reasonable effort to notify the East Hanover Township Police
Department of the names and permanent addresses of guests that behave
suspiciously after check-in. Suspicious activity shall include an
act or event which causes an ordinarily prudent person to believe
that unlawful behavior is in process or imminent.
I. Requirement of on-site manager 24 hours a day. The operator shall
cause the hotel to maintain twenty-four-hour supervision by an on-site
manager. Said manager(s) will have supervisory responsibilities over
all other employees on site and shall serve as the first point of
contact for the East Hanover Police Department.
The proper enforcement of the provisions of this chapter dealing
with licenses shall be within the jurisdiction of the Township of
East Hanover Police Department and within the jurisdiction of those
officers at the state, county and local levels of government charged
with providing the necessary inspections, regulations and enforcement
of the law.