[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
This Part shall be titled the "Canton Township Towing Ordinance
of 2020."
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
The Township recognizes that leaving unattended motor vehicles
parked on Canton Township highways, roads, streets, and alleys has
the significant potential to create traffic hazards by creating traffic
obstructions, interfering with visibility at intersections and driveway
entrances unto Township highways, roads, streets, and alleys, and
is a significant interference with snow removal and other road maintenance
activities by the Township. The Township Board of Supervisors has
determined it to be in the public interest and necessary for the safety
of persons using Township highways, roads, streets, and alleys; to
expedite the flow of vehicular traffic and emergency response vehicles;
and to insure the welfare and safety of the public, to generally prohibit
motor vehicle parking on Township highways, roads, streets, and alleys
during winter weather. The purpose and intent is to authorize and
provide for a convenient and regulated towing system for the timely
removal of motor vehicles damaged, abandoned, immobilized, illegally
parked, or disabled on Township highways, roads, streets, alleys,
or public property within the Township and regulate towing rates and
services as permitted by 75 Pa. C.S.A. §§ 3351 to 3354.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
For the purpose of this Part, the terms used herein shall have
the meanings ascribed to them in the Vehicle Code of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania as now enforced or as hereinafter amended, enacted,
or reenacted. In addition, the following terms used herein shall be
defined as:
The paved or main travel portion of the roadway, highway,
street, or alley.
Precipitation in the form of sleet, ice, freezing rain, snow,
or combination thereof, creating the need for snow or ice removal,
salting, or cindering operations or creating hazardous driving conditions.
Any precipitation accumulating to a depth of one inch shall be presumptively
deemed to create hazardous driving conditions.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
Except as is hereinafter provided, it shall be unlawful to park,
abandon, or leave unattended any vehicle upon the cartway, or within
two feet adjacent to the cartway, within the boundaries of the Township
during winter weather, during any period when snow removal, plowing,
salting, or other mitigation measures are being conducted, or during
the forty-eight-hour period following the cessation of precipitation.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
1.
Any motor vehicle parked on any of the highways, roads, streets,
alleys, public rights-of-way or other public property in the Township,
which is parked in violation of any provision of the law, Vehicle
Code, or of any ordinance of the Township, or which has been immobilized
in excess of 72 hours, may be removed under the provisions of this
Part. The Township Manager, Road Master, or the Code Enforcement Officer
is authorized to make the decision whether or not to remove any motor
vehicle.
2.
No motor vehicle shall be removed under the authority of this section
if, at the time of the intended removal, the owner or person in charge
of such motor vehicle is present and expresses a willingness and intention
to remove the motor vehicle immediately.
3.
Removal and impounding of motor vehicles under this section shall
be done by Township personnel or approved agents that shall be designated,
from time to time, by the Board of Supervisors. Every such approved
agent shall submit evidence to the Township that it is bonded or has
acquired liability insurance as required herein to indemnify owners
of impounded motor vehicles against loss or damage to those motor
vehicles while in the custody of the approved agent. The approved
agents shall have an approved storage area and shall submit to the
Township a schedule of charges for removal and storage of motor vehicles
under this section and, when the schedule is approved by the Board
of Supervisors, those charges shall be adhered to by the approved
storage agent; no different schedule of charges shall be demanded
of or collected from any person whose motor vehicles is removed or
impounded under this section by any approved storage agent. The Board
of Supervisors shall delete from its list of approved storage agents
and areas any such agent that makes any unapproved charge in connection
with any motor vehicles removed or impounded under this section.
4.
All daily fees charged for the storage of vehicles pursuant to this
section shall be calculated on a twenty-four-hour basis rather than
by calendar days.
5.
In order to reclaim a motor vehicle removed pursuant to the provisions
hereof, the owner, lessee, or other person having an interest therein
shall pay removal and storage costs according to the schedules as
set forth herein.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
Any motor vehicles parked or left unattended on any Township
highway, road, street, or alley or the adjacent right-of-way thereof
during the forty-eight-hour period following Winter Weather shall
be deemed abandoned and any Township Manager, Road Master, or Code
Enforcement Officer may arrange for the motor vehicle to be towed
and stored at an approved storage lot as shall be approved from time
to time by the Board of Supervisors. In addition to the fines provided
herein, the owner of the motor vehicle shall be responsible for towing
and storage charges before the owner may obtain the motor vehicle.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
1.
The following regulations shall apply to the towing of any motor
vehicle parked or left unattended on Township highways, roads, streets,
and alleys without consent:
A.
Any towing service shall first secure a license from the Township
prior to doing any towing from public property located in the Township.
A license shall be issued for a fee as set from time to time by resolution
of the Board of Supervisors per calendar year and shall be issued
upon completion of an application, made available by the Township,
containing, at a minimum, the following information:
(1)
Name and address of the towing service;
(2)
Name and business address of all persons or entities having
an ownership interest in the towing service;
(3)
Address of the storage yard where vehicles which hare removed
from public property in the Township will be towed;
(4)
Name of the bonding company and the name and address of the
bonding company agent through whom the bond required by this section
has been issued; and
(5)
Any changes in the information required in Subsection 1.A(1)
through (4) herein shall be reported in writing to the Township within
one week of such change.
B.
The license fee under this Part shall be established by resolution
of the Township. These are nonrefundable application fees. All licenses,
except those terminated for just cause as provided herein, are subject
to an annual renewal fee that shall be established by resolution of
the Township. This renewal fee shall be paid within the first 60 days
of each calendar year.
C.
Upon the Township determining that any provision of this section
has been violated, in addition to any other penalties provided herein,
the Township may revoke a license issued hereunder.
D.
All fees for towing services and storage shall be levied against
the owner of the vehicle unless determined by the Township that the
vehicle was towed in error, in which case no charge will be assessed.
E.
Authorized towing services shall:
(1)
Maintain a current bond with the Township in a sum of and in
form and surety satisfactory to the Township's Solicitor, conditioned
upon the faithful performance discharged by the towing service of
its duties as bailee of removed motor vehicles, and to indemnify the
owner of motor vehicles against loss, injury, or damage while in bailee's
custody;
(2)
Provide certificates of insurance, in amount and in kind, satisfactory
to the Board of Supervisors and the Township's Solicitor;
(3)
Comply with the provisions of the Vehicle Code with respect
to the removal and impoundment of vehicles from public property;
(4)
Notify the Township by telephone, in person, or by facsimile
transmission of the removal of a motor vehicle within 30 minutes of
such removal and provide a description and license number of the vehicle
thus removed and the location to which it has been taken;
(5)
Display the name of the towing service and/or the person operating
it, together with a valid phone number therefor, by signs on both
sides of the tow truck;
(6)
Maintain during off hours either a telephone operator answering
service or telephone tape machine to provide owners or operators of
towed motor vehicles with the necessary information as to the costs,
the required method of payment and the procedure for claiming the
towed vehicle;
(7)
Prior to the issuance of any license, provide proof that occupational
privilege tax has been paid to the Township;
(8)
Display a current towing license obtained from the Township
on the driver side window of the vehicle;
(9)
Notify the Township within 24 hours of any modifications to
information provided in the license application;
(10)
Make a written record of each vehicle towed or stored at the
request of the Township consisting of the following information: 1)
registration plate number and state; 2) time call was received; 3)
spot or ticket time; 4) time wrecker arrived at the scene; 5) date
vehicle was returned to owner/custodian; and 6) towing and storage
charges for each vehicle towed; and
(11)
Comply with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations
and are responsible for insuring that all employees of the towing
company adhere to this Part.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
In any proceeding for a violation of the provisions this Part,
the registration plate, if any, displayed on such motor vehicle shall
be prima facie evidence that the owner of said motor vehicle was either
operating said motor vehicle or was in the operation and control of
said motor vehicle at the time of said violation.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
Any person who shall violate any provision of this Part, upon
conviction thereof in an action brought before a District Justice
in the manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under
the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, shall be sentenced to
pay a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000 plus costs
of prosecution and, in default of payment of said fine and costs,
to a term of imprisonment not to exceed 30 days. The continuance of
such violation for each successive day shall constitute a separate
offense.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
All ordinances or parts of ordinances which are inconsistent
herewith are hereby repealed.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
In the event that any provision, section, sentence or portion
of this Part shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not effect
or impair any of the remaining provisions of this Part, as the provision
are severable and would have been enacted had not such invalid provisions
been included herein. All ordinances or part of ordinances which are
inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.
[Ord. No. 3-2020, 3/13/2020]
This Part shall become effective upon adoption.
