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 motels and temporary housing accommodations,
including requiring the licensing of motels and mandating additional
requirements necessary to ensure safety based in part on minimum standards
required for a motel to receive or renew a motel 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.
MOTEL
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
"motel" shall include any hotel, 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 motel 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 motel 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 motel 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 motel 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 motel 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 the Township of Washington is temporary
or fleeting.
VISITOR
Any person, not employed by or a registered guest of a motel,
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 motel, and a
license shall be required for the ownership and/or operation of a
motel.
All motels are required to meet the following minimum security
requirements:
A. Guest registration.
(1) Regulations.
(a)
Every registering guest shall furnish to an operator of a motel
satisfactory identification as part of the registration process for
the hire of lodgings at that motel by the transient.
(b)
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.
(c)
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.
(d)
The operator of the motel 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 check out, 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 motel operator shall comply with Subsection
A of this section.
(e)
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.
(f)
The record log shall be made immediately available for monthly
inspections by the Chief of Police, or his designee, who shall be
a uniformed police officer, and immediately available to any member
of the Township of Washington Police Department or other law enforcement
agency, in the event of a police service incident at the motel. Said
log shall be kept by the motel owner for a period of no less than
three years.
(g)
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 requirements.
(1) Regulations.
(a)
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.
(b)
The operator shall inform the guest that failure to abide by
this request may result in Police Department action.
C. Frequency of rental.
(1) 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.
(1) The sleeping accommodations of a motel 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.
(2) No contract guest shall use or occupy any room or a portion of any
room in any motel for more than a calendar month or more than one
month during any three calendar months.
(3) No noncontract guest shall use or occupy any room or a portion of
any room in any motel 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.
(a)
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 motel for a period longer than 31 days when such noncontract guest provides i) proof of current, valid residency more than 30 miles from Township of Washington Township and is utilizing the motel while performing a temporary function or service in Township of Washington Township such as employment on a construction project or in military service ii) where the noncontract 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 timeframe remains limited to a definite timeline and where vacancy of the motel 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 §
142-7 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 motel 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 Township of Washington
motel property or while registered as a guest at a motel 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 motel operator shall
make reasonable effort to notify the Township of Washington 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 motel 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 Township of Washington Police Department.
The proper enforcement of the provisions of this chapter dealing
with licenses shall be within the jurisdiction of the Township of
Washington 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.