[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough
of Fair Lawn 8-15-2023 by Ord. No. 2676-2023. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The Borough of Fair Lawn, Bergen County, New Jersey.
The taking of still or motion pictures either on film, video
tape, or similar recording medium, for commercial or educational purposes
intended for viewing on television or in theaters or for institutional
use.
Any film that is financed and/or distributed by a major motion
picture studio, including but not limited to the following:
Universal Pictures.
Warner Brothers, including New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Cinema,
Village Road Show and Bel-Aire.
Paramount 20th Century Fox, including Fox Searchlight.
Sony Columbia.
Disney/Miramax.
MGM/United Artists.
Dreamworks.
Any major streaming service, such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon
Prime Video.
Any film for which the budget is at least $5 million.
Recurrent weekly television series programming.
The reporting or summarizing of information concerning something
that has either recently taken place or of current events of general
interest and includes such features commonly known as newscasts, news
bulletins and news anthology programs.
Land not owned by the government or dedicated to public use.
Any and every public street, highway, sidewalk or square,
public park or playground or other public place within the Borough
which is within the jurisdiction or control of the Borough.
A.
No person or organization shall film or permit filming on public
property, or on private property where such filming involves the use
of public property for the operation, placement or temporary storage
of vehicles or equipment utilized in such filming, including, but
not limited to, any temporary structure, barricade or device intended
to restrict or block off pedestrian or vehicular traffic, without
first having obtained a permit, which permit shall set forth the approved
location of such filming and the approved duration of such filming
by specific reference to day or dates. Such permit must be readily
available for inspection by Borough officials at all times at the
site of the filming.
B.
Applications for such permits shall be on a form available from the Office of the Municipal Clerk. All permits shall be applied for and obtained from the Office of the Borough Clerk during normal business hours. All applications shall be accompanied by a permit fee in accordance with Chapter 94 at § 94.12, Miscellaneous fees, of the Borough Code.
C.
If a permit is issued and, due to inclement weather or other good
cause, filming does not take place on the dates specified, the Borough
Clerk may, at the request of the applicant, issue a new permit for
filming on other dates, subject to full compliance with all other
provisions of this chapter. No additional fee shall be required for
this permit.
A.
No permit will be issued by the Borough Clerk unless applied for not less than three days, weekends and holidays excepted, prior to the requested filming date(s); provided, however, that the Borough Clerk may waive the three-day period if, in their judgment, the applicant has obtained all related approvals and adjacent property owners or tenants do not need to be notified. However, if an applicant seeks a change in the times established by § 98-4F, below, applicant shall submit its application no less than 10 days, weekends and holidays excepted, to permit the Mayor and Council to consider such request.
B.
No permit shall be issued for filming upon public lands unless the
applicant shall have provided the Borough with the following:
(1)
A certificate of insurance evidencing the following coverages and
amounts:
(a)
Workers compensation insurance: New Jersey statutory amount;
(b)
Employers' liability: $500,000 each accident; $500,000,
disease - policy limit; $500,000, disease - each employee;
(d)
Business automobile liability: $1 million each accident; if
permit holder intends to have its employees use their own vehicles
to conduct business, employer's non-ownership automobile liability
for $1 million each accident shall be required.
The public liability and property damage insurance policies
shall name the Borough, its servants, agents, employees and subdivisions
as additional insureds, and shall contain the phrase, "The Borough
of Fair Lawn, its servants, agents, employees or any subdivision thereof
are additional named insureds."
The certificate of insurance shall be in a form acceptable to
the Borough and shall provide that the insurance stated thereon will
not be cancelled or amended without 30 days' notice to the Borough
of such cancellation or amendment. The applicant shall be responsible
for purchasing and maintaining the required insurance coverage at
its own cost and expense.
(2)
Indemnification agreement. An agreement duly executed by applicant
agreeing to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Borough from any
and all liability, expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees
and costs), claim, damages, injury or death arising out of, relating
to, or resulting from applicant's filming activities, including
but not limited to the Borough's issuance of a permit pursuant
to this chapter.
A.
Permit holder shall take all reasonable steps necessary to minimize
interference with the free passage of pedestrians and traffic over
public lands, limit to the extent possible any interference with previously
scheduled activities upon public lands, limit to the extent possible
any interference with normal public activity on such public lands,
and comply with all lawful directives issued by the Borough Police
Department and Fire Department with respect thereto.
B.
Permit holder shall reimburse the Borough for the costs incurred
during filming for Borough employees and equipment, including but
not limited to police officers, fire personnel and employees of the
Department of Public Works. The Borough reserves the right to require
adequate police presence on-site in situations where the proposed
production may impede the proper flow of traffic and the cost of such
police presence shall be borne by the permit holder. Where existing
electrical power lines are to be utilized by the production, an on-site
licensed electrician may be required and, if the production company
does not have a licensed electrician on staff, the Borough shall provide
such licensed electrician with the cost thereof to be borne by the
permit holder.
C.
Where applicant's activity, by reason of location or otherwise,
will directly involve and/or affect any businesses, merchants or residents
("affected parties"), such affected parties shall be given written
notice of the proposed filming, the anticipated filming date, times
and duration. Such notice shall be provided to the affected parties
at least three days prior to the requested filming date and the affected
parties informed that objections may be filed with the Municipal Clerk.
Any timely objections received shall be considered in reviewing applicant's
permit application. Proof of service of notification to affected parties
shall be submitted to the Borough Clerk within two days of the requested
filming date.
D.
Permit holder shall conduct filming in such a manner as to minimize
the inconvenience or discomfort to adjoining property owners and occupants
attributable to such filming and shall, to the extent practicable,
abate noise.
E.
Permit holder shall take all reasonable steps necessary to minimize
the creation and spread of debris and rubbish during filming and shall
be responsible for removing all debris and rubbish from the filming
location upon completion of filming.
F.
Filming shall be permitted between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00
p.m. unless a change in the filming times is approved by the Mayor
and Borough Council. Filming entirely within interior locations on
private property are not subject to these time limitations.
G.
Permit holder shall comply with all fire safety instructions issued
by the Fire Marshal or his designee.
H.
Vehicles used in connection with the filming, including vehicles
of personnel associated with such filming, shall be parked off the
public right-of-way to the maximum extent permitted. Vehicles should
not be parked upon private property without the express written consent
from the property owner or occupant. Vehicles parked in the public
right-of-way shall comply with all applicable parking and traffic
regulations.
I.
Damage to or destruction of public land and damage to or loss or
destruction of any other property caused by the actions of the permit
holder, its servants, agents or employees, shall be promptly repaired
or replaced by the permit holder to the reasonable satisfaction of
the Borough or, in lieu of such repair or replacement, the permit
holder shall pay the Borough an amount sufficient to compensate the
Borough for the required repair and/or replacement.
A.
The Borough Clerk may refuse to issue a permit whenever it is determined,
on the basis of the objective facts and after a review of the application
and a report thereon from the Police Department and other Borough
Departments, that the filming at the location, times and/or dates
set forth in the application would violate any law or ordinance or
would unreasonably interfere with the use and enjoyment of adjoining
properties, unreasonably impede the free flow of vehicular or pedestrian
traffic or otherwise endanger the public health, safety or welfare.
B.
The Borough Clerk may revoke or suspend a permit at any time, in their sole discretion, if it is reasonably determined that filming is deleterious to the general public health, safety and welfare, or that the permit holder is violating any of the provisions of this Chapter 98. Upon such revocation or suspension, the permit holder shall cease all operations. A revocation or suspension may be in addition to the permit holder being subject to the penalties provided at § 98-11, below.
A.
Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Borough Clerk denying,
suspending or revoking a permit may appeal to the Borough Council.
A written notice of appeal setting forth the reasons for the appeal
shall be filed with the Borough Clerk within 10 days of the denial
or revocation.
B.
The Borough Council shall set the matter down for a hearing within
20 days of the day on which the notice of appeal was filed. The decision
of the Borough Council shall be in the form of a resolution affirming,
amending or reversing the decision of the Borough Clerk adopted at
the first scheduled regular public meeting of the Borough Council
after the hearing on the appeal, unless the appellant agrees in writing
to a later date for the decision.
A.
The Borough Clerk may authorize a waiver of any of the requirements, provisions or restrictions, except with respect to § 98-4F, if the Borough Clerk determines that a waiver thereof may be granted without endangering the public health, safety and welfare. In determining whether to issue a waiver, the Borough Clerk shall consider the following factors:
(1)
Potential traffic congestion at the location.
(2)
The applicant's ability to remove the applicant's vehicles
and equipment from the public streets or other public property.
(3)
The extent to which the applicant requested restrictions on the use
of public streets or public parking facilities during filming.
(4)
The nature of the filming, including whether filming will take place
indoors or outdoors.
(5)
The extent to which the filming may affect adjoining and nearby property
owners and occupants.
(6)
The Borough's prior experience with the applicant, if any.
This Chapter 98 shall not apply to the filming of news stories by authorized press personnel within the Borough. In addition, filming by the Borough of Fair Lawn's Police Department, Fire Department, Ambulance Corps or OEM, or other Borough agency for training purposes, shall be exempt. Filming by Fair Lawn TV Productions Inc., and video clubs or video classes of the Fair Lawn Public Schools is exempt but shall comply with § 98-4A, D and E of this chapter.
A.
Screen credit shall be given to the Borough of Fair Lawn.
B.
Permit holder shall not make any permanent changes or alterations
in or to the public lands and the appurtenances thereto or any installations
without the express written permission of the Borough.
C.
Permit holder shall allow a duly authorized representative of the
Borough, without prior notice, to be present in and about the public
lands and appurtenances for the purpose of making inspections and
reviewing the actions being undertaken by the permit holder pursuant
to this chapter.
