[HISTORY: Adopted by the governing body of the Township of Little Falls as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 12-18-1995 by Ord. No. 753 as Ch. I of the 1995 Revised General Ordinances; amended in its entirety 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
For the purpose of the Code of the Township of Little Falls, and in the interpretation and application of all other ordinances heretofore or hereafter adopted, except as the context may otherwise require, the following definitions shall be used in the Code:
CLERK or TOWNSHIP CLERK
The Township Clerk duly appointed pursuant to law.
COUNTY
The County of Passaic.
DAYS
The calendar days.
DEPARTMENT
An organizational unit of the government established or designated by ordinance or otherwise, together with any agency or instrumentality of the government assigned to such organizational unit by the governing body.
LICENSED
Licensed in accordance with the appropriate section or chapter of this Code.
MONTH
A calendar month unless otherwise specifically provided.
OATH
Includes an affirmation where an affirmation may be substituted for an oath. In such cases the words "swear" and "sworn" shall be construed to be equivalent to the words "affirm" and "affirmed."
OCCUPANT
See "tenant."
OFFICER or OFFICIAL (and the title of an officer or official)
Construed as if the words "of the Township of Little Falls" followed it.
ORDINANCE
Any act of local legislation heretofore or hereafter adopted, and including this Code, so long as it is adopted by the procedure required for the adoption of an ordinance and so long as it remains in force and effect pursuant to law.
OWNER
When applied to a building or land includes any part owner, any corporation, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, of the whole or of a part of such building or land.
PERSON
Any individual, natural persons, partnerships, joint ventures, societies, associations, clubs, trustees, trusts, corporations or unincorporated groups; or any officers, agents, employees, servants, factors of any kind or personal representatives of any kind thereof in any capacity, acting either for himself or for any other person, under either personal appointment or pursuant to law.
PRECEDING and FOLLOWING
Next before and next after, respectively.
PROPERTY
Real and personal property.
PUBLIC GROUNDS, PUBLIC SQUARES, PUBLIC PLACE or PUBLIC PLACES
Any and every public ground, public square, public park or other public place within the Township.
SIDEWALK
Any portion of a street between the curbline and the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians, excluding parkways.
STREET
Includes an avenue, road, alley, lane, highway, boulevard, concourse, driveway, culvert, sidewalk, and crosswalk, and every class of road, square, place or municipal parking field used by the general public. Street shall be considered to include a sidewalk or footpath, unless the contrary is expressed or unless such construction is inconsistent with the apparent intent.
TENANT or OCCUPANT
Applied to a building or land, shall include any person who occupies the whole or part of such building or land, whether alone or with others.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Little Falls in the County of Passaic and State of New Jersey.
GOVERNING BODY
The governing body of the Township, constituted and elected pursuant to law.
WEEK
Seven days.
YEAR
A calendar year unless otherwise specifically provided.
For the purpose of this Code and any other ordinances heretofore or hereafter adopted, except as the context may otherwise require:
A. 
The present tense includes the past and future tenses and the future, the present.
B. 
The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.
C. 
The singular number includes the plural and the plural the singular.
D. 
"Shall" is mandatory, and "may" is permissive.
E. 
The time within which an act is to be done shall be computed by excluding the first and including the last day and if the last day be a Sunday, a legal holiday, or a day on which the offices of the Township are closed, that day shall be excluded.
F. 
Writing and written shall include printing, typewriting and any other mode of communication using paper or similar material which is in general use, as well as legible handwriting.
G. 
And may be construed as meaning or, and or as and, if the sense requires and indicates such meaning.
H. 
Whenever a specific time is used in this Code, it shall mean the prevailing and established time in effect in the State of New Jersey during any day in any year.
I. 
Any citation of a statute, law or ordinance contained in this Code shall be deemed to refer to such statute, law or ordinance as amended, whether or not such designation is included in the citation.
A. 
Maximum penalty. Any person who shall violate any provision of this Code or other ordinance of the Township, where no specific penalty is provided regarding the section violated, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable by one or more of the following: a fine not exceeding $2,000 or imprisonment in the county jail or in any place provided by the Township for the detention of prisoners for any term not exceeding 90 days at the discretion of the Judge of the Municipal Court. However, in the event that the Judge of the Municipal Court determines to impose a fine in an amount greater than $1,250 upon an owner for violations of housing or zoning codes, said owner shall first be afforded a thirty-day period of time to cure and/or abate the condition and shall further be afforded an opportunity for a hearing before a court of competent jurisdiction for an independent determination concerning the violation. Subsequent to the expiration of the thirty-day period, a fine greater than $1,250 may be imposed if a court has not determined otherwise or, upon reinspection of the property, it is determined that the abatement has not been substantially completed. (N.J.S.A. 40:49-5 and N.J.S.A. 40:69A-29)
[Amended 4-10-2006 by Ord. No. 984]
B. 
Minimum penalty. The governing body may prescribe that for the violation of any particular provision of the Code or of any particular ordinance at least a minimum penalty shall be imposed which shall consist of a fine which may be fixed at an amount not exceeding $100. The Court before which any person is convicted of violating any ordinance or Code provision shall have power to impose any fine, term of punishment, or period of community service not less than the minimum and not exceeding the maximum fixed in the Code or such ordinance.
C. 
Additional fine for repeat offenders. Any person who is convicted of violating this Code or an ordinance within one year of the date of a previous violation of the same provision of this Code or of the same ordinance and who was fined for the previous violation shall be sentenced by a court to an additional fine as a repeat offender or shall be assessed an additional fine as may be provided in the applicable ordinance. Where any ordinance is silent on the imposition of additional fines for multiple offenses, the additional fine imposed by the court upon a person for a repeated offense shall not be less than the minimum or exceed the maximum fine fixed for a violation of the ordinance or Code provision but shall be calculated separately from the fine imposed for the violation of the ordinance or Code provision. For purposes of any ordinance that provides for graduated penalties for multiple offenses, multiple offenses shall be considered only within the same calendar year.
[Amended 5-20-2013 by Ord. No. 1176]
D. 
Default of payment of fine. Any person convicted of the violation of any provision of this Code or any ordinance may, in the discretion of the Court by which he was convicted, and in default of the payment of any fine imposed therefor, be imprisoned in the County jail or place of detention provided by the Township for any term not exceeding 90 days, or be required to perform community service for a period not exceeding 90 days.
E. 
Separate violations. Except as otherwise provided, each and every day in which a violation of any provision of this Code or any other ordinance of the Township exists shall constitute a separate violation.
F. 
Application. The maximum penalty stated in this section is not intended to state an appropriate penalty for each and every violation. At the discretion of the Judge of the Municipal Court, any lesser penalty, including a nominal penalty or no penalty at all, may be appropriate for a particular case or violation.
[Adopted 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:49-4, the ordinances of the Township of Little Falls of a general and permanent nature adopted by the governing body of the Township of Little Falls, as revised, codified and consolidated into chapters and sections by General Code Publishers Corp., and consisting of Chapters 1 through 280, together with an Appendix, are hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as the "Code of the Township of Little Falls," hereinafter known and referred to as the "Code."
This ordinance and the Code shall supersede the 1995 Revised General Ordinances of the Township of Little Falls and all other general and permanent ordinances enacted prior to the enactment of this Code, except such ordinances as are hereinafter expressly saved from repeal or continued in force.
All of the provisions of the Code shall be in full force and effect on and after the effective date of this ordinance.
A copy of the Code in loose-leaf form has been filed in the office of the Township Clerk and shall remain there for use and examination by the public until final action is taken on this ordinance; and, if this ordinance shall be adopted, such copy shall be certified to by the Clerk of the Township of Little Falls by impressing thereon the Seal of the Township, as provided by law, and such certified copy shall remain on file in the office of the Clerk of the Township, to be made available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times while said Code is in effect.
Any and all additions, amendments or supplements to the Code, when passed and adopted in such form as to indicate the intent of the governing body to make them a part thereof, shall be deemed to be incorporated into such Code so that reference to the "Code of the Township of Little Falls" shall be understood and intended to include such additions and amendments. Whenever such additions, amendments or supplements to the Code shall be adopted, they shall thereafter be printed and, as provided hereunder, inserted in the loose-leaf book containing said Code as amendments and supplements thereto.
The Clerk of the Township of Little Falls, pursuant to law, shall cause this Adopting Ordinance to be published, in the manner required, in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township. Sufficient copies of the Code shall be maintained in the office of the Clerk for inspection by the public at all times during regular office hours. The enactment and publication of this Adopting Ordinance, coupled with availability of copies of the Code for inspection by the public, shall be deemed, held and considered to be due and legal publication of all provisions of the Code for all purposes.
It shall be the duty of the Clerk or someone authorized and directed by the Clerk to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the book containing the Code required to be filed in his or her office for the use of the public. All changes in said Code and all ordinances adopted subsequent to the effective date of this codification which shall be adopted specifically as part of the Code shall, when finally adopted, be included therein by reference until such changes or new ordinances are printed as supplements to said Code book, at which time such supplements shall be inserted therein.
Copies of the Code, or any chapter or portion of it, may be purchased from the Clerk, or an authorized agent of the Clerk, upon the payment of a fee to be set by the governing body. The Clerk may also arrange for procedures for the periodic supplementation of the Code.
It shall be unlawful for anyone to improperly change or amend, by additions or deletions, any part or portion of the Code or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the Township of Little Falls to be misrepresented thereby. Anyone violating this section or any part of this ordinance shall be subject, upon conviction, to one or more of the following: a fine of not more than $1,250, imprisonment for not more than 90 days or a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, in the discretion of the Judge imposing the same.
Each section of the Code and every part of each section is an independent section or part of a section, and the holding of any section or a part thereof to be unconstitutional, void or ineffective for any cause shall not be deemed to affect the validity or constitutionality of any other sections or parts thereof.
Each section of this ordinance is an independent section, and the holding of any section or part thereof to be unconstitutional, void or ineffective for any cause shall not be deemed to affect the validity or constitutionality of any other sections or parts thereof.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances of a general and permanent nature adopted and in force on the date of the adoption of this ordinance and not contained in the Code are hereby repealed as of the effective date of this Adopting Ordinance, except as hereinafter provided.
The adoption of this Code and the repeal of ordinances provided for in § 1-16 of this ordinance shall not affect the following ordinances, rights and obligations, which are hereby expressly saved from repeal:
A. 
Any ordinance adopted subsequent to November 22, 2004.
B. 
Any right or liability established, accrued or incurred under any legislative provision prior to the effective date of this ordinance or any action or proceeding brought for the enforcement of such right or liability.
C. 
Any offense or act committed or done before the effective date of this ordinance in violation of any legislative provision or any penalty, punishment or forfeiture which may result therefrom.
D. 
Any prosecution, indictment, action, suit or other proceeding pending or any judgment rendered, prior to the effective date of this ordinance, brought pursuant to any legislative provision.
E. 
Any franchise, license, right, easement or privilege heretofore granted or conferred.
F. 
Any ordinance providing for the laying out, opening, altering, widening, relocating, straightening, establishing of grade, changing of name, improvement, acceptance or vacation of any right-of-way, easement, street, road, highway, park or other public place or any portion thereof.
G. 
Any ordinance or resolution appropriating money or transferring funds, promising or guaranteeing the payment of money or authorizing the issuance and delivery of any bond or other instruments or evidence of the Township's indebtedness.
H. 
Ordinances authorizing the purchase, sale, lease or transfer of property or any lawful contract, agreement or obligation.
I. 
The levy or imposition of taxes, assessments or charges or the approval of the municipal budget.
J. 
The dedication of property or approval of preliminary or final subdivision plats.
K. 
All currently effective ordinances pertaining to the rate and manner of payment of salaries and compensation of officers and employees.
L. 
Any ordinance adopting or amending the Zoning Map.
M. 
Any ordinance relating to or establishing a pension plan or pension fund for municipal employees.
N. 
Chapter II, Administration, of the 1995 Revised General Ordinances, and any amendments thereto.
O. 
The Subdivision of Land Ordinance.
P. 
Ordinance No. 871, establishing the alternate members of the Planning Board.
A. 
In compiling and preparing the ordinances for adoption and revisions as part of the Code pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:49-4, certain grammatical changes and other minor changes were made in one or more of said ordinances. It is the intention of the governing body that the renumbering and all such changes be adopted as part of the Code as if the ordinances so changed had been previously formally amended to read as such.
B. 
The following nomenclature changes have been made throughout the Code:
(1) 
Dog Warden to Animal Control Officer.
(2) 
Federal Insurance Administration to Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(3) 
Department of Roads and Parks to Department of Public Works.
C. 
Violations and penalties: The following penalty sections are added or amended to refer to the General Penalty in Chapter 1, General Provisions: §§ 11-13, 11-18, 11-24, 15-12, 19-39, 31-8, 37-6, 95-3A, 105-4, 114-7, 122-15, 130-14, 143-3, 280-186B, 147-4, 163-4, 163-15, 182-6, 186-13, 214-18, 214-22, 218-9, 223-5, 223-19, 223-26, 231-7, 236-8, 249-9, 253-4, 261-11 and 268-3.
D. 
In addition, the following changes, amendments or revisions are made herewith, to become effective upon the effective date of this ordinance as set forth in Schedule A[1] attached hereto and made a part hereof (chapter and section number references are to the ordinances as they have been renumbered and appear in the Code).
[1]
Editor's Note: In accordance with § 1-18D, the chapters, articles and sections which were amended, added, deleted or adopted by this ordinance are indicated throughout the Code by footnotes or chapter histories referring to Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article II. During routine supplementation, footnotes and histories indicating amendments, additions, deletions or adoptions will be replaced with the following history: "Amended (added, deleted, adopted) 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952." Schedule A, which contains a complete description of all changes, is on file in the Township offices.