The purpose of this chapter shall be to require the clear display of house numbers from public streets for all properties that contain principal buildings within the Township in order to assist the general public or the authorities in identifying any property in case of an emergency as well as for the welfare of the general public in conducting their normal affairs pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:67-1 et seq., amendments and supplements thereto.
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township of New Hanover 4-12-1977 by Ord. No. 1977-3 (Sec. 9-7 of the 1974 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
All dwelling houses, stores or other buildings erected within the Township shall display numbers in conformity with the street numbers on the Tax Maps of the Township as they appear on file in the office of the Tax Assessor of the Township.
Street numbers shall be assigned, placed on the Tax Maps and allotted to the owners of lands by the Tax Assessor of the Township or by such other persons as may be designated by resolution of the Township Committee. When assignment of a number takes place, the number shall be placed upon the Official Map of the Township, and thereafter all persons shall take due notice thereof and shall comply with the provisions of this chapter. The Tax Assessor or such other person as may be designated shall also have the power and duty of correcting any errors with respect to assignment of street numbers, if and when they are discovered.
Every owner or occupant of said lands shall apply to the Tax Assessor, who shall furnish him or her with the correct street number assigned thereto.
The Tax Assessor shall be responsible for assigning proper number sequences to each lot which is created as the result of a subdivision or resubdivision. Said number shall be in proper municipal sequence in relation to the number assigned to other lots fronting on the same street and shall be properly recorded on the Tax Map of the Township.
In order to comply with this chapter, house numbers shall be Arabic in design, shall have a minimum height of three inches and shall be mounted in a secure fashion to the building's front wall or to a porch or other fixed appurtenance in front of the building in the general vicinity of the main entryway or main path of travel which leads to the main entrance from a public street or shall be otherwise separately mounted in an approved manner upon the face of a wall or upon a post in the front yard of the premises. Auxiliary numbers shall be mounted at a height between four feet and 10 feet upon the adjacent grade or exterior landing beneath but never higher than 15 feet above the adjoining grade. They shall be sufficiently legible as to contrasting background, arrangement, spacing, size and uniformity of integers so that the numbers may be read with ease during the daylight hours by a person possessing at least 20/40 vision if he views the numbers from the center line of the abutting street. The numbers shall be so placed that trees, shrubs and other constructions do not block the line of sight of the numbers from the center of the street to any appreciable degree.
The final authority for determining and assigning the number or numbers to be used upon any particular property, as well as the enforcement of this chapter, shall be in the office of the Tax Assessor of the Township, his agent or employee or such other person as is provided for in § 74-3 of this chapter.
[Amended 8-11-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-3]
The absence of house numbers or the insecure fastening or absence of any integers thereof or the use of any number not assigned by the Tax Assessor or the attempt to comply by using the numbers on or attached to a mailbox or the failure of a number to meet the elevation requirement or the visibility requirement shall be considered a violation of this chapter. Failure on the part of the property owner to comply with the provisions of this chapter within a period of 15 days from the date of issuance of a notice of violation shall be sufficient cause for the Tax Assessor or his designated representative to proceed with carrying out the provisions of this chapter, and upon conviction thereof, the person shall be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days or a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, at the discretion of the Judge.