As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the following
meanings:
ABANDONED CART
A handdrawn or propelled vehicle or wheel container made of metal,
wood or other materials such as is generally provided by merchants for the
use of their customers in carting or carrying goods, merchandise or groceries
to automobiles or other vehicles which is left unattended for a period of
time in excess of 30 minutes on a property other than the property owned or
leased by the merchant who has provided the use of said carts in the normal
operation of their business.
PERSON
Any individual of either sex, any partnership, corporation or any
other legal entity.
It shall be unlawful for any person, his agent or employee to leave
an abandoned cart upon any property not his, hers or its own, including but
not limited to any street, avenue, road, alley, lane, highway, boulevard,
concourse, driveway, culvert, crosswalk, sidewalk, park, traffic island or
other property whether privately owned or not.
Any cart provided or made available for use by any person in the City
of Brigantine shall have a plainly visible form of identification indicating
the owner of said cart or the establishment where said cart is used in the
normal course of business.
The Department of Public Works of the City of Brigantine or any other
person so authorized by the City Manager of the City of Brigantine shall have
the power pursuant to this chapter to remove or cause to be removed any abandoned
cart found within the confines of the City of Brigantine, and said abandoned
cart shall be taken by the City of Brigantine and shall be held by said City
until redeemed, sold or otherwise disposed of pursuant to this chapter.
When the Department of Public Works shall take control of any cart pursuant
to this chapter, a notice shall be sent by ordinary mail to the owner of said
abandoned cart or the business establishment where said abandoned cart is
used in the general course of business advising that the cart is being held
by the City of Brigantine and indicating the amount of money necessary to
redeem said cart.
Any abandoned cart may be redeemed by the owner or business establishment where said abandoned cart is used in the regular course of business at any time prior to a sale pursuant to this chapter by the payment of a fee as set forth in Chapter
210, Mercantile Businesses, Article
II, Fee Schedule, to the City of Brigantine. Any person attempting to redeem said cart must provide proof of ownership satisfactory to the City of Brigantine.
When any such cart remains in the control of the City of Brigantine
for a period of 30 days and no person has presented proof to the City of Brigantine
establishing such persons ownership right to said cart, the City Manager or
his designee shall give public notice in a newspaper circulated within the
City of Brigantine advising that at a specified place, time and date any and
all carts in the possession of the City of Brigantine shall be sold at public
auction to the highest bidder.
Any money paid to the City of Brigantine due to the redemption or sale
of any abandoned cart shall be placed in the general treasury of the City
of Brigantine, and any such money shall be first used to pay any costs incurred
for advertising or otherwise to effectuate a sale or for any other reason
incurred pursuant to this chapter.
Any person who shall cause a cart to become an abandoned cart as described
in this chapter or otherwise violate this chapter shall be subject to a fine
up to $1,000 or imprisonment in the county jail up to 90 days, or both, as
may be fixed in the discretion of the Municipal Court Judge before whom said
person appears.