[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Albany 7-18-1983 by L.L. No. 2-1983 as Ch. XXV, Art. II, of the 1983 Code; amended in its entirety 4-5-2021 by L.L. No. 7-2021.[1] Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: Prior amendments were adopted 4-7-1986.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
OFF-ROAD VEHICLES
All-terrain vehicles (sometimes known as "ATVs") as that term in defined in § 2281, Subdivision 1, of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law, off-highway motorcycles as that term is defined in § 125-a of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law, motocross or dirt bikes, dune buggies, go-carts and any and all other types of motorized trail bikes or vehicles that are manufactured for sale or operation primarily on off-highway trails or for off-highway competitions and are only incidentally operated on public highways. Nothing contained herein, however, shall be deemed to apply to or prohibit the use of bicycles.
OPERATE
To ride in or on, other than as a passenger, or use or control the operation of, an off-road vehicle in any manner, whether or not said off-road vehicle is underway.
PUBLIC HIGHWAY
Any highway, road, alley, street, avenue, public place, public driveway, or any other public way.
A. 
Public property. No person shall operate an off-road vehicle on a public highway or on any public property in the City of Albany.
B. 
Private property. No person shall operate an off-road vehicle off a public highway on private property in the City of Albany unless such person has first obtained the express consent of the owner or occupant of such property to operate the off-road vehicle on the property. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that the operator of an off-road vehicle on private property in the City of Albany lacks consent to operate the off-road vehicle on private property.
A. 
Any person who operates an off-road vehicle in violation of § 357-2A or B of this chapter shall be guilty of an offense punishable by a fine not to exceed $650 or imprisonment not to exceed 15 days, or both.
B. 
In addition to the penalties set forth in Subsection A of this section, a police officer may immediately impound an off-road vehicle that has been operated in violation of § 357-2A or B of this chapter. Such impounded off-road vehicle shall be stored by the pertinent Police Department or enforcement agency pending the identification of the owner of such off-road vehicle as registered with the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Such title owner shall be sent notice of such impoundment at the address on file with the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles by certified mail within five days after the impoundment. Neither the Police Department impounding such off-road vehicle, nor the City of Albany, nor any agent or employee thereof, shall be liable for any damages arising out of the provision of an erroneous name or address of such owner. The owner of the off-road vehicle operated in violation of § 357-2A or B of this chapter may redeem such off-road vehicle upon satisfactory proof of ownership and payment of a redemption fee of $2,350. An off-road vehicle impounded under this subsection shall only be released to the owner of such off-road vehicle, or to such owner's agent as evidenced by a written, notarized proof of agency, or duly executed power of attorney.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this chapter or application thereof to any person or circumstances shall be judged by any court to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof or the application thereof to other persons and circumstances but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph or part thereof and the persons or circumstances directly involved in the controversy in which the judgment shall have been rendered.