[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners
of the City of Ventnor City 11-25-1974 by Ord. No. 17-1974; amended in its entirety 12-23-1993 by Ord. No.
9325. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the following meanings:
A hand-drawn 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.
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,
her 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 Ventnor City 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
Ventnor City or any other person so authorized by the Board of Commissioners
of the City of Ventnor City 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 Ventnor City, and said abandoned
cart shall be taken by the City of Ventnor City 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 the business advising that the cart is being held by the City of
Ventnor City and indicating the amount of money necessary to redeem
said cart.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
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 in the amount set forth in Chapter 114, Rate Schedule, to the City of Ventnor City.
When any such cart remains in the control of
the City of Ventnor City for a period of 30 days and no person has
presented proof to the City of Ventnor City establishing such person's
ownership right to said cart, the City Clerk shall give public notice
in a newspaper circulated within the City of Ventnor City advising
that at a specified place, time and date, any and all carts in the
possession of the City of Ventnor City shall be sold at public auction
to the highest bidder.
Any money paid to the City of Ventnor City due
to the redemption or sale of any abandoned cart shall be placed in
the general treasury of the City of Ventnor City, and any such money
shall be first used to pay any costs incurred for the 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.
In addition to or as a substitute for the previously mentioned fine,
the imposition of community service shall be authorized as an additional
penalty, which community service shall not exceed 90 days.
