[Adopted 12-18-1979 by Ord. No. 79-111 as Ch. 23, Art. 5, of the 1979 Revised General Ordinances of Paterson]
It is hereby declared to be the duty of the
owner or agent of any property abutting on any street or highway in
the City on which property there exists an unsafe place abutting on,
adjacent to or near such street or highway, due to which place any
person traveling upon such street or highway may receive injury, to
erect or construct fences, walls or other safeguards about such unsafe
places sufficient to protect any such person from injury.
When the existence of any unsafe place as described in § 157-25 of this article becomes known to the Department of Public Works, the Department shall notify, in writing, the owner or his agent of such unsafe place to safeguard the same forthwith and shall designate in such notice the time in which such work of safeguarding shall be completed.
If, at the expiration of the time for completion designated by the Department of Public Works in the notice referred to in § 157-26, such work is not completed to the satisfaction of the Department of Public Works, the Department shall have such work done by the City, and the expense of such work shall be charged against and collected from the owner of such unsafe place. If necessary, the City shall proceed with a civil action for the recovery of such money expended by the City for such work.
A.
If any person, upon being notified to safeguard any place as specified in § 157-26, shall deny that the place named in such notice is unsafe, such person, upon filing a notice with the Streets Division Superintendent, directed to the Department of Public Works within the time limit in the notice specified in § 157-26 for completion of the work, shall have a hearing before the Department of Public Works. At such hearing, the person notified may avail himself of any defense to show that the place mentioned in such notice is not unsafe.
[Amended 12-19-1995 by Ord. No. 95-068]
Any person who fails to safeguard any unsafe place as directed by the Department of Public Works after a hearing as provided in § 157-28 of this article or after a waiver of such hearing as provided in said § 157-28 shall be guilty of a violation of this article and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000, by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days or by a period of community service for not more than 90 days, or any combination thereof.
