[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners
of the Town of Bridgeville 4-12-2004 by Ord. No. A04-3. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Abandoned, Wrecked, Dismantled or Inoperable Vehicle Ordinance."
For the purposes of this chapter, the following
terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meanings
given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in
the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include
the singular number, and words in the singular number include the
plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely
directory.
Any vehicle which is left unattended on public property for
a period in excess of 72 hours under such circumstances as to cause
such vehicle reasonably to appear to have been abandoned.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind.
Any real property in the Town which is privately owned and
which is not defined as public property herein.
Any real property in the Town which is owned by a governmental
body and includes buildings, parking lots, parks, streets, sidewalks,
rights-of-way, easements and other similar property.
The Town of Bridgeville.
A machine propelled by power other than human power designated
to travel along the ground by use of wheels, treads, runners or slides
and transport persons or property or pull machinery and shall include,
without limitations, automobiles, trucks, trailers, motorcycles, tractors,
buggies, wagons, lawn mowers and boats.
Any vehicle, the condition of which is wrecked, junked, dismantled,
partially dismantled, is in such a state of disrepair as to be incapable
of being operated in the manner for which it was designed, or from
which the wheels, engine, transmission or any substantial part thereof
have been removed, regardless of whether said vehicle bears a current
registration.
No person shall abandon or leave any wrecked,
dismantled or inoperable vehicle, whether attended or not, upon any
public property within the Town for a period of time in excess of
72 hours. The presence of such vehicle, or parts thereof, on public
property is hereby declared to be a nuisance which may be abated in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The temporary or intermittent
movement or removal of such vehicle shall not be deemed to interrupt
the running of the seventy-two-hour period. This section does not
apply to vehicles parked or stored on public property by the Town.
A.
No person shall abandon or leave unattended any vehicle
(not otherwise prohibited as a wrecked, dismantled or inoperable vehicle,
even if bearing a current registration) upon any public property within
the Town for a period of time in excess of two weeks under such circumstances
as to cause such vehicle reasonably to appear to have been abandoned.
The presence of such vehicle under such circumstances is hereby declared
to be a public nuisance which may be abated in accordance with the
provisions of this chapter. This section does not apply to vehicles
parked or stored on public property owned by the Town.
B.
Any person may notify the Bridgeville Police Department,
in writing, of the fact that they will be absent from the Town or
otherwise unable to move their vehicle for an extended period of time
(as specified therein) and, in such event, that person's vehicle shall
not be deemed to be in violation of this section of this chapter until
the expiration of two weeks from the time specified by the written
notice to the Bridgeville Police Department; provided, however, that
nothing in this subsection shall excuse such persons from compliance
with other Town ordinances regulating the parking and/or storage of
vehicles on public property in the Town.
A.
No person shall park, store, leave or permit the parking,
storing or leaving of any wrecked, dismantled or inoperable vehicle
of any kind, whether attended or not, upon any private property within
the Town in excess of 15 days. The temporary or intermittent movement
or removal of such vehicle shall not be deemed to interrupt the running
of the fifteen-day period. The presence of such vehicles, or parts
thereof, on private property is hereby declared a public nuisance
which may be abated in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
A.
On public property. Whenever it comes to the attention of the Bridgeville Police Department that any nuisance as defined in § 220-4 of this chapter appears to exist on public property, it shall cause a written order to be affixed to the vehicle, declaring the existence of the nuisance and ordering whosoever had an interest in the vehicle to comply with this chapter by removing said vehicle within 72 hours of the notice.
B.
On private property. Whenever it comes to the attention of the Bridgeville Police Department that any nuisance as defined in § 220-5 appears to exist on private property, it shall, in addition to affixing an order to the vehicle itself as provided in § 220-6A above, deliver a copy of said notice to the owner and occupant of the property. If a copy cannot be delivered to the owner and occupant, a copy of the order shall be left at the property with a duplicate copy sent to the owner and occupant by certified mail, return receipt requested.
C.
Form of order. Any orders required under § 220-6A or B above shall contain the following information:
(1)
A description of such vehicle, including the make,
year, model, color and registration number, if known.
(2)
The location of such vehicle.
(3)
The date and time that the order was affixed to the
vehicle.
(4)
An order for removal within 72 hours from the time
the order was affixed to the vehicle.
(5)
That upon failure to comply with the order for removal,
the Bridgeville Police Department shall remove or cause to be removed
such vehicle.
(6)
That the owner of the vehicle and/or the owner or occupant of the property upon which such vehicle is located may request a hearing before the Commissioners at which hearing they may introduce such witnesses and evidence as they deem necessary relevant to the issue of whether the vehicle constitutes a nuisance as defined herein. The order shall state that any request for a hearing shall be in writing, addressed to the Town Manager and filed within 72 hours (not counting the weekends or holidays) following the affixing of the order on the vehicle under § 220-6A or B above.
A.
Upon receiving a request for a hearing pursuant to
§ 220-6(C)(6), the Commissioners shall set the hearing for
the next regular meeting of the Commissioners and shall, in addition
to placing it upon the meeting agenda, give notice to the person requesting
the hearing and the Bridgeville Police Department. No other notices
are required.
B.
At such hearing, the Bridgeville Police Department
shall produce evidence relevant to the issue of whether or not the
vehicle is a nuisance in violation of this chapter. The person requesting
such hearing shall then be permitted to introduce such witnesses and
evidence as he or she desires relevant to that issue.
C.
All witnesses shall be placed under oath. Strict rules
of evidence shall not be required, but the Commissioners may accept
any relevant evidence of a probative nature which, in their opinion,
is such as could reasonably be relied upon by persons of common sense
and procedure.
D.
At the conclusion of such hearing, the Commissioners
shall determine, by majority vote, whether or not they find that the
vehicle constitutes a nuisance in violation of this chapter. Such
determination, with a brief statement of the findings upon which that
decision was made, shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting.
Within the time for removal set forth in the
order for removal, or within 72 hours of the hearing at which the
Commissioners determine that the vehicle is a nuisance in violation
of this chapter, the owner of the abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or
inoperable vehicle and (if on private property) the owner or occupant
of the private property on which the same is located, any or all of
them, shall cause the removal of the vehicle. If the violation is
not remedied within the time set forth herein, the Bridgeville Police
Department is hereby authorized to remove or have removed such vehicle
from the premises. Except for the Bridgeville Police Department and
employees of the Town working in concert with the Bridgeville Police
Department, such vehicles shall be removed only by wreckers or towing
services duly licensed by the State of Delaware. It shall be unlawful
for any person to interfere with, hinder or refuse to allow the Bridgeville
Police and/or any person acting in concert with or at the direction
of the Bridgeville Police Department to enter upon private property
for the purpose of removing a vehicle under the provisions of this
chapter.
A.
Within five days of the removal of such vehicle, the
Bridgeville Police Department shall give written notice (by certified
mail, return receipt requested) to the registered owner of the vehicle,
if known, and also to the owner or occupant of the private property
from which the vehicle was removed, that said vehicle has been impounded
and stored for violation of this chapter. The notice shall give the
location of where the vehicle is stored and the costs being incurred
for removal and storage.
B.
The Bridgeville Police Department shall also contact the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles and such other agencies and departments of government in this and other states as are reasonably necessary to ascertain the names and addresses of other persons with record of interest in the vehicle, including lien holders. Such other persons shall be given notice in the same manner as stated in Subsection A.
C.
Notice under this section shall contain the following
information:
(1)
Year, make, model and serial number of the vehicle.
(2)
The name and address of the last known registered
owner of the vehicle, if available.
(3)
The vehicle registration number and the title registration
number of the vehicle, if available.
(4)
The date on which the vehicle was removed.
(5)
The location at which the vehicle is being stored.
The notice shall also advise the persons to whom it is given that
the vehicle is subject to all the provisions of the Delaware garagemen's
lien statute, that under the terms thereof, it is subject to being
sold at public sale unless reclaimed, and that the person who is entitled
to possession of the vehicle may reclaim it upon payment of all charges
incurred in the removal and storage of vehicle.
D.
If unable to identify properly the last registered owner of any vehicle, or if unable to obtain with reasonable certainty the names and addresses of the owner of the other interested parties, including lien holders, it shall be sufficient notice under this section to publish the notice described in Subsection C once in the newspaper of general circulation in the Town of Bridgeville. Such notice by publication may contain multiple listings of vehicles.
Any person who tows, removes, stores or keeps
a vehicle at the direction of the Bridgeville Police Department acting
under the provisions of this chapter shall, from the time of taking
possession thereof, be entitled to all rights, remedies and authority
as provided under the Delaware garagemen's lien statute, 25 Del. C.
Chapter 39, as it may be amended from time to time hereafter, or any
future corresponding provision of law. In exercising such rights,
remedies and authority, such persons shall be governed, in all respects,
by the terms of that statute.
In the event that the Town should be or become
liable for all or any portion of the expenses incurred in the removal
and storage of such vehicle, the Town may:
A.
Recover the same from the owner of the vehicle and/or
the owner of the private property from which it was recovered in an
action for debt; or
B.
Add that amount to the tax bill of the person owning
the private property from which such vehicle has been removed. If
occupied by a person other than the owner of that property, the occupant
shall be primarily responsible and the Town shall not seek to recover
from the owner of the property (either in an action at law or by tax
collection proceedings) before it exhausts reasonable efforts to recover
from the occupant, but this shall not prohibit the Town from joining
both the property owner and the occupant in one action for debt.
