[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Barnegat
Light 7-13-1981 by Ord. No. 81-4 (Sec.
3-18 of the Revised General Ordinances). Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Abandoned, Wrecked
or Inoperative Motor Vehicle Ordinance."
The following terms, phrases and words used in and for the purpose of
this chapter shall be deemed to have the following meanings:
Any motor vehicle, omnibus, road tractor, trailer, truck, truck-trailer
or other vehicle as contained and defined in N.J.S.A. 39:1-1 et seq. which:
Is parked without the current year's registration or identification
markers as required by law;
Has been continuously parked in any public street or on any public land
for a period of seven days;
Is so disabled as to constitute an obstruction to traffic, and the driver
or person owning or in charge thereof neglects or refuses to move the same
to a place where it shall not obstruct traffic;
Is found to be mechanically inoperative and is allowed to remain inoperative
for a period of seven days; or
Is found without one or more tires.
The sequestration of a motor vehicle, junk automobile or junk automobile
body at a place of storage.
Any automobile which is no longer in actual use as a motor vehicle
or which is wholly unfit, without rebuilding or reconditioning, for use in
highway transportation or which has been discarded for use as a motor vehicle
or otherwise abandoned.
Any motor vehicle, omnibus, road tractor, trailer, truck, truck-trailer
or other vehicle, as defined in N.J.S.A. 39:1-1 et seq.
Any individual, firm, partnership or corporation being the owner
of or having any legal right in or to a motor vehicle or other vehicle as
defined herein.
Any property which is privately owned and which is not public property
as defined herein.
Any street or highway, which shall include the entire width between
the boundary lines of every way, publicly maintained for the purposes of vehicular
traffic and any other publicly owned property and facility.
A.
Abandonment prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any
person to abandon or suffer or permit the abandoning of any motor vehicle,
junk automobile or junk automobile body out of doors upon any public or private
lands in the Borough of Barnegat Light or on any public street or between
the right-of-way lines of any public right-of-way therein.
C.
Presumption. If any motor vehicle, junk automobile or
automobile body shall be abandoned on private lands for seven days or more,
it shall be presumed that the owner or tenant in possession of said land has
abandoned it there or permitted or suffered it to be abandoned there.
D.
Exclusion. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to
prohibit the placing, keeping or storage of any motor vehicle, junk automobile
or junk automobile body in a totally enclosed garage or other building.
A.
Impounding vehicles. Whenever any member of the Police
Department of the Township of Long Beach finds a motor vehicle, junk automobile
or junk automobile body which has been abandoned, kept or stored contrary
to the provisions of this chapter, such officer shall remove, secure the removal
of and/or impound said motor vehicle, junk automobile or junk automobile body
in accordance with the procedures hereinafter set forth:
(1)
Public property regulations. Whenever any motor vehicle,
junk automobile or junk automobile body is found on any public street, highway
or public property, an emergency condition is herewith declared to exist,
and the Police Department of the Township of Long Beach is hereby authorized
to immediately remove, secure the removal of and/or impound the motor vehicle,
junk automobile or junk automobile body without the necessity of notice prior
to said impoundment. After impoundment, the Long Beach Police Department shall
use diligent efforts to identify and locate the owner of the impounded motor
vehicle, junk automobile or junk automobile body and shall notify the owner
in accordance with the provisions of this chapter hereinafter set forth.
(2)
Private land regulations.
(a)
Notice of violations. Whenever any motor vehicle, junk
automobile or junk automobile body is found on any private land in violation
of the provisions of this chapter, the Police Department of the Township of
Long Beach shall cause the owner of the motor vehicle, if he can be found,
or the owner or tenant of the private lands upon which the violation is occurring,
to be given 10 days' written notice that said violation exists. Said
notice shall be sent by certified mail to the last known address of the owner
of the motor vehicle, junk automobile or junk automobile body and/or to the
owner or tenant of the property. In the event that, at the expiration of 10
days, the violation of the provisions of this chapter still exists, the Police
Department of the Township of Long Beach is authorized to proceed in accordance
with law to impound the motor vehicle, junk automobile or junk automobile
body and to remove said motor vehicle to a place of storage. Notice of said
impoundment shall be given to the owner of the motor vehicle, junk automobile
or junk automobile body or to the tenant or owner of the private land on which
the violation is occurring in the manner hereinafter established.
(b)
Exclusion. One motor vehicle, in the definition set forth
above, which does not possess the current year's registration and whose
owner is in the military service stationed outside the State of New Jersey
may be maintained on a single parcel of land having on it a single-family
residential dwelling as long as the motor vehicle is in complete and operable
condition.
(3)
Notice of impoundment.
(a)
Notice of the impoundment of any motor vehicle, junk
automobile or junk automobile body shall be given to the owner of said vehicle
or to the owner or tenant of lands upon which the violation is occurring,
in writing and by certified mail, at the last known address of the party to
be served, and shall contain the following information:
[1]
The time and place of impoundment.
[2]
The location of the motor vehicle, junk automobile or
junk automobile body.
[3]
The reason for impoundment.
[4]
The amount and nature of penalties and costs that may
be entered against him.
[5]
A statement that a sale of the motor vehicle, junk automobile
or junk automobile body will occur after 30 days if the motor vehicle, junk
automobile or junk automobile is not reclaimed.
[6]
A statement of the time and place of sale.
(b)
The address of the owner as shown on the records of the
State Division of Motor Vehicles shall be deemed sufficient for the purpose
of this chapter.
B.
Sale of impounded vehicles. Whenever any motor vehicle,
junk automobile or junk automobile body impounded by the Police Department
of the Township of Long Beach shall remain unclaimed by the owner or other
person having a legal right thereto for a period of 30 days, the same may
be sold at auction in a public place. The owner thereof or other person having
a legal right thereto shall be given notice of such sale by certified mail
to the owner, if his name and address are known, and to the holder of any
security interest filed with the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles
and by publication in a form to be prescribed by the Director of Motor Vehicles
by one insertion, at least five days before the date of the sale, in one or
more newspapers circulated in the Borough of Barnegat Light.
At any time prior to the sale, the owner or other person entitled thereto
may reclaim possession of the motor vehicle, junk automobile or junk automobile
body upon payment of the reasonable costs of removal and storage of the vehicle
and any fine or penalty and court costs assessed against him for violation
which gave rise to the seizure or taking possession of such vehicle.
Upon the sale of a motor vehicle, junk automobile or junk automobile
body pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, all claims of interest therein
shall be forever barred, and the proceeds realized therefrom, after payment
of the expenses of possession and sale, shall be remitted to the treasury
of the Borough of Barnegat Light as its sole property.
A.
Any person who violates the provisions of this chapter
shall, in addition to such other penalties as may be prescribed, pay all costs
of removal, impoundment and sale not paid for out of the proceeds of the sale
mentioned above, and in the event that the violator is a property owner as
hereinabove defined, said costs and such other fines and penalties as may
be levied in accordance with this chapter shall become a lien upon his property
in accordance with law and shall be collected in the manner ascribed and established
for the collection of liens.
C.
Each and every day in which a violation of any of the
provisions of this chapter exists shall constitute a separate violation.
D.
A continuance of a violation or noncompliance with the
provisions of this chapter shall be deemed a nuisance, and the Borough of
Barnegat Light shall have the right to apply to the courts of this state for
injunctive relief or other relief in addition to the penalties provided for
herein.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the borough or
any officer or agent thereof or any other person from pursuing any other remedy
which it may have to prevent or abate a violation of any provision of this
chapter.
