[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Borough
Council of the Borough of Berlin as indicated in article histories.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Storage of flammable liquids — See Ch.
162, Art. I.
Zoning requirements — See Ch.
335.
[Adopted 6-17-1968 by Ord. No. 68-3 as Ch. 41, Art. I, of the 1968 Code]
The following words and phrases and their derivatives,
when used in this article, shall have the meanings hereafter attributed
to them:
BOROUGH
The Borough of Berlin, in the County of Camden and State
of New Jersey.
GASOLINE SERVICE STATION
Includes all buildings, structures, premises, enclosures
or other places where a container or containers, tank or tanks, whether
portable or stationary, containing gasoline, motor fuel or motor oils,
or any of them, are kept and located for the purpose of selling or
offering for sale any such liquids from such container or containers,
tank or tanks, by means of pumps or otherwise.
LICENSED
Licensed in accordance with the provisions of this article.
PERSON
Includes the plural as well as the singular of any individual,
copartnership, association, corporation or joint-stock company, their
lessees, assignees, trustees, receivers or personal representatives
appointed by any court whatsoever or otherwise.
PUBLIC GARAGE
Includes any building or structure of permanent construction
erected upon land and permanently affixed thereto, used principally
for the storage and/or repair of motor vehicles and having sufficient
capacity for five or more such motor vehicles and offering such storage
facilities to the general public or any member thereof for hire at
fixed or regular fees.
STREETS and HIGHWAYS
Includes any street, avenue, park, public highway or any
public place or any part thereof, including the sidewalk area adjacent
to any of them.
From and after the effective date of this article,
no person shall install, construct, maintain, conduct, operate or
carry on the business of a gasoline service station as defined in
and by this article without first having obtained a license therefor
pursuant to the provisions hereof.
All applications for licenses under the terms
of this article shall be in writing, shall be filed with the Borough
Clerk and shall contain and accurately specify:
A. The name and address of the applicant.
B. The position and size of the lot to be used for the
purposes specified in this article, and the number of square feet
of area to be occupied therefor.
C. A map showing the location of the gasoline service
station, its tanks, buildings and appurtenances in relation to the
property upon which the service station is presently operated and
maintained or is proposed to be constructed, installed, operated and
maintained, and in relation to the adjoining property and public streets.
D. The written consent of the owner or owners of the
land whereon such station is presently operated and maintained or
is proposed to be constructed, erected, operated and maintained.
E. The type and construction of the tank or tanks and
the material of which the tank or tanks are constructed or are proposed
to be constructed.
F. The minimum depth of the top of the tank or tanks
below the ground wherein the same are placed or are to be placed.
G. The method of extracting the liquids from said tank
or tanks.
H. The dimensions of any building or buildings erected
or to be erected thereon, and the material (in relation to fireproof
qualities) used or to be used in erecting the same.
Each applicant for a license shall supply the
information required by the terms of this article and shall verify
the correctness thereof by his oath or affirmation, and file the completed
application as herein provided, together with the full amount of the
proper fee fixed in and by the terms of this article, at least one
week before said application shall be presented to the Mayor and Borough
Council of the Borough for action thereon.
Upon receipt of such application, the same shall
be referred to the Police Department, the Building Inspector and the
Zoning Officer of the Borough for investigation and report, which
reports shall be made to the Mayor and Borough Council as herein provided.
The Mayor and Borough Council shall thereupon determine the advisability
of granting any such permit and shall authorize or deny the same by
resolution.
[Amended 4-20-1970 by Ord. No. 70-2]
The annual fee for each license issued or renewal
thereof under the terms of this article shall be $50 for each year
for which the license shall be so issued or renewed, except that where
any such license shall be issued on or after July 1 in any calendar
year, the license fee shall, in such event, be $20. No part of such
fee shall be refunded for any reason except upon the denial of an
application for the issuance or renewal of a license by the Mayor
and Borough Council of the Borough, in which event the entire license
fee so deposited be returned to the applicant.
Any and all licenses issued pursuant to the
terms of this article shall expire at 12:00 midnight the 31st day
of December of the year for which the same shall be issued, unless
sooner surrendered, suspended or revoked. Each and all such licenses
shall be issued by the Borough Clerk pursuant to a resolution of the
Mayor and Borough Council of the Borough.
No license issued under the provisions of this
article shall authorize the maintenance and/or operation of a gasoline
service station at any but the location specified therein.
[Amended 12-14-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-15]
No license shall be issued if any part of the
principal building of such gasoline station is to be installed, constructed,
maintained and/or operated within a radius of 300 feet of the nearest
part of any building constituting a public or private school, a hospital,
a place of worship, a theater (motion picture or otherwise), a post
office building, a municipal hall or other place of public assemblage,
or any of them.
The following restrictions shall be observed
in reviewing applications for licenses hereunder, which shall be granted
conditioned upon the observance by the applicant of them:
A. Driveways into the plot on which the station is to
be maintained shall possess a maximum width of 30 feet.
B. Adjacent building lines shall be approached not nearer
than 10 feet by any driveway.
C. No driveway shall approach nearer than 10 feet to
an intersecting corner of public streets.
D. A minimum distance of 15 feet shall separate driveways
in order to afford space for a pedestrian's island.
E. Any construction shall comply with the area and bulk
conditions set forth in the revised Zoning Ordinance of the Borough
of Berlin, New Jersey, 1966, relating to C-1 Central Commercial District or C-2 Highway
Commercial District, whichever shall be applicable to the site, and
to any and all other terms, conditions and restrictions of said Zoning
Ordinance applicable thereto.
No gasoline service station shall hereafter
be installed, constructed, maintained and/or operated on the curb
of any street in the Borough. Any further construction in respect
of a gasoline service station actually constructed, maintained and/or
operated on the effective date of this article, involving the installation
of containers, tanks or pumps, shall be at such distance from the
curb of the street as to require any person procuring gasoline or
oil from said containers, tanks or gasoline service station to leave
the street and enter upon the property where the gasoline service
station is located. No license for a gasoline service station shall
hereafter be issued unless all pumps and service appliances are placed
a sufficient distance from any street line so as to prevent a motor
vehicle receiving service from being on a sidewalk or any part thereof.
[Added 6-4-1990 by Ord. No. 90-12]
Each and every vehicle delivering either gasoline,
kerosene, gasohol, diesel fuel or any other type of petroleum product
to a gasoline service station within the Borough of Berlin shall secure
its rear wheels with wheel chocks during the entire time that the
product is being pumped from the vehicle into the in-ground or aboveground
tank. Wheel chocks shall be supplied by the owner of each gasoline
service station and shall be maintained at each gasoline service station
for use by vehicles delivering the products referred to in this section.
[Added 6-4-1990 by Ord. No. 90-12]
Any and all vehicles delivering gasoline, kerosene,
gasohol, diesel fuel, oil or any other type of petroleum product to
a gasoline service station in the Borough of Berlin shall be parked
during the time of delivery in such a manner to ensure that the entire
vehicle is within the property lines of the gasoline service station.
Vehicles delivering the supplies referred to herein are specifically
prohibited from parking their vehicles during delivery so that any
portion of the vehicle extends over the sidewalk, abutting curb or
property line.
No license shall be issued hereunder for a gasoline
service station having location thereon any frame building or any
building wholly or partially used for dwelling purposes.
No license shall be issued under the terms of
this article for the installation, construction, management and/or
operation of a gasoline service station to be situate in or on any
lot or parcel of land located in the residential zone of the Borough
as defined in the Zoning Ordinance of the Borough and the supplements thereto and amendments
thereof.
No license issued under the terms of this article
shall be transferred or assigned except with the consent in writing
of the Mayor and Borough Council of the Borough first had and obtained.
The Mayor and Borough Council of the Borough
may, in its discretion, refuse to issue or renew any such license
or may, after notice and hearing, revoke or suspend any such license
for the violation of any of the terms of this article or of any statute
of the State of New Jersey or of any regulation of any agency of the
State of New Jersey applicable to the business referred to.
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions
of this article, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine not
exceeding $200 or imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding
30 days, in the discretion of the Judge by whom such person shall
be convicted.
The terms and provisions of this article shall
not be construed or held to apply to any lot or parcel of land occupied
by a public garage as herein defined; provided that this section shall
not be construed to exempt any premises adjacent to any such public
garage from all of the terms and provisions of this article.
[Adopted 6-17-1968 by Ord. No. 68-3 as Ch. 41, Art. II of the 1968 Code; amended in its entirety
12-19-1977 by Ord. No. 77-18]
The establishment and maintenance of gasoline
filling stations on the White Horse Pike (U.S. 30) bounded by Elm
Avenue on the north and Marshall Avenue on the south is restricted
to those seven presently established and being maintained in the described
area. In the event that any of those seven gasoline filling stations
do not continue service to the public for any one twelve-month period,
the maintenance portion of this article shall be considered breached,
and the number of gasoline filling stations permitted in this restricted
area shall be reduced by that number.