[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Tobyhanna 12-15-1997 by Ord. No. 391. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Nuisances — See Ch. 95.
Solid waste — See Ch. 119.
Zoning — See Ch. 155.
A. 
The following terms shall have the following meanings in this chapter:
JUNK
Any discarded material or article such as is not ordinarily disposed of as rubbish or refuse, and shall include but not be limited to scrap metal, machinery, implements and abandoned, discarded or unused objects such as furniture, stoves, refrigerators, freezers, cans or containers, and shall not include any garbage or other organic waste, or any paper, rubbish, rags or other flammable articles or materials.
JUNK DEALER
Any person, as hereinafter defined, who shall engage in the business of selling, buying, salvaging, dealing or storing junk.
JUNKYARD
Any premises used for the storage or keeping of junk, as hereinabove defined, and shall specifically include any premises where three or more scrap motor vehicles are kept or stored.
PERSON
Any natural person, partnership, firm, association or corporation.
SCRAP MOTOR VEHICLES
Unregistered, unlicensed or abandoned automobiles, trucks, trailers, motorcycles, buses, farm machinery, or other motor vehicles which are partially dismantled, or wrecked or junked, or held or stored for scrap or for salvage. The words "scrap motor vehicles" shall not mean any motor vehicle classified as an antique motor vehicle by the Motor Vehicle Code of the State of Pennsylvania;[1] said classification consisting of any self-propelled vehicle, but not a reproduction thereof, owned and operated as an exhibition piece or collector's item, provided that such vehicle shall have noted on its registration record the fact that it is such a special-purpose vehicle, or any self-propelled vehicle manufactured more than 25 years prior to the current year, which is used for participation in club activities, exhibits, tours, parades, occasional transportation and similar uses, but is not used for general daily transportation.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 101 et seq.
B. 
In this chapter, the singular shall include the plural, and the masculine shall include the feminine and the neuter.
The unsheltered storage of scrap motor vehicles, one or more in number, and junk, as herein defined, for a period of 10 days or more, except in licensed junkyards, within Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, is hereby declared to be a nuisance, a health hazard and dangerous to the public safety.
The owner, lessee, tenant, occupant or otherwise in charge of or in control of real premises within Tobyhanna Township upon which is stored one or more scrapped motor vehicles and junk, as herein defined, and also the owner, owners and/or lessees of said scrapped motor vehicles and/or junk involved in such storage (all of whom are hereinafter referred to collectively as "owners"), shall jointly and severally abate said nuisance by the prompt removal of said material into completely enclosed buildings to be used for such storage purposes, if within Tobyhanna Township, or otherwise to remove it to a location without said Tobyhanna Township, unless such person be licensed as a junk dealer under the provisions of this chapter. The enclosed buildings required by this chapter to store scrapped motor vehicles and junk, as herein defined, shall be permanent structures. The use of temporary structures or any conveyance, including, without limitation, tractor trailers or campers, to store scrapped motor vehicles and junk, as herein defined, is strictly prohibited.
No person shall maintain a junkyard in the Township of Tobyhanna without first having obtained a license from the Township Supervisors, for which license the fee shall be as set from time to time by resolution of the Board of Supervisors for each and every calendar year, said fee to be for the use of the township. Such license shall be renewed annually on or before the first day of January of each year; provided, however, that in any case where a junkyard shall be established in the township on or after the first day of July in any year, the license fee payable by such junkyard dealer for the remainder of such year shall be 1/2 the yearly rate.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
The license provided for a junkyard shall be issued by the township after application shall have been made therefor by the person or persons desiring to be licensed. Such license shall state the name of the person to whom such license is issued and the premises on which such junkyard is to be maintained. Such license shall be posted conspicuously on the premises licensed thereunder. The name of the licensed junk dealer and the number of the license under which he operates shall be placed in a conspicuous place on the outside of every motor vehicle used for collection and/or business purposes by such dealer.
No person licensed under this chapter shall, by virtue of any one license, keep more than one place of business within the Township of Tobyhanna or maintain more than one junkyard within the Township of Tobyhanna; nor shall any such person engage in business as a junk dealer in any place other than the place designated upon his license; nor shall any junkyard be maintained in any place in the township other than the place designated upon the license; nor shall any such person, or any other person, operate upon any of the streets or roads of the township, whether from a vehicle or upon foot, as a scavenger or an itinerant buyer or seller of junk.
No license issued under this chapter shall be transferable from one person to another person except when the ownership of a licensed premises shall change. In any such case, the new owner shall apply for a transfer of such license to him and shall pay a transfer fee as set from time to time by resolution of the Board of Supervisors.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
Every junk dealer licensed under this chapter shall constantly maintain the junkyard in the manner prescribed by this section as follows:
A. 
Such premises shall, at all times, be maintained so as not to constitute a nuisance or a menace to the health of the community or of residents nearby or a place for the breeding of rodents, insects and vermin.
B. 
No garbage or other organic waste and no paper, rubbish, rags or other flammable articles or materials shall be stored in such premises.
C. 
Whenever any motor vehicle shall be received in such premises as junk, all gasoline and oil shall be drained and removed therefrom, and none shall be permitted to remain upon the premises.
D. 
The manner of storage and arrangement of junk, and the drainage facilities of the premises, shall be such as to prevent the accumulation of stagnant water upon the premises and to facilitate access for fire-fighting purposes.
E. 
No junkyard shall be established in any area of the township without the approval of the Board of Supervisors, and no junkyard shall be less than two acres in area nor shall any junkyard exceed five acres in area.
F. 
No junkyard shall be established in Tobyhanna Township unless said junkyard is excluded from the view of the general or traveling public in said township by one of the following means: a neat-appearing closed-board or a closed-metal fence; or a neat-appearing row of trees, shrubs, foliage or other natural growth located and of sufficient height to exclude the view of the general or traveling public; provided, however, that any such fence or row of trees, shrubs, foliage or other natural growth adjoining a township road shall be located not less than 10 feet from the edge of the township right-of-way. For purposes of this section, the words "sufficient height" shall be defined as not less than six feet in height.
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought in the name of the township before a District Justice in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $1,000 and costs of prosecution and, in default of such payments, shall be sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 90 days, provided that each day's violation of any of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a separate offense.
In addition to any of the remedies provided above, any continual violations of this chapter shall be considered a nuisance and the Township Board of Supervisors may seek to abate said nuisance by instituting appropriate legal proceedings. Whenever any person shall fail to abate any nuisance as set forth in this chapter, the township may remove said junk and/or scrap motor vehicles to a location of its selection, the expenses therefor to be payable by said person, whether the owner of the premises or of the junk or scrap motor vehicles, and said costs to be recoverable by the township in a suit at law.