[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of Federalsburg 10-1-2001 by Ord. No. 01-12. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Public nuisance property — See Ch. 155.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CHIEF
The Chief of Police of the Town of Federalsburg or his/her designee, which shall be a law enforcement officer within the Federalsburg Police Department.
OFFICIAL
Such employee of the Town of Federalsburg, as the Mayor and Council deem shall be responsible for enforcing this chapter.
PUBLIC NUISANCE
The use of a public pay telephone on a regular basis which the Chief has reasonable cause to believe is or will be, due to prior history, a threat to public health, safety, and welfare and/or is in furtherance of unlawful activity.
PUBLIC PAY TELEPHONE
A telephone and associated equipment, from which calls can be paid for at the time they are made by a coin, calling card, credit card, prepaid debit card or in any other manner which is available for use by the public.
In addition to any other permits that may be required, no public pay telephone shall be installed, operated, or maintained on, over or under any property in the Town of Federalsburg without first obtaining an operation and maintenance permit therefor. The operation and maintenance permit shall be effective as of the date the permit is issued by the Official.
A. 
The Official may issue and renew operation and maintenance permits under this chapter based upon determination, at his or her discretion, that issuance or renewal of such permit would be in the best interest of the Town, provided that no permit shall be issued or renewed for the installation, operation or maintenance of a public pay telephone at any location where it will unreasonably interfere with the use of a street by the public, or where it is a public nuisance. In making these determinations, the Official shall rely upon the following recommendations and approvals, and shall not issue or renew a permit until all of the applicable requirements set forth below have been met:
(1) 
The owner of the public pay telephone must first give notice of the intention to apply for a permit to locate a public pay telephone, in writing, to all owners of property that is located within 175 feet on both sides of the street of the proposed public pay telephone location, as preinspected by the Official or his designee and approved for compliance with the siting requirements set forth in this chapter.
(2) 
The Official shall forward a copy of the documentation that the item in Subsection A(1) has been complied with and a copy of any request to site a public pay telephone to the Town Clerk within five days of receipt of said documents. No later than five days after receipt of the documentation from the Official, the Town Clerk shall issue a "Notice of Request to Site a Public Pay Telephone" in area newspapers, with a copy of said notice forwarded to the members of the Town Council, with such notice providing any person that would be aggrieved by the issuance of the permit the opportunity to file written comments with the Town Clerk. Any written comments received by the Town Clerk, as well as any complaints about a request to grant, renew or transfer a public pay telephone permit that has been submitted to the Police Department, shall be forwarded to the Official for consideration as to whether or not the request of the telephone provider should be granted. If the Official has not granted the request within 120 days from the date the notice is published, the request shall be deemed to be denied. All costs will be borne by the person requesting the permit.
(3) 
The owner of the public pay telephone must obtain approval of the location site from the Police Chief as to whether the proposed location is a public nuisance;
(4) 
No permit shall be issued until the owner submits a final specific site plan to the Official for his review and approval; and
(5) 
A permit may be conditioned upon the limitation of the type of public pay telephone service.
B. 
The requirements of this section shall not apply to requests for renewal or transfer of an existing operation and maintenance permit.
A. 
An operation and maintenance permit for a public pay telephone shall continue in effect for the term set forth in the permit, unless:
(1) 
As a result of changed conditions, the public pay telephone unreasonably interferes or will unreasonably interfere with the use of a street or the use of property abutting the public pay telephone location by the public, or it constitutes a public nuisance;
(2) 
Removal of the pay telephone is required in connection with a street widening or other capital project in which event the permit shall, upon notice, immediately lapse without compensation.
(3) 
The owner is in breach of any of the terms of the permit.
(4) 
The owner fails to notify the Town of a change of address, or current telephone number where they may be contacted, or the name of the contact person.
B. 
The owner shall restore the sidewalk when the public pay telephone is removed. In the event the owner fails to remove the public pay telephone within the time period specified, the Official may remove or cause the removal of the public pay telephone and have repair and restoration work performed at the expense of the owner, which expenses shall be a lien against the real property of owner, collectible in the same manner in which real estate taxes are collected.
C. 
The Chief or Official may find that a public pay telephone constitutes a public nuisance. The Chief shall give written notification to the Official who shall order its removal. The Official shall give the public pay telephone provider a minimum of 72 hours' notice by mail of the Town's intent to remove the public pay telephone and bill the provider for the cost of removal unless the provider has removed the public pay telephone within that time frame at the provider's cost. Notice shall be deemed complete upon mailing.
D. 
The Chief at his/her discretion, at any time, has the option to order the type of telephone services limited instead of ordering the removal of the telephone and in that instance shall notify the Official to amend the operation and maintenance permit accordingly.
[Amended 4-1-2002 by Ord. 02-009[1]]
A one-time fee of $50 pursuant to this chapter shall be charged to compensate the Town for the administrative expense of issuing or renewing a permit and the expense of inspections and other activities related thereto. Also pursuant to this chapter the one-time fee of $50 will be waived for all existing public pay phones, existing as of October 1, 2002.
[1]
This ordinance provided that: "The Mayor and Council of Federalsburg finds that the Police Department recommends the fee should be waived for all existing outside pay phones and that the ordinance shall only pertain to outside public pay phones and not public pay phones inside of a building."
No permit issued under this chapter shall be transferred. All new owners must apply for a new permit at a cost of $50 per telephone.
A. 
Pedestrian passage. Sidewalk clearance must be maintained so as to insure a free unobstructed pedestrian passage of a minimum of five feet or 1/2 the width of the sidewalk, whichever is greater;
B. 
Crosswalks and sight lines. A public pay telephone installation shall not obstruct nor interfere in any manner with curb cuts or crosswalks and shall not be installed outside the boundaries of the sight triangle at intersections so as not to interfere with free unobstructed passage and unobstructed lines of sight for vehicular traffic and traffic signs;
C. 
Fire escapes and Building Code. A public pay telephone may not be located where it will interfere with the normal operations of a fire escape nor where it will obstruct or impede free means of egress required by the Building Code,[1] and it must be located a minimum of five feet in every direction from the entrances and exits of a building;
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 27, Building Construction, Art. II.
D. 
Underground vaults and sewers. A public pay telephone shall not be installed in such a manner so as to affect the structural integrity of an underground vault or sewer; and
E. 
Required distance from other public pay telephones. A pedestal or other structure that holds a public pay telephone shall be located at least 150 feet from any other such pedestal or structure on any one block and adjacent corner quadrant. The 150 feet is a minimum distance.
This chapter shall be applicable to public pay telephones installed prior to, as well as subsequent to, the date of the adoption of this chapter.
If the Chief or Official deem a site to be a public nuisance or that the use of a public pay telephone at a location unreasonably interferes or will unreasonably interfere with the use of a street or sidewalk or other public right-of-way, and a public pay telephone is removed from said location or a request for a permit at that location has been denied after the effective date of this section, the public pay telephone provider who has entered into a contract with the Town may request a reconsideration of this removal or denial, and a determination as to whether or not the site has been or can be rehabilitated to eliminate such public nuisance or interference by filing a written request with the Town Clerk, and the telephone provider shall provide notice of the request to area property owners in accordance with the requirements set forth in § 211-3. Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing the Town after the effective date of the enactment of this section from requesting a determination of the rehabilitation of a site. Within 30 days after receipt of this request, the Chief or Official shall reinvestigate the site location and issue a written report. If the Chief or Official determines after such reinvestigation that the site location has been rehabilitated and that a public pay telephone may be returned to, or sited at, such location, the public pay telephone provider shall file a new permit application and fee with the Official. The Chief or Official shall provide a copy of the written report to the telephone provider who requested a reconsideration, and to property owners who are required to receive notice pursuant to § 211-3 by issuing a notice of determination.
Any property owner who is required to receive notice pursuant to § 211-3 above, public pay telephone provider with a current contract with the Town, or other person aggrieved by the imposition of any fine or penalty, or any determination of the Chief or Official made after the effective date of this section, to grant or deny a permit to site a public pay telephone, or grant or deny a request to transfer or renew a permit to or for a public pay telephone provider who has a current contract with the Town, or to remove or not to remove a public pay telephone due to public nuisance may file an appeal and request for a hearing with the Town Clerk within 30 days of the issuance of a notice of denial, removal or determination. The hearing shall be conducted by the Board of Appeals. For the purposes of this chapter, the Board of Appeals shall be the Board of Appeals established in Chapter 245, Zoning. A notice of hearing shall be sent to all interested persons pursuant to § 211-3.
A. 
Any owner who installs, operates or maintains a public pay telephone on, over or under any street or other inalienable property of the Town without a permit therefor shall be guilty of a municipal infraction and shall be subject to the fines as provided in Chapter 1, Article I, per day per public pay telephone. Any violation of any part of this chapter shall be considered a separate offense for which the Town shall impose the fine per violation, per day per public pay telephone.
B. 
The Official may also order the removal of a public pay telephone which is in violation of this chapter. If the owner fails to remove the public pay telephone within 15 days after the order, the Official may do so. The Official shall store the public pay telephone and, if the owner does not recover the public pay telephone within 30 days, the Official may dispose of it in a reasonably commercial manner. The owner shall be responsible for direct costs, storage costs and remediation costs, which costs shall be a lien against the real property of the owner, collectible in the same manner in which real estate taxes are collected.
C. 
The owner shall keep the public pay telephone free of graffiti and keep the public pay phone and the area of a two-foot radius around the public pay telephone free of trash and of snow and ice. A public pay telephone provider that has an operation and maintenance permit from the Town shall have five days from the date it receives a notice of violation for failure to maintain the public pay telephone in accordance with this section to cure the violation before monetary penalties are imposed in accordance with this section.