VILLAGE OF ORISKANY FALLS
LOCAL LAW #2 OF 1999 “JUNK CAR LAW”
ADOPTED: FEBRUARY 16, 1999
I.
Purpose.
This
local law is enacted in recognition of the fact that junk cars abandoned or
stored on private property can constitute both a public and private
nuisance. They, amongst other sources of
potential injuries, are a source of potential injury to children and others who
may deem them to be an attractive nuisance; they are often times replete with
broken glass, sharp or torn metal edges and points, gasoline fumes, gasoline
remaining in tanks of a highly explosive and combustible nature and hurtful
acid in batteries. Junk cars constitute
blight on the Village's landscape; they destroy the aesthetic qualities of the
Village and they are generally otherwise unsightly. Their existence tends to depreciate not only
the property of other persons in the neighborhood but the Village
generally. They constitute in the
Village a less safe and less pleasant place in which to live and to do
business. The control of the storage of
junked motors vehicles outdoors on privately owned property, as well as
abandoned vehicles on privately owned property, is therefore, a necessity for
the preservation, safety and welfare of the community. The intent of this local law is to establish
a procedure for the control and timely removal of these junked and abandoned
motor vehicles, where they are found in the Village outside daily licensed
establishments.
Definitions.
ENFORCEMENT OFFICER:
The individual
designated by the Board of Trustees to investigate and commence action upon
violation of this law. Such individual
shall be the Codes Enforcement Officer of the Village, unless the Board of
Trustees, by resolution, designates some other additional officer.
JUNKED MOTOR VEHICLE:
a. Any motor vehicle that:
1. is unlicensed
and is not in condition for legal use on the public highway:
OR
2. is unlicensed
or licensed and is dismantled or partly dismantled: AND
(a) is being held or used for the purpose or
resale as a whole or as used parts therefrom, or for the purpose or reclaiming
for use some or all of the materials therein for the purpose or disposing of
the same: or
(b) is in such condition as to cost more to
repair and place in operating condition than its reasonable market value at
that time before such repair.
With respect to any motor vehicle not
required or required to be licensed, or motor vehicle not usually used on
public highways, the fact that such motor vehicle has remained unused for more than six (6) months, and is not in
condition to be removed under its own power, shall be presumptive evidence that
such motor vehicle is a "junked or abandoned motor vehicle". The fact that a
motor vehicle does not display a current registration sticker shall be
presumptive evidence that such motor
vehicle is unlicensed.
The use of the term in the singular
herein is intended, where applicable, to include the plural. A motor vehicle
not in compliance with Article 9 of the New York State Vehicle & Traffic
Law shall constitute presumptive evidence that a motor vehicle is not in
condition for legal use on the public highways.
OWNER OF MOTOR VEHICLE:
Any
person, firm, partnership or corporation having the primary interest in or
title to a motor vehicle, including a person entitled to the use and possession
of a vehicle subject to a security interest in another person, and also
including any lessee or bailee of a motor vehicle having the use thereof under
lease or otherwise.
OWNER OF PRIVATE PROPERTY:
Any person, firm, partnership or
corporation, whether business or membership, or religious, charitable or
otherwise, any purchaser, tenant, lessee, occupant, under-tenant, receiver or
assignee of private premises or private property, or any other unit or entity
owning real property, or any other property in the Village of Oriskany Falls.
PREMISES OR PROPERTY:
Includes all parcels or privately owned
real property located within the boundaries of the Village of Oriskany Falls,
whether occupied or vacant, irrespective of size or topography.
ABANDONED MOTOR VEHICLE:
The
same definition as that contained in Section 1224 of the Vehicle and Traffic
Law of the State of New York, as now or hereafter amended.
III. Outdoor
Storage on Private Property Prohibited.
It shall be unlawful for any
person within the Village of Oriskany Falls to store or deposit, or cause,
suffer or permit to be stored or deposited, a junked or abandoned motor
vehicle, or part or piece thereof, on any private property within the Village
of Oriskany Falls, without a license to do so, UNLESS:
a.
such motor vehicle is stored or deposited in a completely enclosed
building: or
b.
such motor vehicle is under
repair, reconstruction or refurbishing by the owners thereof, who must actually
be residing on the premises. Not more
than one (1) such motor vehicle shall be permitted at any one (1) time on any
premises. Such motor vehicle must be so maintained and protected as to not
create any safety hazard or nuisance to surrounding property owners, and shall
not remain on the premises more than 90 days, unless the owner thereof has
obtained an extension from the Village Board for good cause shown upon a
petition thereto.
c.
such motor vehicle is
temporarily stored on the premises of a duly authorized motor vehicle service
station, or a body repair shop within the Village.
IV. Removal
Procedure.
Any junked or abandoned motor vehicle,
as defined herein, shall be removed from the premises on which it is located by
the Village of Oriskany Falls in the manner hereinafter provided:
a. NOTICE
TO REMOVE:
The enforcement officer, upon detecting
an abandoned or junked motor vehicle, shall serve written notice on the person
owning the premises on which the same is located, ordering such person to
remove the same or cause the same to be removed therefrom, within ten (10) days
of the date of service of said notice.
Such notice shall be served personally, or upon a person of suitable age
and discretion residing upon the premises, and/or failing the above, by
registered mail to the owner's last know address as shown on the latest
complete assessment roll of the Village.
Such notice shall specify the vehicle to be removed and shall also
indicate the appeal procedure specified in "b" hereof. The current assessment roll shall be
presumptive evidence of the ownership of any parcel of land upon which junked
or abandoned vehicles are detected.
b. APPEAL
OF NOTICE:
The owner of any premises who receives
notice to remove "junked" or "abandoned" motor vehicles may
petition the Village Board of the Village of Oriskany Falls for a hearing. Such petition shall be filed with the Clerk
of the Village of Oriskany Falls within ten (10) days of the date when service
of the notice on the owner is
complete. The filing of such petition
shall stay removal proceedings, pending hearing and determination of the
petition by the Village Board, which shall notify the owner of the premises of
its decision in writing. If the decision
of the Village Board affirms the notice of the enforcement office, the owner of
the premises shall remove the designated vehicle(s) within five (5) days of the
date of such decision. The Village Board
shall also have the discretion to grant extensions for the removal of cited
vehicle(s) and/or may specify additional conditions under which said vehicle(s)
may be retained upon the premises.
c. In
the event said junked or abandoned motor vehicle(s) are not removed from the
premises within the time required in "a" or "b" above, the
Village or Oriskany Falls, or its agent, may enter upon the premises and remove
and dispose of the junked of abandoned motor vehicle(s). The expense of such removal and disposal
shall be a lawful charge against the owner and occupant of the premises, and
may be collected, if necessary, in a civil action instituted in the name of the
Village. It may also be charged to the
Village Tax for the appropriate year.
V. CRIMINAL
PENALTIES.
In
the event that any junked or abandoned motor vehicle(s) are not removed from
the premises within the time required in "4a" and "4b"
above, the owner of the premises shall be guilty of a violation and subject to
a fine not to exceed $100.00 for each seven (7) day period the junked or
abandoned vehicle(s) remains on the premises after the expiration of the time
required in "4a" and "4b".
Such fine shall be in addition to the civil costs set forth in
"4c" above.
VI. DISPOSITION
OF ABANDONED OR JUNKED MOTOR VEHICLES.
The
provision of Section 1224 of the Vehicles and Traffic Law of the State of New
York shall govern removal and disposition of abandoned motor vehicle(s).
VII SEVERABILITY.
The
invalidity of any clause, sentence, paragraph or provision of this local Law
shall not invalidate any other clause, sentence, paragraph or part
thereof.
VII. EFFECTIVE
DATE.
This
local law shall take effect immediately upon filing with the Secretary of
State.
This Local Law #2 of 1999 “Junk Car Law” supercedes all previous Junk Car
laws.
