Ordinance 7-2000
Nuisances Ordinance
SECTION 1: DEFINITIONS: For the purposes of this Ordinance, the following terms, phrases, words, and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number, and the word “shall” is always mandatory and not merely directory.
H. Shopping Cart is any push cart of the type or types which are commonly provided by grocery stores, drug stores, department stores, home improvements centers, or other retail mercantile establishments for the use of the public in transporting commodities in stores and markets, and, incidentally, from the stores to a place outside the store but on the same property as the store.
Section 2: NUISANCES DECLARED ILLEGAL AND PROHIBITED:
Nuisances, including, but not limited to, the following are hereby declared to be illegal and are prohibited:
L. The uncontrolled use of shopping carts, including but not limited to the following:
1. Failure on the part of a store owner offering the use of shopping carts as part of customer service to retrieve shopping carts that have been taken off-site within twenty-four (24) hours of being alerted to the presence of the off-site shopping cart.
2. Failure on the part of a store owner offering the use of shopping carts as a part of customer service to corral shopping carts at a frequency sufficient to prevent the carts being taken off-site.
3. Failure on the part of a store owner offering the use of shopping carts as a part of customer service to corral shopping carts at a frequency sufficient to prevent a limitation in available parking or a decrease in safe internal traffic circulation.
4. Removal of a shopping cart from the premises of any store without the expressed written consent of the cart owner.
5. Failure of any real private property owner to return a shopping cart left on that owner’s property or failure to contact the owner of the shopping cart and make the owner aware that a shopping cart has been taken off-site.
SECTION 3: WRITTEN NOTICE TO VIOLATORS REQUIRED:
Whenever a condition constituting a nuisance is created or maintained, the Board of Supervisors shall cause written notice to be served upon the owner in one of the following manners:
A. By making personal delivery of the notice to the owner;
B. By handing a copy of the notice, at the residence of the owner, to an adult member of the family with which the person resides, but if no adult member of the family is found, then to an adult person in charge of such residence;
C. By fixing a copy of the notice to the door at the entrance of the premises in violation;
D. By mailing a copy of the notice to the last known address of the owner by certified mail;
E. By publishing a copy of the notice in a local newspaper of general circulation within Monroe County, Pennsylvania, once a week for three (3) successive weeks.
Such notice shall set forth in what respect such condition constitutes a nuisance, whether removal is necessary and required by the Township, or whether the situation can be corrected by repairs, alterations, or by fencing or boarding, or in some way confining and limiting the nuisance. Such notice shall require the owner to commence action in accordance with the terms thereof within twenty (20) days, and thereafter to comply fully with reasonable dispatch, with all material to be supplied and work to be done at the owner’s expense; provided, however, if any provision of Section 2(F), (I), (J), or (K) is violated, and if the circumstances require immediate corrective measures, such notice shall require the owner to immediately comply with the terms thereof.
SECTION 4: PENALTY FOR VIOLATION: If the owner, after receiving due notice, refuses to comply with the terms thereof:
A. The owner shall be guilty of a violation of this ordinance, and shall, upon summary conviction thereof, pay a fine of not more than One Thousand ($1,000.00) Dollars and the costs of prosecution, including but not limited to attorney’s fees, engineering fees, and court costs, and, in default of payment of such fine and costs of prosecution, to undergo imprisonment of not more than ten (10) days, provided further, that each day’s continuance of a violation shall constitute a separate offense.
B. The Board of Supervisors may direct the removal, repair, or alteration, as the case may be, to be done by the Township and to certify the costs thereof to the Township Solicitor. The cost of such removal, repairs or alterations shall be a lien upon such premises from the time of such removal, cutting, repairs and alterations, which date shall be determined by the certificate of the person doing such work, and filed with the Township Secretary, and which claim shall be filed against the owner of the subject premises in the manner allowed by law for the filing of a municipal lien.
C. The Township, by means of a complaint in equity, may compel the owner of the premises to comply with the terms of any notice of violation, or seek any such other relief as any such court of competent jurisdiction is empowered to afford.
SECTION 5: SEVERABILITY: If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed a separate, distinct and independent provision, and such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions thereof.
SECTION 6: REPEALER: Ordinance Nos. 70 and 204, and all amendments thereto, are hereby expressly repealed. All other ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent with the provisions hereof are hereby repealed or rescinded.
Springfield (Delaware County)
Springfield (Delaware County), PA
Chapter 115: SHOPPING CARTS
[HISTORY: Adopted by Board of Commissioners of the Township of Springfield 9-14-1971 by Ord. No. 861. Amendments noted where applicable.]
§ 115-1. Identification tag required.
It shall be unlawful for any owner, operator or manager of any store, shop, market or supermarket to have on the premises where such store, shop, market or supermarket is located, or to supply to any patron or customer of such store, shop, market or supermarket, any shopping cart, without having securely attached thereto a metal tag of identification, setting forth the name of the store and its location.
§ 115-2. Carts prohibited in certain areas.
It shall be unlawful for any owner, operator or manager of any store, shop, market or supermarket to permit any shopping cart supplied by such store, shop, market or supermarket to remain on any sidewalk, street, highway, parking lot open to the public or municipal property, or on any grass or planting area of any shopping center within the Township of Springfield except as provided in § 115-3 hereof.
§ 115-3. Carts permitted under certain conditions.
Where the exit of any store, shop, market or supermarket is immediately adjacent to any location prohibited to shopping carts by § 115-2 hereof, the Board of Commissioners may, when it deems vehicular and pedestrian traffic will not be obstructed there, permit shopping carts to be and remain in a physically restricted area adjacent to said exit.
§ 115-4. Store owner responsible.
The presence of any such shopping cart on any location prohibited in § 115-2 hereof shall be presumed to be with the knowledge and consent of the owner, operator or manager of the said store, shop, market or supermarket.
§ 115-5. Removal of unattended carts.
Any unattended shopping cart found on any location prohibited in § 115-2 hereof is hereby declared to be a nuisance, and the police of the Township of Springfield are hereby authorized and directed to remove the same and store such shopping cart with the Township of Springfield Police Department.
§ 115-6. Violations and penalties. Any owner, operator or manager of any store, shop, market or supermarket violating the provisions of this ordinance shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of $10 for each violation, together with costs of prosecution, and, in default of the payment thereof, to undergo imprisonment for not more than five days.
§ 115-7. Fee for return of carts; disposal.
Any shopping cart removed to the Police Department under § 115-5 hereof may be returned to the owner thereof, upon payment to the Township Secretary, for the use of the township, the sum of $10. If any shopping cart is not reclaimed and paid for within 15 days, the township may dispose of it without further notice.
§ 115-8. Effective date.
This ordinance shall become effective November 15, 1971.
§ 115-9. Removal from stores and adjacent sidewalks. [Added 7-11-1972 by Ord. No. 869 Editor’s Note: Ord. No. 869 provided that former § 115-9 be renumbered as 115-11. ]
It shall be unlawful for any person to remove any shopping cart from the building and immediately adjacent sidewalk of any store, shop, market or supermarket, except that such shopping cart may be taken directly from said premises to a physically restricted area which has been set aside for storage of such shopping carts with the permission of the Board of Commissioners as provided in § 115-3 hereof.
§ 115-10. Penalty. [Added 7-11-1972 by Ord. No. 869]
A. Any person violating the provisions of § 115-9 of this ordinance shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of $10, together with costs of prosecution, and, in default of payment thereof, to undergo imprisonment for not more than five days.
B. Violation of § 115-9 hereof by any person shall not relieve the owner, operator or manager of said store, shop, market or supermarket from liability for violation of other sections of this ordinance.
