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HomeMy WebLinkAboutO-353-7-81ORDINANCE NO. 353 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF ALLEN, COLLIN COUNTY, TEXAS, REPEALING ORDINANCE NOS. 80 AND 132 OF THE CITY OF ALLEN, TEXAS; PROVIDING AUTHORITY TO TAKE POSSESSION OF ABANDONED VEHICLES; PROVIDING FOR NOTICE TO OWNERS AND LIENHOLDERS; PROVIDING FOR AUCTION OF ABANDONED VEHICLES; PROVIDING FOR PERFECTION OF LIENS BY GARAGEBEEPERS ON ABANDONED VEHICLES; PROVIDING FOR DISPOSAL OF ABANDONED VEHICLES; DECLARING JUNKED VEHICLES A PUBLIC NUISANCE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A PENALTY; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Allen, Texas, believes it to be in the best interests of its citizens and residents to properly provide for the regulation of "abandoned" or "junked" motor vehicles or parts thereof, as those words and terms are hereinafter defined, within the City, which regulation the City Council finds and determines to be necessary to further the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Allen, Texas; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ALLEN, TEXAS:- SECTION EXAS SECTION 1. That from and after the effective date of this Ordinance, Ordinance Nos. 80 and 132 are hereby repealed. SECTION 2. (1) The City Council hereby finds and determines that abandoned or junked motor vehicles, as those words and terms are defined herein, which are located in any place where they are visible from a public place or public right-of-way are detrimental to the safety and welfare of the general public, tending to reduce the value of property, to invite vandalism, to create fire hazards, to constitute an attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors, and are detrimental to the economic welfare of the City of Allen, by producing urban blight which is adverse to the maintenance and continuing development of the City of Allen, and such vehicles are, therefore, declared to be a public nuisance. (2) This ordinance is adopted as an exercise of the police power of the City of Allen in order to further the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Allen, Ordinance No. 353 - Page 1 all of which the City Council finds and determines will be furthered by enactment hereof. SECTION 3. For the purpose of this Ordinance, the following words and phrases have the meanings as follows: (1) "Abandoned Motor Vehicle" - means a motor vehicle that is inoperable and over eight (8) years old and is left unattended on public property for more than forty- eight (48) hours, or a motor vehicle that has remained illegally on public property for a period of more than forty-eight (48) hours, or a motor vehicle that has remained on private property without the consent of the owner or person in control of the property for more than forty-eight (48) hours, or a motor vehicle left unattended on the rights-of- way of any designated city, county, state or federal highway within this State in excess of forty-eight (48) hours, or in excess of twelve (12) hours on any turnpike project constructed and maintained by the Texas Turnpike Authority. (2) "Demolisher" - means any person whose business is to convert a motor vehicle into processed scrap or scrap metal, or otherwise to wreck or dismantle motor vehicles. (3) "Garagekeeper" - means any owner or operator of a parking place or establishment, motor vehicle storage facility, or any establishment for the service, repair, or maintenance of motor vehicles. (4) "Junked Vehicle" - means any motor vehicle as defined in Section 1 of Article 827a, Vernon's Texas Penal Code, as amended, which is inoperative and does not have lawfully affixed thereto both an unexpired license plate or plates and a valid motor vehicle and safety inspection certificate and which is wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, or discarded. (5) "Storage Facility" - means a garage, parking lot, or any type of facility, or establishment for the servicing, repairing, storing, or parking of motor vehicles. (6) "Motor Vehicle" - means any motor vehicle subject to registration pursuant to the Texas Certificate of Title Act. (7) "Antique Auto" - means passenger cars or trucks that were manufactured in 1925 or before, or which become thirty-five (35) or more years old. (8) "Special Interest Vehicle" - means a motor vehicle of "any age' which has not been altered or modified from the original manufacturer's specifications and, because of s Ordinance No. 353 - Page 2 its historic interest, is being preserved by hobbyists. (9) "Collector" - means the owner of one or more antique or special interest vehicles who collects, purchases, acquires, trades, or disposes of special interest or antique vehicles or parts of them for his own use in order to restore, preserve, and maintain an antique or special interest vehicle for historic interest. (10) "Police Department" - means the Police Department of the City of Allen, Texas. SECTION 4. Authority to Take Possession of Abandoned Motor Vehicles: The Police Department is authorized to take into custody any abandoned motor vehicle found on public or private property. SECTION 5. Notification of Owner and Lienholders: The Police Department shall notify within ten (10) days, by certified mail, return receipt requested, the last known registered owner and all lienholders of record that it has taken into custody any abandoned motor vehicle under the provisions of this article. The notice shall be as prescribed by Vernon's Annotated Penal Code, Article 1436-3, as amended, for abandoned motor vehicles. The notice shall specifically state, in addition to the other requirements, that the failure of the owner or lienholders to exercise their right to reclaim the vehicle within the time provided shall be deemed a waiver by the owner and all lienholders of all right, title and interest in the vehicle and their consent to the sale of the abandoned motor vehicle at a public auction to be held by the City of Allen. SECTION 6. Auction of Abandoned Motor Vehicles: If an abandoned motor vehicle has not been reclaimed within twenty (20) days after the date of notice and payment of all towing, preservation and storage charges resulting from its impoundment, the Police Department shall sell the abandoned motor vehicle at a public auction. Proper notice of the public auction shall be given and, in the event a vehicle is to be sold in satisfaction of a Garagekeeper's Lien, the garagekeeper shall be notified of the time and place of such auction. Notice given in accordance with the requirements of this Code, or the giving of notice of the sale of other types of abandoned property, shall be sufficient to comply with the requirements of this section. The Police Department shall furnish a sales receipt for each vehicle to the purchaser Ordinance No. 353 - Page 3 thereof at the public auction. The proceeds shall be applied first to reimburse the Police Department for the expenses of the auction, costs of towing, preservation and storing the vehicle, and all notice and publication costs, and any remainder from the proceeds of the sale shall be held for the owner of the vehicle or entitled lienholder for ninety (90) days, and then shall be deposited in the Special Fund which shall remain available for the payment of auction, towing, preserving, storage and all notice and publications costs which result from placing other abandoned vehicles in custody, whenever the proceeds from a sale of such other abandoned motor vehicles are insufficient to meet these expenses and costs. SECTION 7. Garagekeepers and Abandoned Motor Vehicles: The Police Department, upon receipt of a report from a garagekeeper of the possession of a vehicle deemed abandoned under the provisions of this article, shall follow the notification procedures set forth herein for the giving of notice to owners and lienholders of abandoned vehicles, except that custody of the vehicle shall remain with the garagekeeper until after the notification requirements have been complied with. A motor vehicle left with a garagekeeper in a storage facility shall be deemed abandoned under the conditions of Article 1436-3, Texas Penal Code, as amended. A fee of $2.00 shall accompany the report of the garagekeeper and such fee shall be retained by the Police Department and used to defray the cost of notification or other costs incurred in the deposition of such vehicles, and such fee shall be deposited in the General Fund of the City. Abandoned vehicles left in storage facilities, which are not reclaimed after notice given in accordance with this article, shall be taken into custody by the Police Department and sold at auction, as in the cases of other abandoned motor vehicles. The proceeds of the sale shall first be applied to the garagekeeper's charges for servicing, storage and repair; provided, however, that the Police Department shall retain an amount of two percent (2%) of the gross proceeds of the sale for each vehicle auctioned, but in no event shall it retain less than Ten Dollars ($10.00), to be used to defray expenses of custody and auction. SECTION 8. Disposal to Demolishers: The Police Department is authorized to apply to the Texas Highway Department for authority to sell, give away, or dispose of any abandoned vehicle in its possession to a demolisher in accordance with the provisions of Article 1436-3, Texas Penal Code, as amended. SECTION 9. Junked Vehicles - Public Nuisance: Junked vehicles which are located Ordinance No. 353 - Page 4 in any place where they are visible from a public place or public right-of-way are detrimental to the safety and welfare of the general public, reduce the value of private property, invite vandalism, create fire hazards, constitute an attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors, and are detrimental to the economical welfare of the state, by producing urban blight which is adverse to the maintenance and continuing development of the City of Allen, and such vehicles are, therefore, declared to be a public nuisance. SECTION 10. Procedures for Abating Nuisance - Junked Vehicles: The Police Department, when desiring to remove and dispose of junked vehicles as public nuisances from private property, public property or public rights-of-way, shall comply with the following procedures: (1) A notice of not less than ten (10) days, stating the nature of the public nuisance on private property and that it must be removed and abated within ten (10) days, and further that a request for a hearing must be made before the expiration of said ten (10) day period, shall be mailed by certified mail with a five (5) day return requested to the owner or the occupant of the private premises whereupon such public nuisance exists. If the notice is returned undelivered by the United States Post Office, official action to abate said nuisance shall be continued to a date not less than ten (10) days from the date of such return. (2) The requirements of subparagraph (1) above shall also apply to the case of a public nuisance on public property or on a public right-of-way and such notice shall be sent to the owner or the occupant of the public premises, or to the owner or the occupant of the premises adjacent to the public right-of-way whereupon such public nuisance exists. (3) Once a vehicle has been removed under the provisions of this section, it shall not be reconstructed or made operable. (4) Where a hearing is requested by the owner or occupant of the public or private premises, or by the owner or occupant of the premises adjacent to the public right-of-way on which such a vehicle is located, within ten (10) days after service of notice to abate the nuisance, a hearing, prior to the removal of the vehicle or part thereof as a public nuisance, must be held before the Municipal Judge of the City of Allen. It shall be the responsibility of the City prosecuting attorney to prosecute the Ordinance No. 353 - Page 5 case on behalf of the Police Department and, should the Municipal Judge find that such vehicle is a public nuisance as defined herein, he shall enter an order requiring the removal of the vehicle or part thereof from the public or private property or public right-of-way where it is situated and such order shall include a description of the vehicle and the correct identification number and license number of the vehicle, if available at the site. (5) The Police Department shall give notice to the Texas Highway Department within five (5) days after the date of removal of the vehicle, identifying the vehicle or part thereof. (6) The procedure set' out in this section shall not apply to a vehicle or part thereof which is completely enclosed within a building in a lawful manner where it is not visible from the street or other public or private property, a vehicle or part thereof which is stored or parked in a lawful manner on private property in connection with the business of a licensed vehicle dealer or a junkyard, or to unlicensed, operable or inoperable antique and special interest vehicles stored by a collector on his property, provided that the vehicles and outdoor storage areas are maintained in such a manner that they do not constitute a health hazard and are screened from ordinary public view by means of a fence, rapidly growing trees, shrubbery, or other appropriate means. (7) The administration of the procedures of this section shall be carried out by regularly salaried, full-time employees of the City of Allen, except that the removal of vehicles or parts thereof from property may be accomplished by any other duly authorized person, including wrecker service operators approved by the City of Allen. SECTION 11. Disposal of Junked Vehicles: Junked vehicles or parts thereof may be disposed of by removal to a scrapyard, demolishers, or any suitable site operated by or for the City of Allen for processing as scrap or salvage. SECTION 12. Authority to Enforce: The administration of the provisions of this article shall be the responsibility of the City Manager or such department, officer, or employee of the City he may authorize. Whoever is so authorized may enter upon private property for the purposes specified in the procedures adopted in this article to examine vehicles or parts thereof, obtain information as to the identity of vehicles and to remove or cause the removal of a vehicle or parts thereof declared to be a nuisance pursuant to the Ordinance No. 353 - Page 6 procedures. The Municipal Court shall have authority to issue any order necessary to enforce the procedures set out in this article. Nothing in this article shall affect parking or other ordinances of the City of Allen which permit the immediate removal of a vehicle left upon public property or on public rights-of-way which vehicle constitutes obstruction of traffic. SECTION 13. Should any section, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or word of this ordinance be deemed invalid or void by a court of competent jurisdiction, such declaration shall not affect the remaining portions of this ordinance not so declared. SECTION 14. Any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction in the Municipal Court of the City of Allen shall be subject to a fine not to exceed the sum of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) for each offense, and each and every day such offense shall continue shall be deemed to constitute a separate offense. SECTION 15. The fact that the present ordinances of the City of Allen are inadequate to regulate abandoned and junked motor vehicles creates an urgency and an emergency in the preservation of the public health, safety and welfare, and requires that this ordinance take effect immediately from and after its passage, as the law and charter in such cases provide. DULY PASSED by the City Council of the City of Allen, Collin County, Texas, on the 16th day of. July , 1981. R X M. B. Pierson, Mayor ATTEST: Marty Hendrix, C y Secretary APPROVED AS TO FORM: Ordinance No. 353 - Page 7