For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ABANDONED VEHICLE. Any motor vehicle found abandoned for a period of 48 hours or more on a public highway or for a period of five days or more on a city street, public property, or private property.
ABATE. To put an end to or suppress.
ABATEMENT. The termination of a nuisance.
CITY. The City of Deer Lodge, Montana, a municipality.
DISMANTLED VEHICLE. Vehicles or trailers which have been taken apart, disassembled or torn down so that some part or parts which are ordinarily a component of such vehicle or trailer, have been removed.
DUE PROCESS OF LAW. Requires notice be given and a hearing held before property may be taken or impressed with a lien.
INOPERABLE VEHICLE. A vehicle that is unusable, not in working order or unable to perform its normal function.
JUNK VEHICLE. A discarded, ruined, wrecked, dismantled, unused or unusable vehicle, machinery or trailer, including component parts, that is not lawfully and validly licensed (as to a vehicle or trailer) and remains inoperative or incapable of being driven. The JUNK VEHICLE may have any one or more of the following characteristics:
(1) Lacks an engine, wheel, tire, properly installed battery or other structural parts which renders the vehicle inoperable for use as designed by the manufacturer; provided, that if there is more than one vehicle on the real property, there shall be the necessary number of engines, wheels, tires, batteries and other structural parts for each respective vehicle;
(2) Has a broken or missing fender, door, bumper, hood, exterior door handle, running board, steering wheel, trunk top, trunk handle, tail pipe, muffler, driver’s seat, fuel tank, drive shaft, differential, generator, alternator or other structural piece;
(3) Has become or the potential to become the breeding ground or habitat of rats, mice, snakes, mosquitoes or other vermin, rodents or insects, or is otherwise used for the storage, harbor, caging or dwelling for an animal of any kind;
(4) Has heavy growth of weeds or other noxious vegetation over eight inches in height under or immediately next to it;
(5) Has become a point of collection for stagnant water;
(6) Has junk, garbage, refuse, gasoline or fuel other than in its fuel tank, paper, cardboard, wood or other combustible materials, solid waste, or other hazardous material present in it or which is primarily used for storage of any materials;
(7) Has become a source of danger for children through entrapment in areas of confinement that cannot be open from inside, through a danger of the vehicle falling or turning over, or through possible injury from exposed surfaces of metal, glass or other rigid materials;
(8) Has become a potential source of contamination of the soil from petroleum products or other toxic liquids being discharged or leaking from the vehicle;
(9) Has become illegal to operate on the public streets because it is missing one or more parts required by law;
(10) Is an abandoned vehicle; or
(11) Because of its defective, deteriorated or obsolete condition in any other way constitutes a nuisance or a threat to the public’s health or safety.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. Any deputy or officer of any city, county, state, or federal department or agency operating with arrest authority in the city.
MACHINERY. The working parts of a machine (a devise consisting of two or more parts, i.e., lever, wedge, wheel and axle, pulley, or screw, that transmit or modify force and motion to do work).
MOTOR VEHICLE. A self-propelled wheeled conveyance, such as a car or truck that does not run on rails.
PERSON. An individual, corporation, partnership, company, association, firm or other legal entity.
RESPONSIBLE PARTIES.
(1) The real property owner, as indicated in the records of the County Assessor or Clerk and Recorder, upon which the junk vehicle is located, if applicable; and
(2) If ascertainable, the last known registered owner of the junk vehicle as indicated in the official records of the State Department of Motor Vehicles or a sister state division of transportation of motor vehicles.
STREET or HIGHWAY. The entire width between the boundary lines of every publicly-maintained way when any part of the publicly-maintained way is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel and shall include the terms “alley and easement.”
TRAILER. Any vehicle not propelled by its own power drawn on a public street or highway by a motor vehicle.
VEHICLE. Includes, but not be limited to, the definitions of vehicles found in MCA Title 61,Chapter 8.
WRECKED VEHICLE. A vehicle spoiled, ruined and/or demolished in an accident.
(Prior Code, § 10.08.030) (Ord. 1, passed 1-17-1980; Ord. 118, passed 1-7-2008)