(A) It is unlawful to park, store, or leave or permit the parking or storing of any licensed or unlicensed motor vehicle of any kind or of any motor vehicle trailer, either licensed or unlicensed, of any kind, for a period of time in excess of 72 hours, which is in a rusted or wrecked or junked or partially dismantled or inoperative or abandoned condition, whether attended or not, upon any public or private property within the city, unless the same is completely within an enclosure where it would not be visible from the street or adjacent property, unless it is in connection with a business enterprise lawfully licensed by the city and property operated in the appropriate business zone pursuant to zoning laws of the city.
(B) The accumulation and storage of one or more of said vehicles, as defined in division (A) above, on public or private property shall constitute rubbish and unsightly debris and a nuisance, detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the city; and it shall be the duty of the registered owner of any such vehicle or vehicles, and it shall also be the duty of the owner of the private property or the lessee or other person in possession of the private property upon which the vehicle is located, to remove the same from the city or to have the same housed in an enclosure where it will not be visible from a street or adjacent property.
(C) It shall be the duty of the city to give written notice to the registered owner of any motor vehicle or motor vehicle trailer which is in violation of this chapter, as described in division (A) above, and to further give notice that such vehicle violates this section, and demanding that such motor vehicle or motor vehicles be removed from there within 72 hours, or that within 72 hours the same is to be housed within an enclosure where it will not be visible from a street or adjacent property. Written notice to the last known address of the registered owner of a vehicle or the owner or lessee of real property shall be sufficient.
(D) If the notice is given as provided in division (C) above, and the person upon whom the notice demand is made fails to remove as required by the notice such vehicle or vehicles, as the case may be, or fails to cause the same to be placed in an enclosure where it will not be visible from the street, then such person shall be in violation of this section, and shall be punished by fine, as set forth in § 90.99.
(E) As an alternate procedure, the city may, after giving notice, and after waiting 72 hours, take the vehicle or vehicles to be removed by a city truck or commercial tow truck to a commercial garage or an automobile wrecking yard or any other suitable place for storage of the vehicle, as may be designated by the city; and within 48 hours after removal and storage of such vehicle the city shall give notice in the manner prescribed in division (C) above to the registered owner of such vehicle and also to the owner or lessee or person in possession of land from which the vehicle was removed, that such vehicle or vehicles have been impounded and stored for violation of this section, and notice shall include the location or place where the vehicle or vehicles are stored, the costs incurred by the city for the removal or towing, and the storage charges accruing; and that if such charges are not paid in full to the City Recorder within ten days immediately following the giving of such notice, such vehicle or vehicles shall be deemed to have been abandoned and will thereafter be discarded as junk or may, at the discretion of the city, be sold as an abandoned vehicles in the manner prescribed in this section after giving not less than 30 days’ notice by registered letter, addressed to the registered owner of the vehicle at his or her latest address shown on the records in the office of the Motor Vehicle Division of the state, with the owner given the right to reclaim such vehicle within said 30 days by paying all the costs and expenses incurred in the removal, preservation, and custody of the vehicle for a period not in excess of 90 days; and if not so reclaimed, then to be sold, with the City Recorder to execute the certificate of sale to be delivered to the purchaser and the original to be retained by the city; and the money so received from the sale thereof to be applied first to the payment of costs and expenses incurred in the removal, preservation, and custody of the vehicle and the remainder to be retained by the city for a period of one year; and if not claimed by then, to be turned over to the state as in the case of property to escheat to the state.
(F) If any vehicle is impounded or stored by the city under the provisions of this chapter, or of any other ordinance of this city, or pursuant to any other lawful authority, such vehicle or vehicles or other personal property shall not be released to the appointed keeper thereof until all charges connected with the removal, towing, and storage of such vehicle or vehicles or personal property have been fully paid as evidenced by the City Recorder’s paid receipt.
(Ord. 02-2008, passed 4-14-2008) Penalty, see § 90.99