(A) Rules of interpretation. This code shall be construed by the following rules unless the construction is plainly repugnant to the legislative intent or context of the provision.
(1) Words and phrases shall be taken in their plain, ordinary, and usual sense. Technical words and phrases having a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be understood according to their technical import.
(2) Words imputing joint authority to three or more persons shall be construed as imputing authority to a majority of the persons, unless otherwise declared in the section giving the authority.
(3) Where a section requires an act to be done which, by law, an agent or deputy may perform in addition to the principal, the performance of the act by an authorized deputy or agent is valid.
(4) Words denoting the masculine gender shall be deemed to include the feminine and neuter genders; words in the singular shall include the plural, and words in the plural shall include the singular; the use of a verb in the present tense shall include the future, if applicable.
(B) Definitions. For the purpose of this code of ordinances, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ABANDONED VEHICLE.
(a) A vehicle located on public property illegally;
(b) A vehicle left on public property continuously without being moved for three days;
(c) A vehicle located on public property in such a manner as to constitute a hazard or obstruction to the movement of pedestrian or vehicle traffic on a public right-of-way;
(d) A vehicle that has remained on private property without the consent of the property owner or persons in control of the property for more than 48 hours;
(e) A vehicle from which there has been removed the engine, transmission, or differential or that is otherwise partially dismantled or inoperative and left on public property;
(f) A vehicle that has been removed by a towing service or a public agency upon request of an officer enforcing a statute or ordinance, if the vehicle once impounded is not claimed or redeemed by the owner or his, her, or their agent within 20 days of its removal; and/or
(g) A vehicle that is at least three model years old, mechanically inoperable, and is left on private property continuously in a location visible from public property for more than 20 days.
ALLEY. A public thoroughfare, which affords only secondary means of vehicular access to abutting property, and not less than 20 wide feet or more than 30 feet wide.
AUTOMOBILE SCRAP YARD. A business organized for the purpose of scrap metal processing, automobile wrecking, or operating a junkyard.
BLOCK. Property abutting on one side of a street and lying between the two nearest intersecting or intercepting streets, or nearest intersecting or intercepting street and railroad right-of-way or waterway.
BUILDING SETBACK LINE. The line nearest the front and across a lot establishing the minimum open space to be provided between the front of buildings and structures and the front lot line.
BUREAU. The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
CLERK-TREASURER. The Clerk-Treasurer of the Town Council.
CODE. Whenever the term “CODE” or “THIS CODE” is referred to without further qualification, it means the Town Code of North Judson, Indiana, as designated in § 10.01.
COMMISSION. The North Judson Plan Commission.
COMPUTATION OF TIME. The time within which an act is to be done as provided herein shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last. If the last day is a Sunday, it shall be excluded and the next day shall be included. Words used in the past or present tense include the future tense as well as past and present.
COUNCIL. The Town Council.
COUNTY. Starke County, Indiana, unless otherwise noted.
EXCAVATION. The act or site of digging, hollowing out, moving, or removal of earth.
FISCAL BODY. The Town Council of the Town of North Judson.
GENDER. Words used in the masculine gender shall be construed to include feminine and neuter.
HIGHWAY. Includes bridges, roads, and streets, unless otherwise expressly provided.
JOINT AUTHORITY. Words giving a JOINT AUTHORITY to three or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.
MASTER PLAN. The complete plan, or any of its parts, for the development of North Judson, prepared by the Commission and legally adopted.
MONTH. One calendar month.
OATH. An affirmation in all cases in which, by law, an affirmation may be substituted for an OATH, and in such cases the terms “swear” and “sworn” shall be equivalent to the terms “affirm” and “affirmed.”
OFFICER. The Town Marshal or Town Deputy Marshal, or any other officer as defined by I.C. 9-22-1-2 that may be so authorized by further resolution of the Town Council.
OWNER.
(1) As applied to land or buildings, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant, or tenant by the entirety of the whole or part of such building or land.
(2) As applied to any vehicle, shall mean the last known record titleholder of a vehicle, according to the records of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
PARTS. The term “parts” as applied to any vehicle, shall mean all components of a vehicle that as assembled do not constitute a complete vehicle.
PERSON. Extends to and includes person, persons, firm, corporation, copartnership, trustee, lessee, receiver, and bodies politic. Whenever used in any clause prescribing and imposing a penalty, the terms PERSON or WHOEVER as applied to any unincorporated entity shall mean the partners or members thereof, and as applied to corporations, the officers or agents thereof.
PERSONAL PROPERTY. Every species of property except for real property, as defined herein.
PLAT. A map or chart indicating the subdivision or resubdivision of land, intended to be filed for record.
PLURAL, SINGULAR. Words importing the SINGULAR shall include the PLURAL and words importing the PLURAL shall include the SINGULAR.
PRECEDING and FOLLOWING. When referring to sections or divisions in this code, refer to the sections or divisions next following or next preceding that in which the words occur, unless some other section is designated.
PRIVATE PROPERTY. All property other than public property.
PROPERTY. Real and personal property.
PUBLIC GATHERING. Any event or occasion held to which members of the general public are invited to attend for any reason, including but not limited to parades, carnivals, and festivals.
PUBLIC PLACE. Any street, highway, sidewalk, park, cemetery, schoolyard, or open space adjacent thereto, and any lake or stream.
PUBLIC PROPERTY. A public right-of-way, street, highway, alley, sidewalk, park, or other municipal property.
REAL PROPERTY. Lands, tenements, and hereditaments.
REASONABLE TIME. Such time only as may be necessary for the prompt execution of a duty or the prompt compliance with a notice.
RUBBISH. Discarded matter, including but not limited to ashes, cans, metal, glass, crockery, dirt, sweepings, boxes, lumber, wood, leaves, grass, lawn waste, weeds, paper, plastic, and litter, and excepting trees and large debris from construction or demolition of buildings.
SHALL and MAY. The term “shall” is mandatory and the term “may” is permissive.
SIDEWALK. Any portion of the street between the curbline and the adjacent property line, including for use of pedestrians, excluding parkways.
SIGNATURE. The written, signed name of a person or agent of an entity, including the mark of a person who cannot write.
STATE. The State of Indiana.
STREET. A public thoroughfare, whether designated as a street, highway, parkway, road, avenue, lane, boulevard, or however otherwise designated, 50 feet or more in width between property lines, which affords principal means of vehicular access to abutting property.
SUBDIVISION. A division of a lot, tract or parcel of land into two or more lots or other divisions of land for the purpose, immediate or future, of transfer of ownership, or development, including all changes in street or lot lines. Division of land not involving any new street or easement of access shall not be interpreted as a SUBDIVISION. The term includes resubdivision; and when appropriate to the context, shall relate to the process of subdividing or to the land subdivided.
SUBSTANTIAL PROPERTY INTEREST. Any present or future right in real estate susceptible of being affected in a substantial way by action of another person, including equitable interests of a contract purchaser.
TENANT. Any person holding a written or oral lease of a building or land, or who occupied the whole or part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION. The incorporated portions of North Judson, Indiana.
THOROUGHFARE PLAN. The part of the master plan which sets forth the location, alignment, and dimensions of existing and proposed public streets, highways, and other thoroughfares.
TOWING SERVICE. A business that engages in moving, removing, and disabiling vehicles and, once removed, stores or impounds the vehicles.
TOWN. The Town of North Judson, Starke County, Indiana.
VISIBLE FROM PUBLIC PROPERTY. A vehicle which can be seen from public property and includes vehicles which have been covered by a temporary covering that allows the form and outline of the vehicle to remain visible from public property.
VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT. A department or association organized for the purpose of answering fire alarms, extinguishing fires, and providing other emergency services, the majority of members of which receive no compensation or nominal compensation for their services.
VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER. A firefighter:
(a) Who, as a result of a written application, has been elected or appointed to membership in a volunteer fire department;
(b) Who has executed a pledge to faithfully perform, with or without nominal compensation, the work related duties assigned and orders given to the firefighter by the chief of the volunteer fire department or an officer of the volunteer fire department, including orders or duties involving education and training as prescribed by the volunteer fire department or the state; and
(c) Whose name has been entered on a roster of volunteer firefighters that is kept by the volunteer fire department and that has been approved by the proper officers of the unit.
WARD. District.
WRITTEN and IN WRITING. Include printing, lithographing, or other modes of representing words and letters. Where the written signature of a person is required, the terms mean the proper handwriting of the person, or the person’s mark.
YEAR. One calendar year, unless otherwise expressly provided.
(I.C. 1-1-4-5) (Prior Code, § 1-2)