(a) (1) For purposes of this section, “junk motor vehicle” means any motor vehicle which is three years old or older; extensively damaged, the damage including but not limited to any of the following: missing wheels, tires, motor or transmission; apparently inoperable; and having a fair market value of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00) or less, that is left uncovered in the open on private property for more than seventy-two hours with the permission of the person having the right to possession of the property, except if the person is operating a junk yard or scrap metal processing facility licensed under the authority of Ohio R.C. 4737.05 through 4737.12, or otherwise regulated under authority of a political subdivision; or if the property on which the motor vehicle is left is not subject to licensure or regulation by any governmental authority, unless the person having the right to the possession of the property can establish that the motor vehicle is part of a bona fide commercial operation; or if the motor vehicle is a collector’s vehicle.
(2) For purpose of this section, “abandoned motor vehicle” means any motor vehicle standing or parked on private property for seven days or more unless such vehicle is stored in the garage located on the owner's, lessee's or agent's premises. It shall be prima-facie evidence of abandonment if any of the following circumstances exist:
A. The vehicle fails to display current lawfully required license plate and/or license tag.
B. The vehicle has been damaged, wrecked or disassembled so as to be inoperable.
(3) The municipality shall not prevent a person from storing or keeping, or restrict him or her in the method of storing or keeping, any collector’s vehicle on private property with the permission of the person having the right to the possession of the property, except that the municipality may require a person having such permission to conceal, by means of buildings, fences, vegetation, terrain or other suitable obstruction, any unlicensed collector’s vehicle stored in the open.
(4) The Police Chief, the Council, or the zoning authority may send notice, by certified mail with return receipt requested, to the person having the right to the possession of the property on which a junk motor vehicle and/or abandoned vehicle is left, that within ten days of receipt of the notice, the junk motor and/or abandoned vehicle either shall be covered by being housed in a garage or other suitable structure, or shall be removed from the property.
(5) No person shall willfully leave a junk motor vehicle and/or abandoned vehicle uncovered in the open for more than ten days after receipt of a notice as provided in this section. The fact that a junk motor vehicle and/or abandoned vehicle is so left is prima facie evidence of willful failure to comply with the notice, and each subsequent period of thirty days that a junk motor vehicle and/or abandoned vehicle continues to be so left constitutes a separate offense.
(b) The Chief of Police or any member of the Police Department designated by him or her, or the Building Commissioner, is hereby authorized to remove or have removed any vehicle left in any place within the City which reasonably appears to be in violation of this Section. Such vehicle shall be impounded pursuant to North Royalton Section 404.05 until lawfully claimed or disposed of in accordance with Ohio R.C. 737.32.
(c) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a fourth degree misdemeanor.
(Ord. 13-33. Passed 2-19-13.)