(A) A motor vehicle left for more than ten days in a storage facility operated for commercial purposes after notice is given by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner and to any lien holder of record under the Certificate of Title Act, being Tex. Transportation Code Ch. 501 to pick up the vehicle, or for more than ten days after a period when under a contract the vehicle was to remain on the premises of the storage facility, or a motor vehicle left for more than ten days in a storage facility by someone other than the registered owner or by a person authorized to have possession of the motor vehicle under a contract of use, service, storage or repair, is considered an abandoned vehicle, and shall be reported by the garage keeper to the Police Department. If the notice to the owner or a lien holder is returned by the post office unclaimed, notice by one publication in one newspaper of general circulation in the area in which the vehicle was left in storage is sufficient notice.
(B) If a garage keeper or storage facility acquired possession of a motor vehicle for a purpose other than repair, the garage keeper or storage facility is entitled to towing, preservation and notification charges and to reasonable storage fees, in addition to storage fees earned pursuant to contract, for a maximum of seven days only until notification is mailed to the last known registered owner and all lien holders of record as provided by division (A) above. After such notice is mailed, storage fees may continue until the vehicle is removed and all accrued charges are paid. A garage keeper who fails to report the possession of an abandoned vehicle to the Police Department within seven days after it becomes abandoned may no longer claim reimbursement for storage of the vehicle.
(C) The Police Department, upon receipt of a report from a garage keeper of the possession of a vehicle considered abandoned under the public right-of-way, that the nuisance must be removed and abated within ten days, and that a request for a hearing must be made before expiration of the ten-day period. The notice must be mailed, by certified mail with a five-day return requested, to the last known registered owner of the junked vehicle, any lien holder of record and the owner or occupant of the public premises or to the owner or occupant of the premises adjacent to the public right-of-way on which the public nuisance exists. If the post office address of the last known registered owner of the nuisance is unknown, notice maybe placed on the nuisance or, if the owner is located, personally delivered. If the notice is returned undelivered by the United States Post Office, official action to abate the nuisance shall be continued to a date not earlier than the eleventh day after the date of the return.
(Ord. 2006-02, passed 7-18-2006)