For the purposes of this section, “junk motor vehicle” means any motor vehicle meeting all the following requirements:
(a) Three years old or older;
(b) Extensively damaged, such damage including but not limited to any of the following: missing wheels, tires, motor or transmission;
(c) Apparently inoperable;
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 the possession of the property, except if the person is operating a junk yard or scrap metal processing facility licensed under authority of Ohio R.C. 4737.05 to 4737.12 or regulated under the authority of the City; 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 a collector’s vehicle.
Any person owning an unlicensed collector’s vehicle and storing such vehicle on private property with the permission of the person having the right to the possession of the property shall conceal, by means of buildings, such vehicle.
The Chief of Police is hereby authorized to 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 is left, that within ten days of receipt of the notice, the junk motor vehicle either shall be covered by being housed in a garage or other suitable structure, or shall be removed from the property.
No person shall willfully leave a junk motor 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 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 continues to be so left constitutes a separate offense.
Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor on a first offense; on a second offense, such person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree; on each subsequent offense such person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(Ord. 8-88. Passed 4-18-88.)