(a) No person, being the owner, lessee, agent or tenant having charge of lots or lands within the Municipality, shall park, store or leave or permit to be parked, stored or left upon such lots or lands, any abandoned junk motor vehicle.
(b) As used in this Section, "abandoned junk motor vehicle" means any vehicle meeting the requirements of Ohio R.C. 4513.63 which is dismantled, inoperative or unlicensed, parked, stored or let on any lots or lands in the Municipality for a period of more than seventy-two (72) hours, except if the person is operating a junk yard or scrap metal facility licensed under authority of Ohio R.C. 4737.05 to 4737.12; or regulated under the authority of the Municipality; or 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 possession of the property can establish that the motor vehicle is part of a bona fide commercial operation, of if the motor vehicle is a collector's vehicle ten (10) days, unless it is kept in a completely enclosed building or garage.
(c) Persons may store or keep by unrestricted method any collector's vehicle as defined in Ohio R.C. 4501.01 (F) on private property with the permission of the owner having the right to possession; except that such person having such permission shall conceal, by means of buildings, fences, vegetation, terrain, or other suitable obstruction, any unlicensed collector's vehicle stored in the open.
(d) When an abandoned junk motor vehicle is parked, stored or left upon lots or lands within the Municipality, the Council, Chief of Police or the Municipal Zoning Authority shall cause written notice and demand to be served upon the owner, lessee, agent, or tenant having charge of such lots or lands that such vehicle shall be removed from such premises within ten (10) days after the service of such notice. If the owner, or other person having charge of the lands is a nonresident whose address is known, the notice shall be sent to his address by registered mail. If the address of the owner is unknown, it shall be sufficient to publish the notice once in a newspaper of general circulation in Lake County, Ohio. Any police officer of the Municipality may make service and return of the notice provided for in this section.
(e) The ten (10) day period as prescribed in subsection (d) hereof shall be determined to commence from the day of the service of notice or the date of publication, if any. If the person notified shall fail to remove such vehicle within the time prescribed by this section, the Municipality shall remove or cause to be removed such vehicle and dispose of the same according to law. All expenses and costs of removal and/or disposal shall be charged against the owner of such vehicle or the owner of the lots or lands upon which such vehicle is parked, stored or left or both, and shall be in addition to any fine, cost or penalty for which the owner of such vehicle or
the owner of such lots or lands may have become liable.
(f) Whoever violates any provisions of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor. Punishment shall be provided in Section 303.99. A separate offense shall be deemed committed for each successive day a violation occurs.
(Ord. 2022-021. Passed 4-28-22.)