(A) Parked vehicles to be licensed. It shall be unlawful to park or store for more than 72 hours on any lot zoned for residential use, except under a suitable car cover or in enclosed buildings, an automobile, truck, trailer, bus or other motor vehicle or any kind or type with or without operative motive power, required or permitted to be registered and/or licensed under the laws of the state, or any frame, chassis or body thereof, unless there be affixed to the vehicle current license plates.
(B) Abandoned, dismantled, junked, wrecked or inoperative vehicles.
(1) Abandonment prohibited. No person shall abandon any vehicle within the town and no person shall leave any vehicle at any place within the town, for such time and under such circumstances as to cause such vehicle to appear to have been abandoned.
(2) Dismantled, junked, wrecked, or inoperative vehicle(s) generally. No person in charge or control of property within the town whether as owner, tenant, occupant, lessee or otherwise, shall allow any partially dismantled, inoperative, wrecked, junked or discarded vehicle to remain on such property longer than 48 hours. The presence of such a vehicle or parts thereof, is hereby declared a public nuisance. This section shall not apply with regard to a vehicle on private property under a suitable car cover or in an enclosed building, or any vehicles on the premise of a business enterprise operated in a lawful place, manner and licensed by the town when necessary to the operation of such business enterprise, or a vehicle in an appropriate storage place or depository maintained in a lawful place and manner by the town.
(3) Notice to remove. Whenever it comes to the attention of the town that any nuisance as defined in division (B)(2) of this section, a notice in writing shall be served upon the occupant of the land where the nuisance exists or, in case there is no such occupant, then upon the owner of the property or his or her agency, notifying him or her of the existence of the nuisance and requesting its removal in the time specified in this section.
(4) Responsibility for removal. Upon proper notice and opportunity to be heard, the owner of the abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicle and the owner or occupant of the private property on which the same is located, either or all of them, shall be responsible for its removal.
(5) Notice procedure. The town shall give notice of removal to the owner or occupant of the private property where it is located at least five days before the time of the compliance. Notice is to be posted in a conspicuous place upon the private property on which the vehicle is located and duplicate copies served on the owner and/or occupant or sent by certified mail to the last known address or the owner and/or occupant of the private property.
(6) Content of notice. The notice shall contain the request for removal within a specified time.
(7) Failure to comply. If the violation described in the notice has not been remedied within the period of compliance, the Public Safety Director or his or her designee will issue a citation stating the date and time at which the owner will be required to appear in municipal court for adjudication of the nuisance.
(8) Leaving dismantled, junked, wrecked or inoperative vehicles(s) on the street or highway. No person shall leave any partially dismantled, inoperative, wrecked or junked vehicle on any street or highway in the town.
(9) Impoundment of vehicles left on any right-of-way, road or highway. The Public Safety Director shall have full power and authority to remove, or have removed, any vehicle left on any right-of-way, road or highway within the town, which reasonably appears to be in violation of this section or is lost, stolen and unclaimed. Such a vehicle shall be impounded until lawfully claimed or disposed of in accordance with S.C. Code §§ 56-5-5610 and 56-5-5680.
(Ord. 4152014-B, passed 5-20-2014; Ord. 62, passed 10-18-2022)