§ 13-109. Junked yards and automobile graveyards.

(a)

[Definitions.] Junked yards are prohibited within the corporate limits of the City of Morristown and it shall be unlawful for an owner or occupant of property within the corporate limits to maintain a junked yard as defined herein. For the purpose of the interpretation and application of this section, the following words and phrases have the indicated meanings:

Automobile graveyard means any lot or place which is exposed to the weather and upon which more than five motor vehicles of any kind, incapable of being operated, and which it would not be economically practical to make operative, are placed, located, or found. "Automobile graveyard" or "automobile junkyard" shall not be construed to mean an establishment having facilities for processing iron, steel, or nonferrous scrap and whose principal produce is scrap iron, steel, or nonferrous scrap for sale for re-melting purposes only.

Junk shall mean old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber, debris, waste, or junked, dismantled, or wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, iron, steel, and other old or scrap ferrous or nonferrous metal.

Junkyard shall mean an establishment or place of business that is maintained, operated, or used for storing, keeping, buying or selling junk, or for the maintenance or operation of an automobile graveyard. "Junkyard" includes scrap metal processors, car crushing sites, used auto parts yards, yards providing temporary storage of automobile bodies or parts awaiting disposal as a normal part of the business operation, when the business will continually have like materials located on the premises, garbage dumps and sanitary landfills. For purposes of this chapter, a "recycling center" shall not be a "junkyard".

Person shall mean any natural person, or any firm, partnership, association, corporation, or other organization of any kind and description.

Private property shall include all property that is not public property, regardless of how the property is zoned or used.

Recycling center means an establishment, place of business, facility or building which is maintained, operated, or used for storing, keeping, buying or selling of newspaper, or used food or used beverage containers for the purpose of converting such items into a useable product.

Residential yard nuisance shall mean any condition or use of residential yards which is detrimental to the property of others, or which causes or tends to substantially diminish the value of other property in the neighborhood in which such yards are located. This includes, but is not limited to, the keeping or maintaining or depositing on or scattering over such yards of any of the following:

(1)

Lumber, junk, trash, or debris;

(2)

Abandoned, discarded or unused objects or equipment such as furniture, appliances, cans, tires, or containers;

(3)

Any compost pile which is of such a nature as to spread or harbor disease, emit unpleasant odors or harmful gas, or attract rodents, vermin or other disease-carrying pests, animals or insects, provided that the presence of earthworms in a compost pile shall not constitute a nuisance;

(4)

Garbage and unsanitary matter on premises unless such material is retained in containers, garbage pails or vessels which deny access to flies, insects, rodents and animals. Garbage can only be stored outside in mechanically-handled containers (MHC) provided by the City of Morristown for garbage collection and then only for the purpose of such collection.

(5)

Abandoned wells, cisterns, shafts, basements, excavations, sinkholes, mounds of gravel or earth, junk vehicles, structurally unsound structures or fences, trash, debris or vegetation; and

(6)

Container units or garbage cans that have failed to be maintained in good repair, clean and well painted.

(7)

Or as stated within the city's adopted housing code.

Right-of-way shall mean a portion of land dedicated for placement of a street, road, thoroughfare or crosswalk, utilities, drainage facilities, and/or similar uses and designated by means of a right-of-way line or description of boundaries.

Traveled portion of any public street or highway shall mean the width of the street from curb to curb, or in cases where there are no curbs, the entire width of the paved portion of the street, or where the street is unpaved, the entire width of the street in which vehicles ordinarily use for travel.

Vehicle shall mean any machine propelled by power other than human power, designed to travel along the ground by the use of wheels, treads, self-laying tracks, runners, slides or skids, including but not limited to automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, motor scooters, go-carts, campers, tractors, trailers, tractor-trailers, buggies, wagons, and earth-moving equipment, and any part of the same.

(1)

Vehicle, abandoned shall mean any motor vehicle whose last registered owner of record has relinquished all further dominion and control, or any vehicle that is wrecked or partially dismantled or inoperable for a period of ten days. There shall be a presumption that the last registered owner thereof has abandoned such vehicle, regardless of whether the physical possession of such vehicle remains in the technical custody or control of such owner, if it has remained inoperable or partially dismantled, or if the owner has relinquished dominion or control of such vehicle, for ten days.

(2)

Vehicle, junk shall mean a vehicle of any age that is damaged or defective in any one or combination of any of the following ways that either make the vehicle not immediately operable, or would prohibit the vehicle from being operated in a reasonably safe manner upon the public streets and highways under its own power if self-propelled, or while being towed or pushed, if not self-propelled:

a.

Flat tires, missing tires, missing wheels, or missing or partially or totally disassembled tires and wheels;

b.

Missing or partially or totally disassembled essential part or parts of the vehicle's drive train, including, but not limited to, engine, transmission, transaxle, drive shaft, differential, or axle;

c.

Extensive exterior body damage or missing or partially or totally disassembled essential body parts, including, but not limited to, fenders, doors, engine hood, bumper or bumpers, windshield, or windows;

d.

Missing or partially or totally disassembled essential interior parts, including, but not limited to, driver's seat, steering wheel, instrument panel, clutch, brake, gear shift lever;

e.

Missing or partially or totally disassembled parts essential to the starting or running of the vehicle under its own power, including, but not limited to, starter, generator or alternator, battery, distributor, gas tank, carburetor, or fuel injection system, spark plugs, or radiator;

f.

Interior is a container for metal, glass, paper, rags, or other cloth, wood, auto parts, machinery, waste, or discarded materials in such quantity, quality, and arrangement that a driver cannot be properly seated in the vehicle;

g.

Lying on the ground (upside down, on its side, or at any other extreme angle) sitting on block or suspended in the air by any other method;

h.

General environment in which the vehicle sits, including, but not limited to, vegetation that has grown up around, in or through the vehicle, the collection of pools of water in the vehicle, and the accumulation of other garbage or debris around the vehicle.

i.

Unregistered and in public view.

(b)

Violations, civil offense. It shall be unlawful and a civil offense for any person:

(1)

To park and/or in any manner place and leave unattended on the traveled portion of any public street or highway a junk vehicle for any period of time, even if the owner or operator of the vehicle did not intend to permanently desert or forsake the vehicle.

(2)

To park or in any manner place and leave unattended on the untraveled portion of any street or highway, or upon any other public property, a junk vehicle for more than 48 continuous hours, even if the owner or operator of the vehicle did not intend to permanently desert or forsake the vehicle.

(3)

To establish, operate, or maintain a junkyard and/or an automobile graveyard that does not meet the City of Morristown's zoning requirements, and/or meets the requirements of Tennessee Code Annotated, title 7, chapter 51, and/or title 54, chapter 20, and/or title 55, chapter 16.

(4)

To park, store, keep, and maintain on private property a junk vehicle.

(5)

To create any residential yard nuisance, as defined in this chapter.

(c)

Exceptions.

(1)

It shall be permissible for a person to park, store, keep, and maintain a junked vehicle on private property under the following conditions:

a.

The junked vehicle is completely enclosed within a building where neither the vehicle nor any part of it is visible from the street or from any abutting property. However, this exception shall not exempt the owner or person in possession of the property from any zoning, building, housing, property maintenance, and other regulations governing the building in which such vehicle is enclosed.

b.

The junk vehicle is parked or stored on property lawfully zoned for business engaged in wrecking or towing of vehicles. However, this exception shall not exempt the owner or operator of any such business from any other regulations governing business engaged in wrecking or towing vehicles.

1.

The outside storage area of abandoned and/or junked vehicles of any business that is engaged in the wrecking or towing of vehicles must be completely screened (opaque) from all adjacent properties and any road right-of-ways (public or private).

2.

The screening can be a solid wall that is at least six feet high, or a two-tiered, staggered tree landscaping, or a combination of the tree landscaping and the solid wall.

3.

For any wrecker or towing business (that is within the City of Morristown) that is on the City of Morristown's rotation cycle, must come into compliance with the opaque screening as stated above, within one year of the adoption of this chapter. If a business does not wish to comply with these provisions, then that business shall be removed from the City of Morristown's rotation cycle.

4.

Any new wrecker or towing business shall comply with this chapter and any other applicable zoning ordinances prior to being added to the city's rotation cycle.

(2)

No person shall park, store, keep and maintain on private property a junk vehicle for any period of time if it poses an immediate threat, as determined by the city administrator or his designee, to the health and safety of citizens of the city.

(d)

Enforcement.

(1)

Pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated, title 7, chapter 51, and/or title 54, chapter 20, and/or title 55, chapter 16, the city administrator, or his appointed designee, shall upon the complaint of any citizen, or acting on his own information, investigate complaints of abandoned and/or junked vehicles on private property. The city administrator, or his appointed designee, shall give, or cause to be given, notice to the registered owner of any motor vehicle which is in violation of this chapter, and he shall give such notice to the owner or person in lawful possession or control of the property upon which such motor vehicle is located, advising that such motor vehicle violations this chapter and directing that such motor vehicle be moved to a place of lawful storage within ten days. Such notice shall be served upon the owner of the vehicle by leaving a copy of such notice on or within the vehicle.

(2)

Notice to the property owner on whose property such motor vehicle is located may be served by conspicuously posting such notice upon the premises.

(3)

In the case of abandoned and/or junk vehicles on publicly owned property, notice to the property owner by the City of Morristown is not required.

(e)

Failure to remove. The owner of any abandoned and/or junked vehicle who fails, neglects or refuses to remove such vehicle or to house such vehicle and abate such nuisance in accordance with the notice given pursuant to the provisions of the previous section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and/or in violation of the city ordinance.

(f)

Abatement and removal by city. If the vehicle is not disposed of after the time provided for in the notice, the city administrator or his designee shall report the location of such vehicle to a wrecker/towing company, designated by rotation, and shall then remove such vehicle or cause it to be removed to the wrecker/towing service's storage area. At the time that the vehicle is removed by the police department using the wrecker/towing company assigned, a tow-in ticket shall be completed by the person towing such vehicle.

(g)

Removal and storage. Abandoned and/or junked vehicles shall be transported from the property where they are found to the assigned wrecker/towing storage area only during daylight hours.

(h)

Return of vehicle and/or personal property to the owner. When the vehicle is towed to a towing/wrecker service property, used car dealership/lot, or other private property, and the owner of the vehicle demands for the return of his vehicle, and/or any personal property within the vehicle, then the owner of the vehicle shall pay any fines, storage, and tow-in fees to the owner of the property where the vehicle was towed.

(i)

Abandoned and/or junked vehicle towed to a towing/wrecker service property. In cases where an abandoned and/or junked vehicle is towed to a towing and/or wrecker service property and the vehicle has not been claimed, the owner of the service shall follow all state laws that pertain to abandoned vehicles.

(j)

Penalty for violations. Any person violating this chapter shall be subject to a civil penalty of $50.00 and costs for each separate violation of this chapter. Each day the violation of this chapter continues shall be considered a separate violation.

(k)

[Reference.] This article is referenced and adopted from The International Property Maintenance Code, 2012 Edition, published by the International Code Council, Inc.

( Ord. No. 3528, 11-3-2015 ; Ord. No. 3569, 10-18-2016 )