Action expected at council’s June 5 meeting
By John Tredrea
A newsrack or newsrack box having no publication in it for seven consecutive days would be deemed abandoned under a proposed ordinance introduced by Pennington Borough Council May 1.
The owner of a rack or box declared abandoned would be notified to remove it. If the owner did not remove the box within 10 days of the notification, the proposed ordinance states, the box would be removed by the borough and the owner charged for the cost of removal and storage.
The proposed ordinance is expected to be scheduled for an adoption vote at council’s June 5 meeting. Under state law, a public hearing must precede an adoption vote.
Borough law already allows newsracks and newsrack boxes in the commercial areas of town and prohibits them in residential zones. For many months, council and other borough officials have been discussing the need for an ordinance under which the borough could remove boxes that appear to be abandoned or that pose some kind of safety hazard.
On the safety issue, the proposed measure says the borough may remove from the public right-of-way, without any prior notice to the owner, any newsrack or newsrack box which:
Substantially and seriously impedes the use of the public right-of-way by pedestrians;
Does not bear the name and address of the owner of the box.
The proposed ordinance states that, within 21 days of the adoption of the measure, any current owner or operator of a newspaper rack or rack box in Pennington must affix to each box a visible, permanent, legible notice, which gives the name, address and telephone number of the vendor. The vendor also would have to send to the borough zoning officer the name, address and telephone number of the person or persons responsible for ensuring that each of the vendor’s newsracks complies with all relevant borough regulations. The zoning officer would be the official responsible for identifying violations and issuing notices of violation.
If the Municipal Court found a vendor guilty of one or more violations, the vendor would have 10 days to correct them. If all violations were not corrected by then, the borough could impound the newsrack or newsrack box and charge the vendor for removal and storage. Boxes not claimed in 45 days could be thrown away.
Newspaper racks and rack boxes currently in the borough contain daily and weekly papers. These are paid for with coins that open the box to the purchaser. There also are a number of boxes for free publications in the Real Estate and other fields.

