COLTS NECK – A pair of ordinances have been adopted by the Colts Neck Township Committee that will update the municipal code.
Each ordinance was adopted with a 5-0 vote from committee members following a public hearing. Mayor Thomas Orgo, Deputy Mayor Frank Rizzuto and committeemen J.P. Bartolomeo, Russell Macnow and Michael Viola voted “yes” on a motion to adopt the legislation.
The first ordinance to be adopted amends the municipal code as it relates to loitering.
The section of the code originally read as follows: “No person shall … loiter on any street … or other public place … and no person shall, on any street … or other public place … utter any loud and offensive or indecent language or make offensive remarks to or upon any person or persons passing (on the street) … or obstruct or interfere with any person or persons …”
The revised ordinance states that “no person shall loiter in a public place in such a manner as to create … a danger of a breach of the peace; create … any disturbance or annoyance to (any person); obstruct the free passage of pedestrians or vehicles … This includes unsolicited remarks of an offensive, disgusting or insulting nature, or which are calculated to annoy or disturb the person to whom, or in whose hearing, they are made.”
In addition to the conduct described, the throwing of stones, snowballs or other objects at any person or vehicle will be considered a violation.
And, the ordinance states that “no parent or guardian of a minor under the age of 18 shall knowingly permit that minor to loiter … Whenever any minor under the age of 18 is charged with a violation … their parent or guardian shall be notified … If at any time within 30 days following the (notice), the minor to whom such notice relates again violates (the ordinance), it shall be presumed in the absence of evidence to the contrary that the minor did so with the knowledge and permission of their parent or guardian.”
Municipal officials said they wanted to prepare for the future as Colts Neck continues to develop.
The second ordinance updates the municipal code as it relates to peddlers, canvassers and solicitors.
Township Administrator Kathleen Capristo said the ordinance would include a section that provides a “no knock” registry for which residents may sign up.
According to the ordinance, the municipal clerk will prepare a list of addresses of property owners or tenants who do not want to be disturbed by peddlers, canvassers, solicitors and door-to-door sales enterprises. Residents will be able to complete a form at the clerk’s office and be placed on the “no knock” registry.
Peddlers, canvassers and/or solicitors will be responsible for having the most up to date “no knock” list. Violators may be fined $1,250 and they may be subject to a permanent revocation of any license issued.