Ordinance passed to regulate junked vehicles within Lawrenceburg

An ordinance stipulating regulations regarding junk vehicles within the City of Lawrenceburg was approved on first reading by government leaders Thursday morning.

The ordinance addresses junked vehicles on both public and private property inside the city limits. Citing state codes that grant municipalities the right to take possession of abandoned motor vehicles, board members voted unanimously to approve the measure.

The ordinance explains that the council, “Has determined that the keeping of junked, abandoned, dilapidated, or discarded motor vehicles inside the corporate limits of the city presents an immediate threat to the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Lawrenceburg.”

It outlines the definition of a “junk vehicle” as well as areas where it will be unlawful to park or store such vehicles. It states that it shall be illegal to “park or in any other manner place and leave unattended the traveled portion of any public street or highway…or upon any public property for more than forty-eight continuous hours…even if the owner or operator did not intend to permanently desert or forsake the vehicle; or to park, store, keep, maintain on private property a junk vehicle for more than sixty days.”

The ordinance does include certain exceptions. In order to keep such a vehicle on private property it must be “completely enclosed within a building where neither the vehicle nor any part of it is visible from the street or from any abutting property…or parked or stored on property lawfully zoned for business engaged in wrecking, junking, or repairing vehicles.”

The ordinance authorizes the city’s building inspector to issue summons for violators. The penalty for violations is “$50 plus court costs for each separate violation” and “each day the violation continues constitutes a separate violation.”

The ordinance must gain approval on second and final reading before becoming effective.