The city plans to toughen its legal definition of a junked vehicle to strengthen an ordinance prohibiting people from keeping wrecks in their yards.
As the first business before the City Council’s new Civic Improvements Committee, the ordinance rewrite is in response to a court case the city lost over the winter in a similar case, said police Lt. Dennis Thomas.
In that case the judge dismissed the city’s charges because, according to Batavia’s own ordinance, the suspect’s alleged junk car could not be considered junk because it was properly registered with the state and carried a valid city vehicle sticker.
“What we’ve found since is that a lot of people are (registering the vehicle and buying a sticker) to circumvent the intent of the ordinance,” Thomas said.
Thomas said that he will meet with the city attorney and code enforcement officer to determine what the new definition should be and that he will submit the draft to the committee next month.
The revised standard may involve determining how frequently the vehicle is used, he said.