§ 109-1. License Required.
§ 109-2. Outdoor vending machines dispensing soft drinks and/or food.
§ 109-3. News racks on public property and public rights-of-way.
§ 109-4. Cigarette Machines prohibited
[HISTORY: Adopted as Ch. XI, Sec. 3 of the 1974 bylaws. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Selectmen’s fees – See Ch. 178
§ 109-1. License required.
No person shall act as a door-to-door hawker, peddler or transient vendor within the Town of Great Barrington until he has first obtained a license from the Board of Selectmen.
§ 109-2. Outdoor vending machines dispensing soft drinks and/or food. [Added 5-24-1994 ATM, Art. 21]
Outdoor coin-operated vending machines dispensing soft drinks and/or food shall
be placed upon private property only after obtaining a coin-operated vending machine permit from the Board of Selectmen, which permit shall be issued, provided that the Board of Selectmen determines that said machine does not interfere with the public health, safety and welfare and that its physical appearance does not detract from its surroundings. Outdoor coin-operated vending machines dispensing soft drinks and/or food shall not be placed upon public property or upon any public right-of-way.
§ 109-3. News racks on public property and public rights-of-way. [Added 5-4-1994 ATM, Art. 21]
A. Purpose and criteria. The purpose of the following is to promote the public health, safety and welfare through the regulation of placement, type, appearance and servicing of news racks on public property and rights-of-way so as to:
(1) Provide for pedestrian and driving safety and convenience.
(2) Restrict unreasonable interference with the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, including ingress into or egress from any building or from the street to the sidewalk by persons exiting or entering parked or standing vehicles.
(3) Provide reasonable access for the use and maintenance of poles, posts, traffic signs or signals, hydrants, mailboxes and access used for public transportation purposes.
(4) Relocate and/or replace news racks which result in a visual blight and/or excessive space allocation on public property and rights-of-way or which unreasonably detract from surrounding aesthetics, including adjacent properties, landscaping and other improvements, as well as to have abandoned news racks removed.
(5) Treat all newspapers and news periodicals equally, regardless of their size, content, circulation or frequency of publication.
(6) Maintain and preserve freedom of the press.
B. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
NEWS RACKS – Any type of unmanned device for the vending or free distribution of newspapers or news periodicals.
PUBLIC PROPERTY – Any municipal building and its adjoining yards located in the Town of Great Barrington.
PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY – Any public street, highway, sidewalk, parkway or alley located in the Town of Great Barrington.
C. General placement of news racks. Subject to the specifications and prohibitions set forth below, news racks may be installed on public property and public rights-of-way and shall be placed parallel to and no less than eighteen (18) inches nor more than twenty-four (24) inches from the edge of the curb or near the wall of a building parallel to and not more than six (6) inches from the wall.
D. News rack specifications.
1. News racks shall be maintained in good working order at all times, freshly painted and with unbroken handles.
2. The name, address and telephone number of a responsible person who may be contacted at any time concerning the news rack shall be displayed on the hood of the news rack in such a manner as to be readily visible and readable.
3. News racks shall be either freestanding or shall be bolted in the place through four (4) standard holes in the news rack base.
4. News racks shall carry no cardholders or advertising except the name of the newspaper being dispensed and/or information promoting the current issue.
E. News rack prohibitions. No news rack shall be placed, installed, used or maintained:
1. Within ten (10) feet of any marked crosswalk.
2. Within twenty (20) feet of any fire hydrant, fire call box, police call box or other emergency facility.
3. Within ten (10) feet of any driveway.
4. Within ten (10) feet ahead of and twenty (20) feet to the rear of any sign marked a designated bus stop, measured along the edge of the pavement.
5. Within 5 feet of any bus bench.
6. At any location whereby the clear space for the passageway of pedestrians is reduced to less than six (6) feet.
7. Within five (5) feet of flowers, shrubs or trees.
8. Within five (5) feet of any display window of any building abutting any sidewalk or in such a manner as to impede or interfere with the reasonable use of such window display purpose or within ten (10) feet of any building entrance.
9. Within one hundred fifty (150) feet of another news rack containing the same newspaper or news periodical, except when separated by a street corner.
10. Facing another news rack, divided only by the width of a sidewalk or pedestrian walk.
11. On or within five (5) feet of signs, street lights or utility poles.
F. Enforcement.
1. Nonconforming news racks. Within one hundred fifty (150) days after this section becomes effective and at any time thereafter, any news rack in violation of any provisions of this section shall be subject to remedy as provided by law, including but not limited to the imposition of fines in accordance with §1-5 of the Code of Great Barrington.
2. Abandonment. In the event that any news rack installed pursuant to this section does not contain the publication specified therefore within a period of forty-eight (48) hours after release of the current issue or when no publication is in the news rack for a period of more than seven (7) consecutive days, the news rack shall be deemed abandoned and the town shall thereafter remove said news rack. In the event that a newspaper publishing company or its distributor desires to voluntary abandon a news rack location, said news rack shall be completely removed, and the public property or public right-of-way shall be promptly restored to a safe condition, leaving no holes or projections in the
adjoining surface.
G. Severability. If any section, paragraph, term or provision of this section is determined to be illegal, invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, such determination shall have no effect on any other subsection, paragraph, term or provision hereof, all of which shall remain in full force and effect.
§ 109-4 Cigarette machines prohibited. [Added 5-4-1998 ATM, Art. 22]
All sales of cigarettes by machine is prohibited. Any person violating this bylaw shall be fined not more than three hundred dollars ($300.00).
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