Tonawanda, NY Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Chapter 203, Vehicles, Abandoned or Junked, Outdoor Storage of, adopted August 29, 1966 by L.L. No. 2-1966, declares that outdoor storage of an abandoned, junked, discarded or unlicensed motor vehicle on private property is detrimental to health, safety and welfare because it attracts children, risks fuel-tank explosions and depreciates values. Section 203-3A makes it unlawful to store or deposit an abandoned, junked or discarded vehicle or any part of one on private property unless it sits on a licensed junkyard premises under Chapter 121 or inside a completely enclosed building.

Section 203-3B separately bars storing an unlicensed vehicle unless it is dealer inventory, a converted permanent structure, a properly used camping or boat trailer, or kept in an enclosed building. Enforcement runs through the Code Enforcement Officer, who under Section 203-4 must serve the owner, occupant or person in charge with written notice, personally, by mail, or by two weeks of newspaper publication if ownership cannot be found, demanding removal within 10 days of personal or mailed notice or 24 days from the first publication.

If the vehicle stays, Section 203-5 requires a Town Board public hearing, at which the Board decides whether the vehicle is abandoned, junked, discarded or unlicensed and, if so, can order it removed and destroyed with the cost assessed against the property. Section 203-7 lets the Town pursue this notice-and-hearing removal process and the Section 203-6 criminal penalty at the same time, without one blocking the other.