§ 2241. Definitions

For the purposes of this subchapter:

(1) "Abandoned" means a motor vehicle as defined in 23 V.S.A. § 2151.

(2) "Board" means the State Transportation Board or its duly delegated representative.

(3) "Highway" means any highway as defined in 19 V.S.A. § 1.

(4) "Interstate or primary highway" means any highway, including access roads, ramps, and connecting links, which have been designated by the State with the approval of the Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, as part of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, or as a part of the National System of Primary Highways.

(5) "Junk" means old or scrap copper, brass, iron, steel, and other old or scrap or nonferrous material, including rope, rags, batteries, glass, rubber debris, waste, trash, or any discarded, dismantled, wrecked, scrapped, or ruined motor vehicles or parts thereof.

(6) "Junk motor vehicle" means a discarded, dismantled, wrecked, scrapped, or ruined motor vehicle or parts thereof, or a motor vehicle, other than an on-premise utility vehicle, which is allowed to remain unregistered or uninspected for a period of 90 days from the date of discovery.

(7) "Salvage yard" means any place of outdoor storage or deposit for storing, keeping, processing, buying, or selling junk or as a scrap metal processing facility. "Salvage yard" also means any outdoor area used for operation of an automobile graveyard. It does not mean a garage where wrecked or disabled motor vehicles are stored for less than 90 days for inspection or repairs.

(8) "Legislative body" means the city council of a city, the selectboard of a town, or the board of trustees of a village.

(9) "Main traveled way" means the portion of a highway designed for the movement of motor vehicles, shoulders, auxiliary lanes, and roadside picnic, parking, rest, and observation areas and other areas immediately adjacent and contiguous to the traveled portion of the highway and designated by the Transportation Board as a roadside area for the use of highway users and generally but not necessarily located within the highway right-of-way.

(10) "Motor vehicle" means any vehicle propelled or drawn by power other than muscular power, including trailers.

(11) "Notice" means by certified mail with return receipt requested.

(12) "Scrap metal processing facility" means a manufacturing business which purchases sundry types of scrap metal from various sources including the following: industrial plants, fabricators, manufacturing companies, railroads, junkyards, auto wreckers, salvage dealers, building wreckers, and plant dismantlers and sells the scrap metal in wholesale shipments directly to foundries, ductile foundries, and steel foundries where the scrap metal is melted down and utilized in their manufacturing process.

(13) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Natural Resources or the Secretary's designee.

(14) "Automobile hobbyist" means a person who is not primarily engaged in the business of:

(A) selling motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts; or

(B) accepting, storing, or dismantling junk motor vehicles.

(15) "Automobile graveyard" means a yard, field, or other outdoor area on a property owned or controlled by a person and used or maintained for storing or depositing four or more junk motor vehicles. "Automobile graveyard" does not include:

(A) an area used by an automobile hobbyist to store, organize, restore, or display motor vehicles or parts of such vehicles, provided that the hobbyist's activities comply with all applicable federal, State, and municipal law;

(B) an area used for the storage of motor vehicles exempt from registration under 23 V.S.A. chapter 7;

(C) an area owned or used by a dealer registered under 23 V.S.A. § 453 for the storage of motor vehicles; or

(D) an area used or maintained for the parking or storage of operational commercial motor vehicles, as that term is defined in 23 V.S.A. § 4103(4), that are temporarily out of service and unregistered but are expected to be used in the future by the vehicle operator or owner. (Added 1969, No. 98, § 1; amended 1971, No. 36, § 1, eff. April 1, 1971; 1973, No. 164 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. July 1, 1974; 1983, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2003, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2009, No. 56, § 4; 2009, No. 93 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2013, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 72.)