JERSEY CITY — The City Council will consider new regulations on newspaper boxes following Mayor Steve Fulop's removal of hundreds of the receptacles from the sidewalks of Jersey City.

The new rules, spelled out in an ordinance up for initial approval on Wednesday, would require publishers to apply for a newsrack permit, keep the boxes clean and stock them regularly.

Newspaper boxes would also be barred from all historic districts, which would keep publishers from placing them in four Downtown Jersey City neighborhoods and in a swath of the West Side. They also would not be allowed close to fire hydrants, parking meters, benches, bus stops or "any area of flowers or shrubs."

A lot of the new restrictions appear patterned after, but more expansive than, New York City's newspaper box regulations. In New York City, boxes cannot be "on any area of lawn, flowers, shrubs, trees or other landscaping," while Jersey City's rules would require they remain three feet away from such landscaping. New York's rules prohibit boxes inside crosswalks, Jersey City wants them 10 feet away from crosswalks.

Fulop started removing the boxes before Memorial Day weekend, leading to protests from the publishers of newspapers like amNewYork and The Indypendent. An associate editor of the latter, a Brooklyn-based monthly paper, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after protesting Fulop's move during the June 13 City Council meeting.

The new regulations would apply to newspaper boxes for free papers and for coin-operated vending machines (The Jersey Journal does not use vending machines).

"We are proud to have worked together with members of the media on a solution concerning the sidewalk news boxes throughout the city," city spokeswoman Hannah Peterson said. "With a formal permitting process in place, both parties benefit from the oversight of the boxes in use, while removing the abandoned boxes that have caused safety and litter concerns will benefit our residents."

John Tarleton, editor of The Indypendent, told The Jersey Journal his staff is reviewing the details of the ordinance for "any unfair or onerous provisions."

"It's nice to see the mayor acknowledge on paper the First Amendment rights of publishers and their readers as affirmed by decades of court precedent," Tarleton said. "We're pleased that the city appears to be moving toward a system of rational, narrowly-tailored regulations for overseeing news boxes on public sidewalks."

The nation's highest court has sided with publishers over municipalities that seek to regulate where newsracks can go.

When Fulop ordered the removal of the boxes in May, he said they clutter the sidewalks and become garbage bins. Fulop initially said that publishers with valid permits would get their boxes returned, though the administration later conceded there is no permit process.

The council meets on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.