PLYMOUTH – A proposed local law that would regulate junk storage in the Town of Plymouth did not pass Monday at the town board’s monthly meeting, prompting a lengthy debate and the resignation of one of the law’s authors.
Following what was a silent public comment period, the five-member board, lacking one absent councilman, voted 2-2 on the regulations.
Prior to the vote, Councilman Robert L. Brown voiced his opposition to prohibiting junk accumulation.
“If I pay my taxes, why should I have to maintain my property to please others?” said Brown. “I understand if it creates health issues ... but how a property looks should be up to the property owner, not the public.”
Supervisor Jerry L. Kreiner said he had been in favor of the law, which prohibits junk and garbage piles visible from roads and adjoining properties, but voted against it with Brown after no Plymouth residents spoke out in support of it.
“We didn’t have any public comments,” Kreiner said. “As an elected official, I can’t, I won’t, enact a law that we don’t have any public comment on. Because (if there isn’t public comment) that means maybe my perceived problem with junk isn’t a problem to them.”
Although they did not speak up, there was support for the law among Plymouth residents, Councilman Dick Thompson contended.
“I see the Town of Plymouth turning into a dump,” said Thompson. “I voted based on what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard. I am convinced.”
Thompson and Councilman Lewis Somers voted for the junk ordinance. Councilman Robert Baker was absent.
Brown criticized the planning board for not making any changes to the law to better fit the town, where he believes “90 percent” of the residents would be in violation.
“They never took any surveys,” he said. “There was no effort made to change it whatsoever.”
Near the end of the meeting, several residents, including Planning Board member Rena Doing, told the board they were disappointed with the outcome and what they argue were misinterpretations of the law’s intentions offered by Councilman Brown.
“I’m very disappointed you don’t want to move forward in this town,” said Doing, who helped design the law with other planning board members. “We (the planning board) got slammed for doing a job we were asked to do two years ago. We used words from the state as a guideline and laws from other towns. We did not make decisions on our own. We didn’t make up these words. We worked very hard.
“I am resigning as of this point from the Plymouth Planning Board,” she said.
Kreiner told Brown that there had been no discussion on changing the law at the last meeting in July.
“In all fairness, the planning board does work for us,” he added.
As of Tuesday morning, Doing said she is still resigned.
A second vote on the junk law has been pushed to next month’s meeting. Kreiner said he’d reconsider his vote if public sentiment in favor of the law grew.
“I am at fault for not speaking up,” said new Plymouth resident Rosemarie Browning. “I’m for the junk law.”
Browning and her husband Peter say they hope the town board will reconsider the law, and asked that it work with the planning board to clarify the issues.
“There is an excuse for poverty,” Rosemarie said. “There is no excuse for filth.”
In the Town of Plymouth, the law would prohibit:
• The outdoor storage, deposit or accumulation of junk – junk appliances, furniture, mobile homes, construction equipment, farm equipment – garbage, rubbish, clutter, litter or debris within the sight of people traveling local highways or the sight of nearby properties.
• Junk storage areas within the sight of people traveling local highways or the sight of nearby properties.
• Storing garbage and junk in old buses, mobile homes, trucks, truck trailers for more than 90 days, unless directly tied to farming operations.
• Burning or burying any junk.
Junk piles that already exist would not be subject to the law, unless the accumulation gets bigger.
Exceptions include: Garbage set out for removal, outdoor burning of cardboard, paper, wood products and forest debris, wood piles used for home heating, lawn ornaments, lawn and patio furniture, operating farm and yard equipment, standing fences, hoses and sprinklers, junk storage areas on commercial operations that are certified by law, and farm vehicles and machinery that are used for parts, have been emptied of harmful, flammable or corrosive fluids and are not in site of highways or adjoining properties.
A complaint has to be made to the town’s code enforcement officer before he can investigate a possible violation. Any violators that fail to comply with orders to clean-up their property within a given amount of days would be issued an appearance ticket for the Town of Plymouth court and could face fines and penalties of up $350 and 15 days in jail.
In ongoing cases, the town may correct a violation at the owner’s expense.