PLYMOUTH – Plymouth is pretty in the spring and summer, several residents and one local leader say, only because trees hide the clusters of junk and other debris collecting in the town.
It’s now, when the leaves fall, that the problem shows itself, Town Councilman Robert Baker claims.
“I’m sick of defending Plymouth every time I hear people ‘hee-hee’ and ‘ha-ha’ because of the type of town we have,” said Baker. “You see it whenever the leaves fall.”
The Town Board passed a local law 4-1 Monday that gives it the authority to curb the growth of visible junk piles on private property.
Councilman Robert I. Brown was the lone dissenting vote. Councilmen Baker, Richard Thompson, and Lewis Somers, along with Supervisor Jerry Kreiner, were in favor.
Prior to its passage, 19 Plymouth residents offered their opinions of the law during a public comment period that lasted 30 minutes. Chris Steiber, one of the 11 residents in favor, said it’s a good start toward cleaning up the town.
“It’s pretty open-ended in some spots, but it protects us from having more (junk),” said Steiber, who lives on Inman Road. “It’s a good place to start.”
The ordinance is complaint-driven, and allows a number of exceptions, including farm equipment and commercial junk. It does not subject existing lawn debris – of any kind – to penalty, unless the pile gets bigger.
Others like Laurie Will, who owns a greenhouse and nursery on county Rt. 21, see the new restrictions as unfair and unnecessary.
“My family has lived here for five generations and always paid their taxes, and the town has never had to have these laws. We already have state, county and DEC (state Department of Environmental Conservation) laws. We don’t need a town law, too,” said Will, who recycles broken pottery as part of her business, and says sometimes it accumulates on her lawn. “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. As long as I pay my taxes and obey the law, who’s to tell me what I can and can’t have, or that it has outlived its usefulness?”
Walter Rogers, an emergency coordinator for Plymouth Fire Department, says all taxpayers are already subject to health, code, and DEC permit laws that say how people can and can’t use their property.
“You’re already told what to do, and those laws are reasonable laws,” said Rogers. “So is this one ... have pride in your community.”
Residents John Engles and Ken Manley, along with Councilman Brown, suggested the law be put on the 2008 ballot so the public could voice more than their opinions.
Others said the law could affect their livelihoods.
Sigrid Rademacher, who lives on county Rt. 19, disagreed.
“I came to this country 40 years ago and came to this area two years ago, and I cannot believe how my neighborhood looks. European cities are hundreds of years old, and they are kept clean, the sidewalks are neat, and all other things are stacked neatly behind the house,” said Rademacher. “It has nothing to do with being poor or unemployed; it has to do with getting up in the morning and picking up your garbage and taking it three miles down the road to the landfill.”
At one point while she was speaking, one gentleman said quietly that Rademacher should go back to Europe.
The board says it will review the salary of its Code Enforcement Officer, who said that the influx of complaints that’s expected could increase his workload.
The first vote deadlocked 2-2 at the August town meeting, with Kreiner and Brown against and Baker absent. The difference last night: Baker was present and Kreiner switched his original position based on public feedback.
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.