Letter To The Editor – Junk Yards

Dear Editor:
Regarding the section, “Unlicensed Motor Vehicles,” in the April 20 Petersburgh Town Board report, General Municipal law defines a junk yard as “two or more unregistered vehicles on a property.” Regulating junk yards protects against hazardous waste and nuisance, inappropriate land use within residential neighborhoods, potential contamination of water supply and devaluation and reduction of marketability of real estate, etc. These problems exist whether the junk vehicles are in plain view (adding visual blight to the list) or whether they are located at the back of a property (unseen, but still, according to law, “a hazard to the health, safety and welfare of citizens”). Whether the property is suburban or rural is irrelevant.
The Town has adopted the minimum standard of protection: “No complaint, no enforcement.” Town enforcement occurs only if a compliant is filed. In this case, we were very reluctant to do this and attempted to resolve the matter privately.  After a year, the property owner did not act, and we were left with no choice. The Town issued a notice of violation, and as the property owner was quoted as saying, “…he spent six weeks last year getting rid of vehicles and filled ten dumpsters that were hauled away…,” which provides an indication of the scale of the problem, which would still exist had it not been for our complaint and the Town’s enforcement.
We fully realize the property owner is in the construction business and have no grounds for complaint regarding the legitimate use and storage of legally permitted vehicles. However, there now remain a substantial number of unregistered junk vehicles on the property.  Rather than continuing with enforcement efforts, a Town official is now saying that he is uncomfortable with enforcing the law and that in regard to this property owner, “the simplest thing to do would be for him to get a junk yard permit.” This is a drastic departure from the Town’s past policy and history of strong enforcement against unlicensed junk yards.  Any property owner has the right to apply for a junk yard license, but the question now is why the Town has stopped enforcement on this property and apparently adopted a new policy of encouraging junk yard license applications rather than enforcement against unlicensed junk yards?  Will this prompt past junk yard applications to be resubmitted and encourage new ones? If the Town issues a license to one junk yard operator, how can they then justify denying a license to another, especially if another is more appropriately sited or on a smaller scale, without subjecting themselves and tax dollars to lawsuits by residents and junk yard applicants for arbitrary and capricious behavior or abuse of discretion? Concerned property owners should make their views known to the Town Board and at public hearings.
Marian Wise and Duane Nealon
Potter Hill Road, Petersburgh