February 2014
Page 4
...Summerfield Regulations Continued...
strictly enforced or laxly enforced depending on who decides what is a It is not known if the rule could violation. affect local property owners, farms or other agricultural lands in regards to the BOXES AND TOOLS IN use of pesticides or controlled burning of OPEN SHEDS AND CARPORTS fields or the burning of leaves and trees that are currently allowed if one obtains Another very general and broad rule that a burn permit from the fire department. could affect a lot of homes depending on Also if you have a farm with horses how it is enforced is one that says you or cows in a field or a yard where your can’t have any boxes or tools visible from dog or cat goes, you had better hope that the road or in unsecured areas. This their poop doesn’t smell or attract flies. would affect carports and open garages The ordinance addresses those issues as as well as open sheds where normally well and says that animal poop that folks have items like lawnmowers, tools, smells or attracts flies is a nuisance. garden equipment, workshops, etc. “Dog lots, pens, pet enclosures of all “The use of carports, open porches, kinds, outdoor areas where dogs or other decks, open garages and other outdoor pets are chained or kept or areas where areas that are visible from the street as a dogs and cats are permitted to roam storage or collection place for boxes, which become a collection place for dog, appliances, furniture (not typical cat or pet waste and excrement and outdoor or yard furniture), tools, which attract flies or other pests, emit equipment, junk, garbage, old worn out foul odors which can be detected or broken or discarded machinery and noticed on adjacent property or are not equipment, cans, containers, household kept in a sanitary condition,” says goods or other similar condition that section #14 of the ordinance. increase the likelihood of a fire; may If the Town of Summerfield is able to conceal dangerous conditions; may be a enact these rules, it will have breeding place or habitat for mice, rats accomplished something that not even or other pests; or, create an unattractive the Environmental Protection Agency condition or visually blighted property,” has the ability to regulate -- every single says section #8 of the ordinance. type of airborne pollutant or smell that is Theoretically, if you use your garage created on private property. to store stuff, your neighbor or the town might complain about it and you could OUTDOOR FURNITURE be in violation. The proposed ordinances also seem The new rules would also potentially to indicate that open storage of gasoline, make local citizens have to buy new bags of fertilizer, motor oil, etc. could be furniture for their outdoor patios, illegal and those items would need to be porches, and decks. stored in a closed compartment, which According to the new ordinances, if would seem to be opposite of what one you buy a wooden rocking chair made would think in terms of safety, as the for indoor use and put it on your front build up of gasoline or chemical vapors porch, you have created a public can be dangerous. nuisance. “An open or unsecured storage or “The placement, storage or use of collection place for chemicals, acids, oils, upholstered sofas, couches, chairs or gasoline, flammable or combustible other indoor type furniture, appliances, materials or flammable or combustible seats removed from motor vehicles or liquids, poisonous materials or other other furniture not intended for outdoor similar harmful or dangerous use by the manufacturer, use on any substances, gasses or vapors,” says the open porch, carport, stoop, deck, ordinance. veranda, terrace, patio or other outdoor area that is visible from nearby streets NEED TO MOW DITCHES and sidewalks,” says Section #11. As such, residents could be told by If you have a ditch or other area that is the town that they can only use furniture part of the right of way next to a road or that is supposed to be “outdoor” in street, under the new ordinance you will nature anywhere outside of their house be required to mow or otherwise or at least on decks, patios, etc. maintain that ditch the same way you do the rest of your yard. CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS & “It shall be the duty of every person HEATING AND AIR MATERIALS occupying, owning or having control of property abutting on a street or highway Although it is unclear if the new rules that utilizes a portion of the unused would apply to hardware stores, lumber street or highway right-of-way as a yard mills, or general construction companies or any other use to maintain said rightlike Doggett Construction on Highway of-way in the same character and 220, anyone who has any type of lumber manner as the abutting use,” says section or construction materials on their #1 of the nuisance ordinance. property could potentially face action from the town by storing these items. RUNNING SHORT OF SPACE It is also unclear if a heating and air conditioning company that stored parts This newspaper is running short of space and such for use on their projects would and has posed a full copy of the nuisance be in violation, but those items are ordinances at stokesdalestar.com mentioned in the ordinance. On a farm, a collection of fence TOWN’S DIRECTION posts, rolled up chicken wire, lumber or other materials used in the regular For a town that was founded on the idea maintenance of a farm would be of “limited” government, it certainly considered a public nuisance under the seems to be headed in the opposite rules, unless there is a construction direction. At the Summerfield Town permit issued by the county. Council meeting on January 9th, Mayor "A collection place for lumber, Tim Sessoms asked town manager Scott bricks, blocks, nails, building hardware, Whitaker if the town could buy more roofing materials, scaffolding, masonry blocks of time from Nfocus to enforce materials, electrical supplies or more code and other violations in town. materials, plumbing supplies or In addition, there was some materials, heating and air conditioning discussion about the possibility of the supplies or materials or any other type of town generating its own complaints on old or unusable building supplies its own so it didn’t have to wait on (especially those with nails, staples or regular citizens to file them. sharp objects and edges) unless such For those in the town who want a conditions are temporary in nature and glimpse into a possible future for caused by a current construction project Summerfield, they should look into what in progress pursuant to a lawfully issued has happened in the Town of Ronda, NC. building permit,” says the ordinance. According to the Wilkes JournalPatriot newspaper, after Nfocus was FIREWOOD & LEAF PILES hired in the town last year for code enforcement, Ronda was also told that its If you have outdoor storage of firewood public nuisance ordinances were for your house or if you have a leaf or “outdated,” creating a huge controversy brush pile, then according to the in the town. More ordinances are being ordinance, your home could be declared considered there, including a ban on a public nuisance. farm animals, horses, and livestock. As firewood and leaves are certainly Some residents there are upset that a combustible item and as brush is they are being told what to do with their specifically mentioned in the ordinance, property and there has been a recall your yardwork projects to collect those movement to unseat the mayor, criminal items in one place could be subject to a charges filed when a local resident got violation of the ordinance. into a squabble with the town over “An open place, collection, storage whether he could keep his roosters, and place or concentration of combustible other turmoil, as reported by the paper. items such as mattresses, boxes, paper, Is Summerfield giving up its rural automobile tires and tubes, garbage, nature to become a uniform urban town? trash, refuse, brush, old clothes, rags, or It seems to be happening in Ronda. any other combustible materials “This is a rural community collection,” says section #4 of the ...everyone has animals,” said one ordinance. resident during a discussion on a The ordinance contains many such proposed ordinance to ban farm animals. provisions that are seemingly vague, “Ronda is a farming community that open to interpretation, and could be decided to incorporate.” ::
Trailer Park Residents Get Some Help, But Still In Dire Straits
Summerfield trailer park resident Betty Holder says she has title to her trailer but it is too old to be moved and doesn’t have anywhere to move it. Photo: Star.
By The Star SUMMERFIELD - After The Star, Fox8, News2, the News & Record, and another paper covered the plight of residents in a trailer park that is being bought by the Town of Summerfield, residents there have been given until at least March 2nd to vacate the property. The residents learned they would have to move when they first read about it in the January edition of The Star. (Editor’s Note: A Town of Summerfield press release that implied the residents were served notice before the paper came out has been corrected.
The residents were actually served notice by a note being placed on their doors by the landowner on January 6th, days after The Star was printed.) The landowner, an LLC company owned by the Gordon family, is also now offering $1,000 to each trailer owner to move their trailers. However, some residents who came to a January town council meeting said their trailers some of which date to 1974 are too old to move. Resident Betty Holder said she doesn’t know if her trailer can be moved or where she would move it to. The Star will continue to provide updates. ::
HAVE FUN AND GET FIT IN OAK RIDGE!
JOIN US AT
MUSTANG FITNESS POWERED BY
CROSSFIT OAK RIDGE
8309 Linville Rd, Oak Ridge, NC Phone: (336) 643-3444
Strength & Conditioning :: Zumba Tae Kwon Do :: Personal Training Team/Group Training :: Outdoor Fields for Youth Sports Practice
CROSSFITOAKRIDGE.COM