SABATTUS – With an influx of unpermitted junkyards sprouting in Sabattus, selectmen have decided they will start enforcing an ordinance they passed several months ago.
The law was established, in part, for residents who “stack their trash outside of wherever they live and just create unsightly messes,” Selectman William Luce said. “So we do have an ordinance on the book and it is enforceable.”
Chairman Gino Camardese said that starting the first of July, he will make house calls to residents who do not have a junkyard permit and have them sign a notice of removal and compliance within 10 days. That will be followed by a $100 fine daily for 25 days, if necessary.
If the issue is not resolved in compliance to the ordinance, civil action is the next step, he said.
“We needed to do something to create more bite,” Camardese said. “I have at least 13 residents I plan on visiting with pictures starting the first week in July.”
In addition to regaining control of the town’s junk sprawl, selectmen are also discussing the possibility of creating a similar fine system for new businesses that operate in town without obtaining the proper paperwork and the green light from the Planning Board.
The Planning Board announced that there were at least four new businesses in town that had not been before the board to date. This also includes the posting of business signs and ensuring that all meet Planning Board regulations.
Long grass and bamboo by the roadside will no longer be an issue once the new tractor attachment arm arrives. It will allow public works crews to mow the street shoulders. Unfortunately the $4,700 ditch mower takes six weeks to deliver, Road Commissioner James Wood said. That delays mowing until the end of July.
Wood also backed a resident’s idea to place a permanent weight limit on Ball Park Road.
“We don’t have sidewalks there,” Camardese said. “Eventually the Recreation Department will be using the school’s playgrounds and children will be everywhere.”
Selectmen voted that the limit remain at 30,000 pounds and that heavier trucks not use it as a through way.
“That road was built to handle 80,000-pound loads,” Wood said.
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