Junkyard violators becoming compliant

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By Dan King

Two of Whitehall’s longstanding junkyard ordinance violators are moving into compliance with the law, a town official says.

Code officer Vern Scribner reported to the town board on Dec. 17 that the two property owners had either had action taken against them or had begun to remedy the problems.

One of the troubled properties is located on Route 4; the other is at the intersection of Greenmount Cemetery Lane and County Route 12. Both properties have been repeatedly brought up as troubled areas during town board meetings.

“Our complainant over on Cemetery Lane called me and told me the county had called her and apologized for not getting back to her,” Scribner said. “They (county code office) sent a letter to the guy saying he had to clean up because the county considered it a junkyard.”

The letter addressing this property is the first activity from the county on this particular property, after complaints from nearby residents.

Amy Michaud, who lives opposite that property, said she had called the county code office multiple times and never heard back until the call that Scribner referred to.

Now that the county has issued a warning letter, if the property is not remedied, the county can take legal action based on junkyard ordinances.

“It (the letter) should save the county some money and time,” Scribner added.

Scribner and other town officials did say that the property appeared to be slowly getting cleaned up.

The other repeat offender that officials were concerned with has been handled by State Police.

“The state took care of one of our major problems, out there on Route 4,” Scribner said.

The Route 4 property was previously a dump site and a prior town board had signed a permit allowing Charles McKinney to live on the former dump site. However, last month, McKinney faced animal cruelty charges for the conditions that horses on that property were living under.

“I think we got a stroke of luck,” Scribner said.