Town close to junkyard ordinance

By Stephen Seitz
CHESTER — The town of Chester is a step closer to adopting an ordinance to control unauthorized salvage yards.

The board of selectmen reviewed the proposed ordinance at its regular meeting on April 18.

“At this point,” chairman Arne Jonynas told the board, “we’re looking for any changes you might have seen in it, or that you might suggest.”

Selectwoman Heather Chase said she was concerned about the potential costs.

“We don’t know what the cost is going to be,” she said. “I’m a little uncomfortable because some of these situations could be very expensive.”

Derek Suursoo, a former selectman, said he was worried about selective enforcement. He said when he was on the board, they examined the question about ten years ago.

“The question I always had is that the complaints are usually around a very narrow range of problems,” said Suursoo. “Yet, how do you pull an enforcement action on one property without enforcing it on all properties? You can’t just target this stuff.”

Jonynas said some people had simply gone too far when it came to piling junk on their properties.

“There are those who take it to excess,” Jonynas said. “Those are the ones that are becoming a safety hazard. Those are the ones that are a health hazard. You’re right, if we were to enforce this around town, a lot of people would be in violation. This is about the health part, the safety part and the visual part.”

Jonynas emphasized that the townspeople want action.

“For the last year, we’ve had a lot of meetings on this,” Jonynas said. “We’ve had packed houses on this. They want us to do something. We’ll have to have another public meeting so that we can have public comment on it to adopt it at that time.”

Town Manager David Pisha said that a public meeting on the ordinance could take place at the board’s next regular meeting on May 2, after which the board could formally adopt the ordinance at its May 16 meeting.