OAKFIELD, Maine — Properties in the town that are overflowing with garbage or other waste items may soon have to clean up their act.
A special public hearing was held at the Oakfield Community Center Jan. 9, with about 20 residents attending. The town’s property maintenance committee has been working to create an ordinance to deal with the issue of junk and garbage being stored on properties within the community.
Town Manager Dale Morris said the committee has been working on the ordinance for the past few months.
“A lot of people have expressed displeasure with some properties in town,” Morris said. “This is an attempt to get that corrected.”
Morris said the ordinance does not pertain to homes or buildings in the town, only items found outside of properties.
In a Letter to the Editor in the Jan. 9 issue of the Houlton Pioneer Times, Selectman Taylor Locke explained that the ordinance review committee was authorized by both the town’s board of selectmen and planning board to draft a document for the town.
“The committee has worked hard over the past few months to work out a document that best fits the needs of the town and respects the rights of individual property owners,” Locke wrote.
The purpose of the ordinance is to set a minimum standard for the maintenance of the ground of property in order to protect public health, public safety, property values, and to prevent nuisance conditions, Locke said.
“There has been an alarming increase in the number of properties in our town that have fallen below this minimum standard,” he wrote. “These places in question not only impact the value of our town but they pose grave threats to our health and safety. The committee took great care to respect the individual rights of property owners and the document has been watered down a great deal from its original format to ensure that the ordinance is as lenient as possible while still providing the means to enforce certain regulations.”
During the public hearing, residents expressed overwhelming support for the ordinance. Some questioned how the appeals process would be handled.
Selectman Anthony White said that any property owner cited for violating the ordinance could appeal the decision by making a formal written request and taking it to the town office.
“A special meeting will be arranged based on the appeal,” White said. “We won’t hold it for a month until our next regular meeting.”
White added that the proposed ordinance was not going to go to drastic measures.
“There are some issues in town that we need to take care of and we are hoping that this is a good place to start,” he said. “We’re not going so overboard that we’re going to tell people how high to cut their grass or that their fence is too short. That’s not the intentions of this at all.”
Locke added the town would take the “common sense approach” in dealing with sites found in violation of the ordinance.
“We don’t want to infringe on anyone, but there are some things that need to be taken care of,” he said.
The next step will be for the town’s board of selectmen to review the proposed ordinance. If it is approved by selectmen, the ordinance would be placed on the warrant for the next town meeting, held in March.
