FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Residents on Riverside Avenue in Fort Fairfield have asked town officials to work with the owner and tenants of a nearby home to clean up the property and address several complaints.
At Fort Fairfield’s Aug. 16 town council meeting, three residents from Riverside Avenue used the public comment period to voice their concerns about a neighboring home and tenants at 107 Riverside Drive, which they say is impacting their quality of life.
“The property appearance is disgraceful. There is junk all over the front and back yards,” said Cathy Letarte, who lives next door. “We have spent the winter and most of this summer staring at a camper with a shot out back window.”
Letarte said she, her husband and other neighbors have also been impacted by noise issues from the property, located in a neighborhood with relatively small lots across the river from downtown Fort Fairfield.
Letarte said the individuals at the property use a generator for power and have two stoves with vents set up to go out the window.
“There is a lot of smoke,” she said, adding that she believes the individuals are not burning clean, seasoned wood. She also said that there the individuals play loud music at night and have “ATVs going at all hours.”
Letarte and her husband Keith brought the issue to the town council and also said they filed complaints with Fort Fairfield’s police and fire departments, code enforcement officer and town manager.
“We would just like to have the town address these issue, have him clean up his property and make sure he’s operating the house up to code,” Letarte said.
The owners and tenants of the property have not been identified and could not be reached for comment.
Fort Fairfield code enforcement officer Tony Levesque said the town is working to address the complaints filed by the Letarte’s and others though a formal, multi-step process. In these types of cases, some of the complaints would be handled by the police, while others by the code enforcement office, he said.
The case is still open and Levesque said the town could provide further comment on the details of the case. It is also a complicated case, he said, because the property is owned by a non-resident and currently leased.
