Despite neighbor concerns about aesthetic and health impacts of old cars and other detritus gathered in the driveway and yard of a property on Kullgren Road, the Select Board has few options to address the issue, according to officials.
The property at 69 Kullgren Road, owned by Travis Woodbury, has been on the Select Board agenda on and off for more than two years, according to Select Board minutes. The property has multiple unregistered cars on site. The town’s zoning ordinance allows only two unregistered vehicles to be stored on a property before the town can consider it a junkyard.
Temple does not have a specific ordinance about the regulation of junkyards, but does reference the state RSA 236, which regulates them.
The ongoing issues at the property will be discussed during tonight’s (Tuesday) Select Board meeting, but Bill Ezell, a Select Board member who will be chairing that meeting, said there is little the board can do to move forward with the problem, he said in an interview Monday.
The Select Board has already sent Woodbury a notice of his violation of the zoning ordinance, with no action taken on Woodbury’s part to remove the unregistered vehicles, Ezell said. The process has been further complicated by the property being set for foreclosure in April, until Woodbury filed for bankruptcy, which stalled the sale of the house. Now, Ezell said, the town has been advised by its lawyer to wait out the process to see whether the foreclosure will go through or not.
After a notice of violation, the town has the option to pursue the matter in civil court, which could impose fines, Ezell said, but the town will not move forward with that process until the foreclosure issue is resolved, if they do at all.
Neighbors have expressed concerns about the property affecting their own property values and even water supply. Chad Desmarais, who lives across the street, said the view of the driveway has become “an eyesore for the road, both for those that live there and those that drive by.”
Desmarais said he only built his home about three years ago, and is concerned about his home value due to the aesthetics of the neighborhood, as well as waste oil or other materials running off his neighbor’s driveway and impacting his shallow well.
“We have no idea what the runoff from his property has in it,” he said. He said he is looking into getting his well tested.
Ezell said that though the board will be discussing 69 Kullgren Road during its meeting tonight, it will only be an update on the status of the property. The town doesn’t really have an avenue to enforce a clean-up of the property, Ezell said, though he knows neighbors are concerned about it.
“He has a lot of trash in the yard. We can’t do anything about that,” Ezell said. “There’s nothing in our zoning that says you can’t have trash in your yard.”
Ezell said the town could toughen its zoning ordinances to cover issues such as the one on Kullgren Road, but said in the past, the town votes haven’t reflected a willingness for the ordinance to be more stringent.
“People like to complain, but don’t want to change the zoning ordinance so we can enforce things,” he said. “The town has said in the past that they don’t have a need for more strict zoning ordinances.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.