County addresses junk ordinance

Wahkiakum County commissioners decided Tuesday to try a two-pronged approach to updating ordinances to address junk vehicles, boats, RV's, appliances and other items that become public nuisances.

Commissioners began considering a junk vehicle ordinance in the spring after receiving complaints about problem spots around the county. As Commission Chair Blair Brady commented, it started with vehicles and expanded to include other "crap" that has collected on certain properties.

The board held public meetings, and citizens attending those meetings, in shows of hands, overwhelmingly supported a move to develop at least a limited ordinance to address problem areas.

The board, on Tuesday, heard an analysis and recommendation from Leonard Taylor, environmental services specialist for the Health Department. With the assistance of Clerk of the Board Marsha LaFarge, he analyzed ordinances from around the state.

Of the 10 counties in the state with population less than 20,000, six had some sort of ordinance, he said. Overall, 30 of the state's 39 counties have ordinances.

Taylor recommended that the county amend its Ordinance 137-2004 as follows:

1. Amend the definition of a junk vehicle to include more specific details as some other counties have (possibly including a way to certify a vehicle as a "junk vehicle"):

2. Outline the junk vehicle abatement process clearly and set precise procedures to follow;

3. Include derelict vessels, recreation vehicles and campers;

4. Amend the definition of solid waste to include broken appliances; and

5. If desired, add specific ways for landowners to have a certain number of junk vehicles, that is, by use of visual barriers, indoor storage, timelines for restoration, and so on.

Commission Chair Blair Brady, however, suggested the county may not need to proceed with work on an ordinance.

Since the commissioners began the discussion, people have started cleaning up problem sites in the Westend, he said. Truckloads of junk is being moved, and people have moved old vehicles off the road right-of-way, and law enforcement officers are ready to cite people for things left on the right-of-way.

"So in my district, even the threat of doing something had been effective," he said.

Brady added that he felt a junk ordinance could become a slippery slope that would infringe on people's property rights, and he doesn't want to do that.

Commissioner Dan Cothren expressed a different point of view. He supports private property rights, too, he said, but the county's lax laws invite people to bring materials that can't be stored in other counties into Wahkiakum County. The accumulations of junk on one property also impact neighbors in property values and saleability of property.

"My big issue is that we become a dumping ground," he said. "I want to be real careful, but if we get a bit lax, they come back."

Cothren asked that the officials continue working on an ordinance or amendments to current ordinances, "something light."

A committee will be appointed with representatives from the commission, the planning commission, the Property Rights Advisory Board, Health Department and four citizens at large.

In the meantime, Brady said, he wanted the road department to identify possible problem sites; commissioners would inspect the sites, and if necessary, write a letter to the land owners expressing concern.