Junkyard battles cost Buckfield $10K per year

BUCKFIELD — Town Manager Glen Holmes presented a report to the board of selectmen that documented nearly $60,000 in junkyard cleanup costs over the past six years.

The revelation sparked a new discussion about whether the town should spend money on the issue.

"Basically, it pretty much consumed our entire legal budget every year," said Holmes.

Holmes produced the report in response to a citizen request for an overall tally of the costs of cleaning up yards. The town is currently collecting photographs of any properties that might be deemed to have illegal amounts of junk or unregistered automobiles.

The $58,849.37 was spent on just four court cases on three different properties. The property of James Bishop on Depot Street cost $10,311.31 in legal fees.

A case against Nezinscot Industries to clean up a portion of the railroad bed cost the town $4,913.44, but it actually made money on that case, as Nezinscot paid $7,500 in court fines.

The biggest cost was the property of Roger Bennett on Depot Street. The actual cleanup cost $19,246.41, and a land dispute stemming from the case cost the town another $31,869.21.

The revelation prompted citizen Joyce Hartson to question the town's renewed effort to seek out more problem properties.

"Why are we looking out in the woods for more junkyards?" she asked.

"We're not looking out in the woods for more junkyards," said Holmes.

Holmes said that he was asked by the selectboard to collect information on potential issues.

"So then I ask  the board of selectmen," said Hartson, "why are we looking for more junkyards?"

"I don't know," said Selectman Robin Buswell, seeming to indicate that he did not support the idea of ferreting out more potential court cases.

"Because I'm hoping that people would start to have more of a pride in your property," said Selectwoman Eileen Hotham. She said that citizens should "take care of your property, and when you have a bunch of junk around it is not pride in your property."

"But is it the town's business spending tax money dollars to make people have pride in their property?" asked Hartson.

Newly-elected Selectman John Lowell said that he wasn't concerned about mildly cluttered yards, but that things like automobile junkyards created an environmental hazard.

"How much gas, acids, pollutants are going in the ground, and all of a sudden your well down the road, your groundwater's gone.," said Lowell. "When we're talking automobile graveyards, I can say there, we've got an environmental concern."

"So the selectmen just want him to look for automobile graveyards?" asked Hartson.

"No, because there's junk that could be garbage, and that's another health issue," said Hotham.

Lowell said that the issue would come up at town meeting, and that the town could decide whether to spend money on the issue. He said that he felt the selectboard had a responsibility to have the knowledge of what potentially problematic properties existed.