ROXBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – Eric Sigsbey has lived in the town of Roxbury for over ten years.
He’s owned multiple properties in the area, some he rents out as Airbnb, and one complaint he’s had time and time again stems from his neighbors, who have a bunch of what he calls ‘junk’ on their front yard.
He wants the town to have it cleaned up.
“You have to look at that junk. It is an environmental hazard. It just gets worse and worse and worse. They drag trailer after trailer full of just junk. I don’t know where they get it. And you can just see it piling up. You know, then the town says enough it enough,” said Sigsbey.
Last year, the town of Roxbury voted on a solid waste disposal ordinance, also known as a ‘junk’ ordinance.
According to town officials, since the ‘90s, there have been several properties in town that have an excess of discarded material left sitting on front lawns.
The new ordinance allows the town select board to enforce clean-up if a complaint has been filed, and it can be filed anonymously.
But now that Sigsbey has filed the town’s first complaint, Roxbury officials say enforcing the ordinance is not so simple. Sigsbey’s neighbors have appealed and say it’s not clear to them what they must get rid of.
“I am not really sure what specific things we are supposed to pick up or not pick up. I am not really sure what is a stake here or not at stake. What should be done or what shouldn’t be done? I don’t know. We asked for clarification, we never received anything,” said Yelena Synkova, Sigsbey’s neighbor.
Select board members say they just want everyone to get along and respect each other’s properties.
“The ‘junk’ ordinance if you want to call it that, is just simply mirroring state law. This is a means for the town to complete compliance with it. There was a lot of concern whether or not this would be used to settle scores in town and that’s not the case. I think that has proven out in a year we have only one complaint so far,” said Select Board Chair Jon Guiffre.
Going forward Roxbury officials say enforcement of the ordinance will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
