In rural St. Louis County, Minnesota, we just had a victory on this
last summer. Our county is the size of Rhode Island. 20 years ago
the county quietly passed an ordinance requiring a salvage yard permit
for anything over 3 inoperable vehicles on a parcel of land. It
was not enforced and forgotten.
Two years ago, someone put a bug up the county board's rear and the
Sheriff's department was told to quit looking for Meth labs and murderers
and start enforcing this ordinance. One officer was assigned to
this detail. He started ticketing even farmers and loggers for farming
and logging equipment and using aerial photos to spot stuff (summons
were issued on stuff way back in the woods with no tracks in the
snow leading to it.)
Old cars and trucks are a strong hobby around here, not to mention
the farmers and loggers that have to make a living with their stuff.
At four or five packed county board meetings the Commissioners
were told in no uncertain terms that this had to stop.
It was also brought up by yours truly that the county snowplow garages
were probably the biggest offenders in the county.
It took a year of persistence, but over the objections of the Planning
and Zoning Board, a new ordinance was passed. It works as follows:
Up to five inoperable cars or trucks can be kept on a parcel in plain
sight, along with an unlimited number of operable, registered vehicles.
An unlimited number of inoperable cars can be kept so long as they
are not visible from public land or from a neighbor's property while
standing on the ground with the unaided eye at any time of the year
(you can see in the woods around here a lot further in the winter
than in the summer). Seeing them from the air or space is specifically
prohibited from enforcement.
The vehicles can be screened from view by topography, trees, brush,
shrubs, or a fence that meets the Zoning Board guidelines.
Farm, logging, and construction equipment is specifically excluded
from this ordinance.
The storage area and vehicles must be in compliance with Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency guidelines, which generally means not leaking
any fluids.
Setbacks from shorelines etc must be maintained as outlined in state
law.
A commercial zoning permit is not needed unless the site exists specifically
to operate as a salvage business. Occasional casual car sales or
parts sales or exchanges do not count.
Townships and cities that have established their own zoning boards
and regulations can establish more restrictive rules, so long as
they do not violate state law.
Except for some people who live in Duluth and weren't affected by
it anyways and some environmentalists who aren't happy with anything
man does, almost everyone felt this was something that could be lived
with.
Like I said, we felt it was a victory, but I expect more stringent
rules again as time goes by. This would not work in an urban area
or in some wide open rural areas, but maybe some of you in more rural
areas may want to keep this in mind when the Sheriff comes a knockin'.
Bruce Kettunen
57 3200
Mt. Iron, MN
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