Town adds fines to junked car rules

FLETCHER – Fletcher leaders have added the possibility of fines for violators of the town's junked car rules.

The town made the changes to its ordinance at a recent meeting. The changes give the town the ability to issue fines for $50 a day for violations of the ordinance.

The town also established rules governing abandoned manufactured homes.

Fletcher Town Council member Bob Davy said the changes are meant to deal with the “really extreme, eyesore cases.”

“This will give us the teeth to go after those blatant abusers,” Davy said at a recent council meeting.

Enforcement will be complaint driven, according to town officials.

Fletcher's ordinance does allow one junked vehicle, but it must be concealed.

According to the ordinance, “One junked motor vehicle, in its entirety, can be located in the rear yard if the junked motor vehicle is entirely concealed from public view from a public street and from abutting premises by an acceptable covering. … Any other junked motor vehicle(s) must be kept in a garage or building structure that provides a complete enclosure so that the junked motor vehicle(s) cannot be seen from a public street or abutting property.”

Under the changes, the town can issue fines to those violating the ordinance before taking the step of towing a junked vehicle, according to Eric Rufa, Fletcher's planning director.

Under the ordinance, those with “abandoned, junked or nuisance vehicles,” on their property are notified via mail. If an on-site meeting with the owner determines a violation, the property owner has 30 days to comply with the ordinance. The town can grant an extension to the 30-day period if that property owner is making a “good faith” effort to deal with the problem.

“If the vehicle(s) is/are not brought into compliance within the 30-day period, then the administrator may issue a civil penalty in the amount of $50 per day per vehicle for every day the violation continues to exist,” according to the ordinance.

After that, the town can have the problem vehicle towed.

The ordinance defines an abandoned mobile home as one “that has not had legal power or was not properly connected to a permitted septic or sewer system and water supply in the last six months, not to be interpreted to include a manufactured home parked or stored in accordance with a valid zoning permit.”

Like junked cars, the owner has a 30-day period to remove an abandoned mobile home if the town determines there is a problem. After that, the owner can be fined $50 a day.

Rufa said complaints about junked cars average just two to four a year.

“I've not come across a situation where we've towed any vehicles,” he said. “We usually work with folks.”

Contact Ball at 232-5851 or jball@PISGAHMOUNTAINNEWS.com

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