Planners extend time for cleanup

The Morgan County Planning Commission gave Robert Summers until the next meeting on July 24 to complete the cleanup of unlicensed vehicles on his property located in the southern part of the county.

Summers lives on Daisy Lane in the Timber Ridge District and has removed 18 vehicles from his property since he was ordered by planners to begin doing so at the May 22 meeting.

Summers is in violation of both state and county salvage yard regulations. He said he has leased a building elsewhere to store the assortment of cars, trucks and campers.

County Planner Alma Gorse said the salvage yard regulations only allow three unlicensed vehicles to be on a property. She said when she first looked at the site she counted 30 unlicensed vehicles.

Summers disputed that figure, but did not provide a figure himself.

Gorse suggested planners give Summers another 30 days to remove the rest of the vehicles before the matter is turned over to the Sheriff.

Planning board member Eric LaRue said there had to be some verification afterward that Summers has complied with salvage yard regulations.

Gorse said she and Barbara Abe of the state’s Division of Highways would do an inspection of the property.

“If the Planning Commis-sion decides to give you more time, we would expect to see a resolution rather than just an effort,” Commission President Jack Soronen told Summers.

Board member Jim Hoyt moved to give Summers until the next meeting, or 28 days, to finish removing the vehicles.
Planners voted 8-1 to allow the extra time with Eric LaRue casting the opposing vote.

Waivers granted
John Vos requested a waiver of the scale and size of a plat drawing and a waiver of the requirement of 50 feet distance from a well to an adjacent property line in order to divide a two acre lot off of Section II of the Vos Mountain subdivision.

The lot is located in the Cacapon District on Rockford Road, a half mile southwest of the Sparky Dawson low water bridge and owned by Vos Mountain, LLC.

Vos said he wants to sell the 200-year-old Sparky Dawson house located on the lot. The house is now unoccupied.
He requested planners accept the waiver with the well only 29 feet away from the adjacent property because of an existing fence line. The adjacent property is an undeveloped 22 acre field.

Planners unanimously passed the waivers for scale and size of the plat, but held a discussion about the waiver for the well.

Several planning board members worried about a problem with the well if the land next to it was ever developed and a septic tank placed near the property line.

Vos, who owns the adjacent parcel, said he has no intentions of ever developing the land.

Chuck Dawson of Berkeley Land Surveys said if the adjacent land ever were developed, the lay of the land would dictate the septic system and well for the property be placed at the far end of the lot away from the property line.

After the discussion, seven out of nine members voted to pass the waiver on the well distance. LaRue and Hoyt did not vote for the waiver.