ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
You might not believe the lengths some city residents will go to in order to keep junked cars in their back yards:
* Tying vicious dogs to the cars to keep zoning enforcement inspectors from "tagging" the heaps as the law now requires.
* Blocking junk cars with operable vehicles to prevent tow truck drivers from hauling them away.
* Hiding the junkers under bright orange or blue tarpaulins - which has the ironic effect of making them stick out like an even sorer thumb.
On Tuesday, Roanoke City Council did believe it. By a 5-0 vote, council established a fine of up to $500 for refusing entry to city inspectors or otherwise thwarting the intent of a law aimed at forcing people to clean up their yards.
In another change approved Monday, the city will be able to notify owners by certified mail that their vehicles will be removed. Under the current law, the city may order a vehicle removed only after an inspector has tagged it with a large orange sticker - a loophole that some dog owners have exploited by tying their pets to the junked cars.
The changes take effect March1.
"Have our [employees] really encountered people tethering guard dogs to these vehicles to keep them [out]?" Vice Mayor Linda Wyatt asked.
"That is indeed true," Public Works Director Bill Clark replied.
"That, to me, is unconscionable.... Nobody should have to go through that," Wyatt said.
Ted Tucker, a zoning enforcement officer, said after the meeting that inspectors in his office encounter five or six dogs each week that are tied to or near junked cars.
"Quite a few times, they're trying to eat us," Tucker said. "We can't get close enough to tag it."
Junk cars that are blocked from towing by other vehicles are even more frequent, Tucker said. Tow truck drivers have a list of a "couple dozen" instances in which towers have been thwarted. Owners of those cars also will be subject to the fine.
The changes also will affect a larger number of junk car owners who up until now have been allowed to simply pull tarps over their broken-down vehicles. Beginning March 1, the use of tarps to cover broken-down cars will be outlawed.
Owners will have to remove the cars from their property or have them inspected and registered. Normally, they would not be subject to the fine, City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said.
Tucker said that as a result of a loophole in the law enacted law year, many owners simply pulled blue or orange tarps over their cars to keep the city from towing them.
"I know one lady off of Garden City Boulevard who has four in her yard," he said. In some cases neighbors have complained more about the bright colors than the junked cars, Tucker said. "We're going to go back now. Those people who have been allowed to use the tarps - they're not grandfathered."
City Manager Bob Herbert told council that under the ordinance enacted last year, owners removed 1,140 junk cars from their property after being issued citations by the city. Another 60 cars were towed and sold for parts or scrap after owners declined to remove the vehicles.
In other action Monday, council:
* Decided to buy four used "one-armed bandit" style garbage trucks rather than new trucks, a move that is estimated to save taxpayers $260,000.
City Manager Bob Herbert said the used trucks will be thoroughly checked out by city mechanics before they are purchased at auction, then fully refurbished before they're put on the street. New trucks cost about $125,000 each vs. about $60,000 for used ones, including refurbishing.
* Agreed to purchase nearly 16,000 large flip-top residential trash cans that would be used with the "one-armed bandit" style trucks for a total cost of $643,074. Almost all of the containers are 95-gallon models. And the purchase would prepare roughly half the homes in the city for automated trash pickups, which are slated to begin in certain neighborhoods sometime in the summer.
* Agreed, preliminarily, to spend $121,000 to acquire an apartment house at 502 Church Ave. S.W. owned by Guy and Patricia Sparks. The building and land, currently assessed for tax purposes at $67,500, would be torn down. That land would be grouped together with other scheduled demolitions in the area as part of a $1million project to build parking lots for city employees.
The purchase was approved by council's Water Resources Committee, and will be voted on by council at a later date.
* Agreed to transfer $92,555 from the city Sheriff's Office to the city's Juvenile Detention Home at Coyner Springs to pay for security-related repairs. Those include replacement of cell doors, locks, lockers for guards' weapons, steel screens, a video surveillance system and unbreakable mirrors.
* Agreed to spend $15,946 on a Virginia Department of Transportation project to widen the intersection of Franklin Road and Elm Avenue. A closed convenience store and gas station stand on the site. It will be demolished.
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