Neighbors Want Property Owner To Clean It Up
Don’t worry about the three dozen rusting cars, piles of rotting insulation and heaps of trash near your home, county officials told Wayne Schermerhorn.
It’s really not that illegal. And besides, trying to prosecute someone for a minor code violation takes years.
That message has sent the Deer Park pastor into a righteous fury.
“No place I’ve ever lived - and I’ve lived all over the United States - would anybody in their farthest imagination say it’s a legal thing to do,” said Schermerhorn.
Schermerhorn’s frustration stems from a complaint he made two months ago to the county code enforcement office. He wants the place cleaned up; the county says it’s not that easy.
The code enforcement office says the offending property owner, William Schamp, promises to build a fence and, later, a house. If he does, the dozens of cars and trash would not be a violation.
“We can’t insist on people doing anything more than the law,” said Allan deLaubenfels, county code enforcement officer.
DeLaubenfels sent Schamp a letter demanding the property on West Dahl Road, zoned for agricultural uses, be cleaned. But he advises patience to Schemerhorn and a handful of neighbors who’ve called the county to complain.
“I have one case we’ve been prosecuting four years,” said deLaubenfels. “We try to avoid that route.”
Schamp, who recently moved from Kent, Wash., says he didn’t know it was illegal to store cars on the property when he bought it in January. He restores cars as a hobby and bought the land to use as a storage yard. He says he’s not selling car parts, so it’s not a wrecking yard, which would be illegal.
And the piles of trash were hidden under a blanket of snow, emerging in the spring like freckles under a sunburn.
He says he plans to comply with the county code, but personal problems, including the recent death of a son and the move, have complicated his life.
“When I quit having a minister and few other people pester me, when I get time to reorganize my family, I’ll do it,” he said.
Schermerhorn, pastor of the Church of Christ of the Wildwoods, lives in a parsonage next to Schamp’s property. He first complained in March when cars began appearing on the one-acre lot.
Neighbors were used to erratic behavior from individuals on the property; squatters previously lived in a trailer parked on the land. Trash has carpeted the site for at least a year.
Schermerhorn and Addie Haynes, another neighbor, question whether such a junk pile would remain if it wasn’t in Deer Park.
“It’s a real problem that neither the county nor the zoning commission or the county commission really cares about,” said Schermerhorn. “They give me lip service.”
Haynes, 79, agrees. “I wonder how long it would be like this if a county commissioner lived on this road.”
Schamp says his neighbors, including Schermerhorn, have been far from warm. He’s explained his circumstances and gotten a cold reception from Schermerhorn.
“I’m required to follow the rules of the county, not (Schermerhorn’s) rules,” said Schamp.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo