What can you do on your own property? Most in DeKalb County believe that you should be able to use your property how you wish and store whatever you want within the property boundaries. But how about when one neighbor is affecting the health and safety of other property owners? Do those property owners also have rights against migrating smells, infestations, or even lingering daily smoke? Those are the questions put before the DeKalb County Commission last Thursday evening during their monthly workshop.
Local resident Toni Fruehauf addressed the board about concerns she has about her Nikki Lane property, and how one neighbor is endangering adjacent homes and families.
“The problem is when a person decides not to take out the trash to a local dump, and let it pile up outside of their house for months,” Fruehauf told the board. “I live on a street that only houses eight families, but they are all impacted by one home that is piled in filth. This particular situation has been going on for over a year. It stinks, and we now have rats and mice coming from it, not to mention the bugs that are coming from this filth.”
“I’ve called TDEC (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation), spoke with Sheriff (Patrick) Ray, and the county mayor, only to be told that there is nothing they can do. There are no health and safety standards in DeKalb County to allow them to help.”
“One TDEC employee’s words last year were, ‘DeKalb County is so far behind, they think they are in front.’ It’s just wrong on so many levels, and I along with other residents want it changed,” Fruehauf said.
Fruehauf told commissioners that instead of taking their trash to the dump, her neighbors have more than 100 bags of garbage piled around their house and high on their porch. She showed the commission photos of the hazard, and said that one neighbor next to them had to erect a privacy fence and put in a new sidewalk and porch area that they can’t use because of the smell. “She now gets insects on the inside of the home, has to put out rat poison, and is always afraid her dogs might eat it.”
“The neighbor across the street has been in her home for over 40 years, and now has to pay Terminix over $1,000 a year to keep from being infested,” Fruehauf continued. “She’s never had to do this before.”
“This is a health problem, a vermin problem, and it smells horrible, not to mention lowering all of our property values. This is a change that needs to be addressed. Imagine if this was your neighbor.”
DeKalb County Fire Chief Donny Green also chimed in on the issue, pointing out recent fire calls to a business in Liberty that has constantly burned a mountain of thousands of pallets, causing excessive smoke in the surrounding neighborhoods. One fire two weeks ago, resulted in firefighters battling a large blaze for over five hours, with the fire causing power outages by destroying power lines and destroying fiber optic telephone lines.
“Neither the state nor the county can do anything about that right now because technically they are not violating any laws,” Chief Green told the commission. “In the past, people had a good neighbor policy, and you just didn’t do that all the time.”
“The people around that property are suffering. I would hate to live around there. Liberty is in a basin to where the smoke just settles in there. Smoke gets pulled into people’s HVAC units, and it affects people with COPD or asthma,” Green continued. “There are even reports that the smoke is affecting the livestock in the area.”
“I know this is a business, but this is costing the county a lot of money. The last time, we were down there for five hours with four fire trucks, two tankers, and 23 personnel. That’s just the last time we were there. We’ve been down there regularly, and it’s costing us a lot of money.”
“It’s something that if the state can’t get involved in, then we are going to have to get involved in it. This is an everyday occurrence. It’s not burning once a week or once a month, it’s an everyday major operation. The fire department is not regulatory. We don’t get into saying if someone is in violation or not.”
“It’s a shame that we have to talk about making new laws over issues like this,” Green concluded. “Just being good neighbors would solve it, but unfortunately people think different sometimes.”
After the meeting, Mrs. Fruehauf talked with the Smithville Review, saying the issue is not about parked cars or what some might consider eyesores, but rather health and safety concerns that affect adjoining property owners. “It’s about the smell, and the bugs and rodents that migrate over to our property. We have a right to enjoy our property. I don’t care about parked cars or washing machines in someone’s yard. This is about our health and safety. Would you want to live next to that?”
According to DeKalb County Mayor Matt Adcock, in order to set ordinances across the area, the county would first have to adopt the County Powers Act. “That would give the county the opportunity to enforce ordinances the same way a city or municipality gets to.”
The County Powers Act gives county governments the availability to prescribe limits within which business occupations and practices liable to be nuisances or detrimental to the health, morals, security or general welfare of the people may lawfully be established, conducted or maintained.
Adcock explained that Putnam County already has this in place, and they have a committee that comes together to address health and safety issues. “They would send a letter, issue a warning that they have so many days to fix the issue or face a fine.”
We would have to set some criteria, like whether it is affecting someone’s health, or their wellbeing or safety.
Adcock said he plans to send the issue to the Government Services Committee, where they will weigh the pros and cons of the act, and get some other expert opinions on the issue.
