Town gets proposed junk car ordinance

Littleton Town Attorney Gilbert Chichester presented the town board of commissioners with a proposed draft ordinance addressing the town’s ability to regulate abandoned vehicles.

The proposal comes after months of complaints from some town residents regarding junked cars sitting in plain sight of neighbors or from the roadway. While the town already has an ordinance on the books, town commissioners have said they are limited as to what they can do.

In recent months the town has sent letters to residents with junked cars on their property, and has asked the police department to take a more proactive course in enforcing what is on the books.

Still, some town residents said that was not enough.

Chichester’s proposed ordinance sets out to more fully define what a junked, nuisance, or abandoned vehicle is, and sets out the town’s requirement in having the vehicle removed. That requires town officials to notify the owner in writing, via first class mail, that the vehicle is subject to being moved by the town on a certain date. If the address of the owner cannot be found, the notice can be affixed to the front windshield of the automobile.

Abandoned vehicles left on public streets, in loading zones, or in any other area that violates parking requirements or poses a safety hazard can be removed without such pretowing notification.

After the vehicle is towed, the owner must be notified, again in writing, of the removal, where the vehicle is stored, and the process he or she must follow to gain possession of the vehicle. That can include paying the towing fee and associated costs to the town, or posting a bond equal to twice the towing and town costs.

Vehicle owners have the right to request a hearing either in an attempt to prevent the vehicle’s removal, or in an attempt to regain the vehicle’s possession without paying, but the owner must show why the vehicle should be excepted from the town ordinance.

The propose ordinance also allows the town to sell the vehicle of the owner cannot be found or does not pay, it outlines how the town must determine an eligible towing service to remove the vehicles, and it sets out what exceptions to the ordinance are allowable for vehicle owners.

The board accepted his report with little comment.

Chichester also updated the commissioners on the abandoned house on Mosby Avenue. It is one of two homes that had fallen into disrepair, and earlier this year, under pressure from Halifax County officials, the owner of one of the homes had that structure torn down.

The second one, which is partially caved in, has not yet complied with county requests.

Chichester told about ten people gathered at Monday’s meeting, along with the Commissioners, the town can do little more. He said it is up to county officials to pursue the matter in court.

He said a suit had been filed against the property owners, but the suit had some areas that needed to be amended by county officials. Now, he said, the town can only wait for additional action by the county.

Chichester said he and other town officials have continued calling and e-mailing county officials to spur some action.

In other action Monday night:

• Commissioners Betty Willis and Clara Debnam reported on this recent visit to the

annual meeting, and they presented the town with a clock that had been given to them at the meeting.

• Heard a report from Mayor Mason Hawfield, in which he related he had received a thank you letter from the town beautification committee, expressing gratitude for the town paying half of the $1,600 cost of upgrading electrical outlets on utility poles in town. The upgrades were necessary to supply power to town Christmas decorations. The mayor said the Lions Club had picked up the other half of the tab.

• Commissioners heard and accepted regular monthly reports from the various committees.

• Heard town resident Jim Hogan, who compliment thetowns efforts on eliminating loitering within the town limits.

“I had some houseguests recently,” Hogan said. “They noticed there aren’t people loitering around town … all of the sudden, I realized they were correct, the appearance of the town has changed.”

Mayor Hawfield said that is because of the efforts of Police Chief Mike Suggs and his department

• Heard a report from Heidi Hogan on the town Christmas parade. She said at least two bands had agreed to attend, as well as several other agencies. She said one of the bands, from Warren County High School, did require a payment of $200 to offset the cost of gasoline and paying a bus driver to transport the band.

Commissioner Betty Willis responded she had received a $200 check from a anonymous donor for the Christmas parade, so the money could be used for that purpose.

• Heard a request from Heidi Hogan that the town write the owner of what appears to be an abandoned boat next to the Minit Chek market on Main Street, asking for removal of the boat.

The mayor responded that he had recently talked to the owner, who had sold the boat and was waiting for the buyer to remove it.

• Heard from town resident Sylvia Alston, who thanked the town for having the road signs repainted; suggested the town send an official thank you to the Lions Club for the town Christmas tree, and suggested the town send a thank you to a group that was in town last week helping clean up neighborhoods and do work for some folks who could not afford to have yard work and some repairs done to their homes.

The mayor said he would do that.

• Responded to a question from Diana Parham regarding the recent drought. Mayor Hawfield said, as a result of recent rains, the town and surrounding area has moved from severe drought status to moderate drought status.

In any event, he said the town really has no fear of water shortages. It purchases its water from Halifax County, which in turn gets its water from the Roanoke Rapids Sanitary District. That entity draws water from Roanoke Rapids lake.