As I’ve detailed in the past, owning land means you need to keep it clear to minimize fire danger. And with another year of tragic loss across the state and beyond, I take this responsibility seriously. However, getting the land cleared in a timely manor has been a problem during my almost three years of ownership.
First, it was not knowing this was a responsibility with the prior owner only letting me know when the deadline was almost past once the purchase went through. Next were delays due to a backlog of overgrowth across the region due to a very rainy season (where I actually had to appeal a series of fines leveled against me). This year we have COVID-19.
For the first time since I owned the land, I was ahead of the game and the good folks at Brian Walsh Brush Clearance got to my property early (end of April). Then the county decided to delay inspection till late summer due to the pandemic. Brush and grass will do what they do best – grow, so by the time the property was inspected, it had fallen out of compliance. It was cleared a second time, but then I got another notice of non-compliance in September, which seemed odd, so I visited the land.
Riding up to the property everything looked great, but right in the middle, halfway up the hill was a big pile of dead tree branches, part of a fence and some old house gutters. I understand people will dump things, but this pile was halfway up a very steep hill, and they’d have to be parked in front on my narrow street for a period of time to unload it all and drag it up the hill – someone would have seen and questioned that (I think).
Since then I have been trying to get the pile hauled away, but there always seems to be a delay. A neighbor even called Stillwater (since they have a sign up front) to make them aware of the ‘hazard’. The pile has since migrated to the bottom of the hill (see the header above). I think this is finally resolved, but I am going to have to appeal all the fines again this year. My best guess is that this debris came from above. I know people have climbed the hill to party at the top of my property (lots of empty beer cans and bottles up there), and towards the very back were some debris from the neighbor at the top of the hill, but it was very overgrown and I never made it up that far – but for some reason, someone decided to push this stuff down the grade. I’m just hoping I don’t go up and find a whole encampment, as that will just be another problem.