Town to Crackdown on Illegal Conservation Center Use

The town is looking to crackdown on contractors, who live in town, and are using private vehicles and residential stickers to drop business related lawn clippings at the conservation center.

Councilwoman Joann Neylan, the public works committee chairwoman, announced at Tuesday night's Council meeting that the police will be checking to make sure all contractors, who live in town, have commercial plates on their vehicles as required by law. Under the town code, commercial vehicles cannot utilize the conservation center, except under a handful of circumstances.

"The statutes require contractors to have commercial plates on their trucks," Neylan said.

Town Engineer Kris McAloon explained that there has been an increased instance of resident contractors using a vehicle with private plates towing a trailer with business signs on it to dump clippings. The increase in the number of clippings dropped off requires the town to bring in more trucks to transfer the clippings out of the center, raising the cost of operating the facility.

Currently, there are two exceptions to the no commercial plate rules at the conservation center. Residents can purchase stickers for their lawn contractors during leaf season allowing them to deposit leaves at the center. Town officials explained this is done in order to expedite getting leaves off the streets.

The other exception is for residents, who drive trucks with commercial plates as their primary vehicle and are looking to use the center for personal use. McAloon explained that the residents in this situation will still be able to use the center but will need to go to the center and obtain a special permit for this purpose. Councilwoman Vicki Kimmins had expressed concern during the meeting that residents in this circumstance would be prevented from using the center under the new enforcement policies.