http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=649138
Family has run business since 1950s; town wants screening, new permit
By DAN BENSON
dbenson@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 19, 2007
Town of Kewaskum - Two brothers being sued by this Washington County town for continuing a salvage yard operation that their father began about 50 years ago have now each been issued 30 municipal citations for operating a junkyard without a license and creating a public nuisance.
New homes overlook a salvage yard in the Town of Kewaskum. The town says the business, which has been operating for decades, violates current zoning codes
Donald and David Stern were sued on Aug. 3 by the town for operating Don's Salvage Yard at 3350 E. Moraine Road, about 2 miles northeast of the Village of Kewaskum, without a conditional use permit.
That was followed by three citations being filed against each of the Sterns on Aug. 8 and then what the Sterns' lawyer, Bill Neary, called "a deluge" of 27 more on Wednesday.
Each of the 60 citations carries a forfeiture of $375.
It's a battle that's grown increasingly personal between longtime town residents, including the former town clerk, and officials who say they are seeking to protect property values, including those of residents in newer subdivisions.
"There's been plenty of other places with miscellaneous crap laying around, and we made them clean it up. They should, too," Town Chairman Ellis Kahn said. "It brings down people's property values."
Neary said the salvage yard was there decades before new subdivisions and zoning arrived.
"Their father, Richard, ran the yard before they did, all the way back into the '50s," Neary said. "It was there long before the zoning regulations were."
The lawsuit asks a judge to order the Sterns to remove junked cars, trucks, parts and other items from the salvage yard and from David's adjacent property, where he lives.
Donald's wife, former town clerk Sandra Stern, is named in the lawsuit, as is David's wife, Darlene Stern.
According to the lawsuit, the two properties are zoned for agricultural use and require a conditional use permit to be used as salvage yards.
The town is seeking a restraining order to prevent more junk from being added to the properties. The town asks that the properties be brought into compliance with zoning codes; if they are not, the town wants permission to go onto the property to remove vehicles and other junk.
Neary said the Sterns contend the salvage yard is a legal, non-conforming use since it predates the passage in the mid-1980s of the zoning ordinances being cited by the town.
Kahn said complaints about the yard date back to the 1980s and picked up steam "four or five years ago."
Neary said that's because of the development of about half a dozen new homes on Kara Court, just west of salvage yard.
Kahn wouldn't confirm that residents on Kara Court were the source of complaints about the yard, but he did say that most of the residents there, as well as other nearby residents, have made a point of attending meetings where the Sterns' situation is a topic of discussion.
The town is taking action now, Kahn said, because the Sterns agreed in 2004 to bring their operation into compliance and then reneged on that promise.
"They agreed to do something in 2004. Now it's 2007 and they haven't done anything," he said. "If you had a pimple on your arm that started out as a little pimple and you didn't do what you were supposed to do and sooner or later it became a boil, wouldn't you bring it to a head?"
He said the Sterns aren't being singled out, but that the action against the Sterns is a continuation of a town campaign to clean up properties.
What the town wants, Kahn said, is for the Sterns to build a screen around the yard, trim back bushes and other foliage, remove items in the right-of-way of the nearby road and obtain a conditional use permit.
That's nothing more than what other property owners have been asked to do and have done, he said.
Neary agreed that other property owners, including at least one other salvage yard, have complied with the town's orders.
"But it's our belief that as a legal non-conforming use, the Sterns shouldn't be required to go to that expense," Neary said.
Wife in the middle
Sandra Stern said the dispute forced her to quit her job as town clerk as she found herself in the middle of a battle between her family and her employer.
"Let's just say I quit to preserve my self-respect," she said, declining to elaborate.
"You can imagine the uncomfortable position she found herself in, especially as an elected official," Neary said.
Donald and David Stern declined to comment for this article and directed a reporter to Neary.
Sandra Stern resigned abruptly as town clerk, Kahn said.
"We picked up the pieces. That's to put it mildly," Kahn said.
Kahn also charged that the Sterns' yard is not licensed by the state Department of Transportation and has been sanctioned by the state Department of Natural Resources.
Sandra Stern said her husband's business is both licensed and in compliance with the DNR.
Inspector finds compliance
Dave Kendziorski, a consultant for the Auto Recyclers Cooperative Compliance Program, which inspects auto and scrap yards for the DNR to see if they are in compliance with storm water restrictions, said the Sterns' yard has been in compliance with the program ever since they joined in 2002.
Kendziorski, who inspects up to 400 yards each year in six states, said he most recently inspected the Sterns' yard earlier this month.
Kewaskum is located very close to Milwaukee and developement is coming. Fact is, its already at their doorsteps. The people that have this junkyard don't get it. Like it or not, there days of operating a junk yard are racing to an end.
No, it isn't right that people built McMansions in view of the junkyard and are now whining about the junk. The world is not always just. The people in the McMansions are going to the end of the earth to shut down the junkyard. These are successful, educated people. Undoubtedly, some will have friends in high places.
The junk yard is about to be legislated, fined or otherwise taken out of business. The people that own this land are simply too thick headed to get it. Once civilization encroaches, activities which may have been OK in the past become unacceptable. It is a fight the junkyard owners cannot win. They may indeed win in the court system. They will eventually lose. If nothing else, the cops will fine them out of existence. Anyone ever hear the saying "you can't fight city hall"?
If these people had agricultural land rather than a junkyard, I would be more sympathetic to their plight. The end result, however, would be the same. When civilization enters an area, it stops for nothing.
Family has run business since 1950s; town wants screening, new permit
By DAN BENSON
dbenson@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 19, 2007
Town of Kewaskum - Two brothers being sued by this Washington County town for continuing a salvage yard operation that their father began about 50 years ago have now each been issued 30 municipal citations for operating a junkyard without a license and creating a public nuisance.
New homes overlook a salvage yard in the Town of Kewaskum. The town says the business, which has been operating for decades, violates current zoning codes
Donald and David Stern were sued on Aug. 3 by the town for operating Don's Salvage Yard at 3350 E. Moraine Road, about 2 miles northeast of the Village of Kewaskum, without a conditional use permit.
That was followed by three citations being filed against each of the Sterns on Aug. 8 and then what the Sterns' lawyer, Bill Neary, called "a deluge" of 27 more on Wednesday.
Each of the 60 citations carries a forfeiture of $375.
It's a battle that's grown increasingly personal between longtime town residents, including the former town clerk, and officials who say they are seeking to protect property values, including those of residents in newer subdivisions.
"There's been plenty of other places with miscellaneous crap laying around, and we made them clean it up. They should, too," Town Chairman Ellis Kahn said. "It brings down people's property values."
Neary said the salvage yard was there decades before new subdivisions and zoning arrived.
"Their father, Richard, ran the yard before they did, all the way back into the '50s," Neary said. "It was there long before the zoning regulations were."
The lawsuit asks a judge to order the Sterns to remove junked cars, trucks, parts and other items from the salvage yard and from David's adjacent property, where he lives.
Donald's wife, former town clerk Sandra Stern, is named in the lawsuit, as is David's wife, Darlene Stern.
According to the lawsuit, the two properties are zoned for agricultural use and require a conditional use permit to be used as salvage yards.
The town is seeking a restraining order to prevent more junk from being added to the properties. The town asks that the properties be brought into compliance with zoning codes; if they are not, the town wants permission to go onto the property to remove vehicles and other junk.
Neary said the Sterns contend the salvage yard is a legal, non-conforming use since it predates the passage in the mid-1980s of the zoning ordinances being cited by the town.
Kahn said complaints about the yard date back to the 1980s and picked up steam "four or five years ago."
Neary said that's because of the development of about half a dozen new homes on Kara Court, just west of salvage yard.
Kahn wouldn't confirm that residents on Kara Court were the source of complaints about the yard, but he did say that most of the residents there, as well as other nearby residents, have made a point of attending meetings where the Sterns' situation is a topic of discussion.
The town is taking action now, Kahn said, because the Sterns agreed in 2004 to bring their operation into compliance and then reneged on that promise.
"They agreed to do something in 2004. Now it's 2007 and they haven't done anything," he said. "If you had a pimple on your arm that started out as a little pimple and you didn't do what you were supposed to do and sooner or later it became a boil, wouldn't you bring it to a head?"
He said the Sterns aren't being singled out, but that the action against the Sterns is a continuation of a town campaign to clean up properties.
What the town wants, Kahn said, is for the Sterns to build a screen around the yard, trim back bushes and other foliage, remove items in the right-of-way of the nearby road and obtain a conditional use permit.
That's nothing more than what other property owners have been asked to do and have done, he said.
Neary agreed that other property owners, including at least one other salvage yard, have complied with the town's orders.
"But it's our belief that as a legal non-conforming use, the Sterns shouldn't be required to go to that expense," Neary said.
Wife in the middle
Sandra Stern said the dispute forced her to quit her job as town clerk as she found herself in the middle of a battle between her family and her employer.
"Let's just say I quit to preserve my self-respect," she said, declining to elaborate.
"You can imagine the uncomfortable position she found herself in, especially as an elected official," Neary said.
Donald and David Stern declined to comment for this article and directed a reporter to Neary.
Sandra Stern resigned abruptly as town clerk, Kahn said.
"We picked up the pieces. That's to put it mildly," Kahn said.
Kahn also charged that the Sterns' yard is not licensed by the state Department of Transportation and has been sanctioned by the state Department of Natural Resources.
Sandra Stern said her husband's business is both licensed and in compliance with the DNR.
Inspector finds compliance
Dave Kendziorski, a consultant for the Auto Recyclers Cooperative Compliance Program, which inspects auto and scrap yards for the DNR to see if they are in compliance with storm water restrictions, said the Sterns' yard has been in compliance with the program ever since they joined in 2002.
Kendziorski, who inspects up to 400 yards each year in six states, said he most recently inspected the Sterns' yard earlier this month.
Kewaskum is located very close to Milwaukee and developement is coming. Fact is, its already at their doorsteps. The people that have this junkyard don't get it. Like it or not, there days of operating a junk yard are racing to an end.
No, it isn't right that people built McMansions in view of the junkyard and are now whining about the junk. The world is not always just. The people in the McMansions are going to the end of the earth to shut down the junkyard. These are successful, educated people. Undoubtedly, some will have friends in high places.
The junk yard is about to be legislated, fined or otherwise taken out of business. The people that own this land are simply too thick headed to get it. Once civilization encroaches, activities which may have been OK in the past become unacceptable. It is a fight the junkyard owners cannot win. They may indeed win in the court system. They will eventually lose. If nothing else, the cops will fine them out of existence. Anyone ever hear the saying "you can't fight city hall"?
If these people had agricultural land rather than a junkyard, I would be more sympathetic to their plight. The end result, however, would be the same. When civilization enters an area, it stops for nothing.
