North Barrington man wants help with 'junkyard' near his property
North Barrington officials say they'll try to help a resident who contends a "junkyard" is growing near his house.
Robert Moy said there are vehicles without license plates or village stickers being stored outside on the edge of his backyard, just south of Miller Road and Homewood Lane. Most of the cars are rusted with flat tires, he said.
"This has been going on for over three years," Moy said. "As of late, there is a fifth car, so it piles on."
North Barrington's village administrator and clerk, Kathy Nelander, said she hopes to compel the property owner in question to attend an adjudication hearing to settle the issue. Mayor Albert Pino and village trustees agreed at a meeting last week the matter should be addressed.
"I don't know what we can do, but we will look at our ordinance again and it may cause us to amend our ordinance to do something," Pino told Moy, who spoke to the village board during public comment time.
Moy said the "junkyard" started with three vehicles. He showed the village board photographs of the cars next door to his house.
"It's a blight out my window," he said. "It's a blight to the community."
Under North Barrington's village code, a vehicle is considered inoperable if the engine, wheels or other parts have been removed, altered or damaged and it is unable to be moved for a minimum of four days. A car incapable of being driven under its own power for service or repairs is not considered inoperable under the village ordinance.
"You cannot park a vehicle that does not work on the driveway," Nelander said. "If you're going to store these things, it has to be in the garage unseen from the neighbors. How would anyone feel with that next door?"
Trustee Patricia Kalinowski said she's observed the property Moy complained about and called the garage "kind of dilapidated."
North Barrington has a maximum $750 fine for illegal storage of vehicles that don't run. Nelander said she's sent warning notices about the cars to the owner.