Batavia taking another look at open-burning law

Batavia city officials are re-examining the city’s open-burning law after residents questioned the reasoning behind some of its rules.

The city services committee this week directed staff members to provide a scientific reason why Batavia requires fire pits to be at least 25 feet away from any combustible structure, including fences. Residents from a neighborhood on the northwest side told the committee that typical lot sizes in their area, some of which are only 50 feet wide, would prohibit most people from having the popular backyard amenity.

“It is difficult to believe that, for recreational purposes, the city wants to consider weakening a critical safety measure,” said Chris Nelson, a resident who supports keeping the current regulation.

The conversation came up because of a dispute between Nelson and his next-door neighbor near Houston and Harrison streets. Nelson has complained to the city’s code enforcement department about a neighbor’s fire pit sending smoke into his house, and that the fires are sometimes unattended. The neighbor, Robert Blau, disputes the contentions, and is willing to put a steel cover over the in-ground pit at the end of fires. He told the committee he doesn’t burn brush, doesn’t burn on windy days, and is willing to build a patio around his pit so if embers fall to the ground, they can’t set anything on fire.

A code enforcement officer found Blau’s pit is eight feet away from his garage.

“There is no physical place on our lot to have the fire pit,” Blau told the committee.

Alderman Eldon Frydendall, who represents the neighborhood, said the city’s law about burning is unclear. In one section, it says fires must be located a “safe distance” from structures and combustible materials. But several sections later, it says “recreational fires” have to be at least 25 feet away; another section says bonfires must be at least 50 feet away. The law also prohibits open fires “that are offensive or objectionable because of smoke or odor emissions.”

Police Chief Gary Schira said “objectionable” is too subjective of a standard. Alderman Dan Chanzit said he thought the definition of “objectionable” was key to the argument.

“If we could make an objectionable-meter and set it, we would have a corner on the market,” said committee chairman Jim Volk, noting the standard applies to other nuisances, such as barking dogs and amplified music.

The city’s standards are based on the International Code Council’s International Fire Code. Fire Chief Randy Deicke said when several code organizations merged, the ICC adopted the strictest of their codes on open burning.

Alderman Susan Stark noted that Geneva bases the size of the required setback on the size of the fire.

The staff will report back to the committee in June.