Silver Lake: Village to take a look at temp structures

tarp

If you have a temporary structure on your residential property in Silver Lake, you might be interested in next week’s Plan Commission meeting.

At Wednesday’s Village Board meeting, trustees agreed to send an ordinance that regulates allowable temporary structures back to the Plan Commission for further review.

The law isn’t new. But the recent enforcement of the ordinance by village building inspector Royce Kennedy against a residence on Third Court raised concerns for some board members. Trustee Sue Gerber said she and village President Roger Johnson visited the home after the residents were upset by recieving a notice that they were in violation of the law. But Johnson and Gerber found the offending structure, a frame with a tarp-like cover shielding a pontoon boat, not offensive, Gerber said. She pointed out that the boat and the structure were on the side of the house, behind a fence, shrubs and barely visible from the street.

“I didn’t see anything wrong with it,” Gerber said. “I think this ordinance needs to be reviewed.”

Specifically ,the structure was too large and stayed in place too long, according to the ordinance.

Several board members pointed out Kennedy was not to blame for doing his job — enforcing village ordinances. Instead, they wanted to see the law changed.

“I said this ordinance, back when it was passed, was going to come back to bite us,” said Trustee Barbara Ironside.

Kennedy said regulating temporary structures does have some legitimate nuisance and safety value. He suggested the fire chief, for instance, be included in the new discussions.

Johnson said the ordiance will be on the Plan Commission’s agenda next Wednesday.

Generic tarp photo by nitpix via morgueFile
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  1. Ginger Randolph says:

    I think that the village inspector needs to worry about residence changing the scalling of their yards causing other yards and potential other homes to flood. Not worry about a tempory structure hidden by a fence protecting a boat that would be more of an eyesoar than a tarp.

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