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Garage sale code under review, public hearing set
Less than a year after Town of Sweden officials updated its residential garage sale policy, it is back under consideration and proposed changes are scheduled for a public hearing. Sweden, in 2003, adopted a new policy to govern residential garage sales. The policy adoption came about after officials received numerous complaints from town residents about "perpetual garage sales," homes that have a garage sale every week, as well as the littering of old garage sale signs. The town board addressed the topic and a new policy was written. The policy stated that in order to have a garage sale in the Town of Sweden, a resident must obtain a permit from the town hall. A deposit of $25 would have to be paid for a sale no longer than three days and at the end of the sale, the building inspector will determine that all signs have been removed and the $25 will be returned to the resident. As long as the guidelines were adhered to, residents were allowed to have up to two garage sales a year if they follow the guidelines. A provision in the code allowed for a third sale if the resident obtained special permission from the town. For neighborhood sales, one family must act as the "host" and obtain the permit for the neighborhood. It will not be necessary for each house to get a separate permit. Church rummage sales are exempt from the deposit. When instituted, the policy was deemed necessary because perpetual garage sales break zoning rules, tie up traffic and are unsightly. In essence, it becomes a retail business and not a family garage sale in the traditional sense. Individual homes are not zoned for commercial businesses and that is what a perpetual garage sale is, Sweden Supervisor Buddy Lester III said. The policy contained language stating that there was a five item limit at the curbside before a permit was needed. "But unfortunately, there are a few bad apples who have bypassed the law by using this exception," Lester said. "The spirit of the law isn't being complied with and people are abusing it." Lester said town officials aren't trying to go after the kid who is selling a bicycle, but, rather are monitoring those offenders who have skirted the local law by working around the exception. "The need for garage sale permits was originally instituted because people abused the law and essentially ran commercial businesses on residential property (when they had perpetual sales)," Lester said. The newly proposed local law, which will be discussed at a public hearing scheduled for August 24 at 6:45 p.m., will remove the five item limit exception. Correction |