The Walden board of trustees kicked off the month with a productive meeting last Tuesday, October 6, discussing several different laws and regulations. In particular, the board looked into open burning and recreational fires, the building department’s fire safety standards, abandoned and unregistered vehicles, and e-bikes.

Open Burning and Recreational Fires
The board opened the meeting with a discussion on an introductory local law for open burning and recreational fire regulations. This law would prohibit residents from burning brush, chemicals, garbage, lumber, paper, plastic, refuse, wood, yard debris, and similar items within the village. Residents would be permitted to burn charcoal, natural gas, propane, or wood for recreational fires, such as for fire pits or outdoor cooking. They must ensure, however, that the fire does not exceed three in height and remains at least 15 feet away from any structure. They must also have the appropriate fire extinguishing equipment on site at all times and adhere to temporary burn bans.

Mayor Becky Person questioned if the board should remove wood from the list of prohibited items, given that residents can still use wood for recreational fires. Village Attorney John Capello stated that wood still needs to be prohibited for unlawful fires.

“I had one comment for section 1-A, where it says wood. Wood to me would be put into a fire pit and open burning, while lumber is different from wood. I spoke to the attorney today and we looked at that. I don’t know if we want to leave wood in there,” Pearson said. “It says no person shall burn, allow, or permit to be burned brush, lumber, paper, plastic, tires, chemicals, etcetera. But fire pits have wood, and some people still cook with wood. So I don’t know if we want to leave wood in that sentence or take that out because it’s allowed in one section but prohibited in another.”

“The outdoor cooking procedure allows wood for cooking or as part of a fire pit,” Cappello said. “If you take out no burning of wood, someone could potentially say ‘I’m going to get a pile of wood in my front yard and set it on fire,’ not in a pit or for cooking.”

The board agreed to continue discussing the law during its next meeting.

Fire Safety
Next, the board discussed fire safety concerns that Kathy Stegenga, the village building inspector, brought up last month. She explained that the village’s fire safety code does not include single-family rentals; many of these homes are not registered with the building department and have not received inspections. She also requested the board to strengthen penalties for properties that do not comply with fire safety standards.

The mayor and trustees questioned whether they should add single-family rentals to their fire safety code. Trustee Gerald Mishk stated that the building department already struggles to complete inspections for multi-family homes, and he speculated that adding single-family rentals to the list could further strain the department. Trustee Jose De Jesus suggested that the board members could establish a committee to help them with the decision. And Trustee Lynn Thompson stated that all rentals should be inspected, noting that the village already inspects all commercial rentals.

“The state fire and safety code mandates inspections once every three years, and we do them once every two years. The village has the privilege to change it to three years, said Mishk. “The building inspector told us that they were having a hard time getting inspections done for multi-dwelling units in two years. If that’s the case, then why would we add the burden of single-family rentals, when they’re not required by the state?”

“If we do decide to do that, it can’t just be a ‘yes’ kind of vote. We have to really look at it and maybe have a committee or someone look at it in those terms,” De Jesus said. “But I am not ruling that out totally because there are more and more rentals here. I think there’s around 1,200 rentals? So God forbid there is a fire or situation like that.”

“I agree with Jose on the amount of rentals we have in the village now, both multi-family and single-family. Our lots are small and our houses are really close together,” Thompson said. “We know we have some unscrupulous landlords, but I just think we probably should consider doing all of our rental properties. We do all of our commercial rentals, why wouldn’t we do all of our residential rentals?”

The board decided to form a committee comprising trustees Mishk, De Jesus, and Kristie Hall. Over the next few weeks, these three will discuss the village’s fire safety code and the building department’s fee structure with Stengenga and Village Manager Kathryn Luciani. The committee will share its findings and recommendations with the rest of the board in the beginning of November.

Abandoned Vehicles

Later in the meeting, Pearson briefly spoke about regulations for abandoned and unregistered vehicles. She explained that several residents have been leaving unregistered cars on their properties, particularly on Ulster Avenue. Person added that some of these cars could be antique, which still require insurance and registration.

“One of the issues was that people had a lot of unregistered cars in their homes and on their driveways. And whether they’re covered or not, there’s nothing in our law that says they should be covered. Most of the time, those abandoned vehicles shouldn’t be there,” Person said. “I spoke to Kathy today, she talked about how if you’re changing out one car to another, you’d have 30 days to get rid of the car that you’re changing. You have to take the license plates off, make sure everything is registered, and get rid of it within 30 days. If it’s still sitting there after that, then it has to go.”

“At one point, the village allowed one unregistered car on your property in your driveway. That has become somewhat of a problem, because there’s one and then another and then another,” she continued. “Some people might have an older, antique car that they might want to leave in their driveway.”

The board will consider updating regulations for these vehicles during its next meeting. Pearson noted that she will distribute more information on the subject to the board.

E-bikes

Following Person, Mishk raised concerns about e-bikes and other self-propelled vehicles. He recounted seeing children riding these vehicles up and down his street at high speeds, endangering themselves and nearby pedestrians. Mishk felt that the village’s current e-bike law was a good start, but could be further strengthened with more regulations. Specifically, he advised the board to prohibit class three e-bikes, which are only permitted in New York City; prohibiting anyone under 16 years old from riding an e-bike; and prohibiting multiple passengers from riding a single e-bike. Mishk added that if a rider violates the law, the police department could confiscate their e-bike and stow it in a metal storage container.

“I think it’s something that really needs to be addressed now. These e-bikes are getting out of hand, and in my neck of the woods over on Wait Street, it doesn’t appear that the kids who are operating crazy up and down my street live in the village. I tried following to see where they were, and they all left the village,” Mishk said. “They’re disobeying stop signs and red lights, riding without helmets, and carrying multiple riders.”

Pearson requested that all the board members write down their recommendations for e-bike regulations and send them to Mishk. Once Mishk receives them, he will share them with the village attorney, village manager, and police department. From there, the parties will work together to update the village’s e-bike law.