The Town Council voted 5-0 to grant renewal of Ed Dudek’s license to operate Murray’s Auto Salvage, despite the Town’s ongoing litigation with the business owner.
“Ed Dudek has complied with all the conditions of his license, one of the most significant being that the height of vehicles don’t go above his fence. He had received a notice of violation and is now in compliance with that violation,” Code Enforcement Officer Richard Canuel said. “He continues to work with the Department of Environmental Services (DES), especially since the fire. DES been out to the site and done inspections, and there are certain things he needs to do to be in compliance. Ed has done his due diligence and what the Council has asked him to do to this point.”
But neighbors of the auto salvage on Hall Road said Dudek continues to operate his business outside permitted hours, creating noise they described as a nuisance, pointing out that Dudek didn’t come into compliance until June.
“That’s why we’re here all the time,” Claudet Adams of 54 Hall Road said. “As long as he is in compliance a week before the license renewal, everything is fine.”
“I think what has changed is the Council took a firm position by entering into litigation,” Council Chairman John Farrell said.
The Town filed a petition in Rockingham Superior Court on Jan. 28 for declaratory judgment, injunctive relief and enforcement of statutory penalties against Dudek and his business due to their own ongoing compliance issues with the salvage yard.
The Town also recently issued Dudek a license to rebuild the barn on his property used to disassemble vehicles. The permit was granted at Dudek’s own risk, as ongoing use of the property, including the barn, is subject to the pending litigation.
Richard Bielinski of 89 Hall Road told the Council he thinks the barn should never have been permitted to be constructed, and that the Town’s Zoning Ordinance doesn’t allow the barn to be rebuilt.
“What I’m being told and makes absolutely no sense by our zoning, is this barn should be rebuilt because it meets zoning requirements,” he said. “Unfortunately, that has nothing to do with replacing a nonconforming use of a building.”
Bielinski argues the building permit for the 4,000-square-foot barn was approved because it was presented as a replacement to 5,000 square feet of property – tractor trailer boxes, a cement pad and a 420-square-foot shed; but, the trailer boxes are not real property, are not allowed to be stored in an AR-I zone and are not part of the grandfathered use.
“This doesn’t have to do with if the building meets setback requirements, it has to do with the use. The definition says it’s the use of a building. That permit should never have been issued,” he said. “Now there’s a chance to correct it, and you do it all over again.”
Additionally, Bielinski noted construction of the original barn featured materials zoning ordinance restricts in a wetland buffer – asphalt shingles and pressure treated wood.
“The new building is being built with asphalt shingles, and I see green wood posts going up. Pressure treated wood is not allowed,” he said. “Everything I’m telling you is right in our ordinances.”
“I never offered as an opinion, nor heard anyone else say the reason the building permit needed to be reissued this spring was because the building met zoning setback requirements,” Town Attorney Mike Ramsdell said. “I don’t dispute that the ordinance on its face would prohibit (Dudek) from rebuilding. But the provision is more than 50 years old and it hasn’t kept up with the law. It’s unenforceable and the Town had no choice but to issue the permit for the application that was issued in the spring.”
“I have to say, issuance of the permit was not a decision that was taken lightly, especially considering the controversy and issues in the past,” Canuel said. “There was no legal basis for me to deny that building permit, even though the Town is in litigation with the business.”
Canuel noted the Planning Board allowed Dudek to construct the barn as proposed, under the premise that processing vehicles inside the building rather than in the wetland would better protect the environment.
Claudet Adams and her husband, Gerard Adams, submitted that their well water is contaminated, but were unable to produce documents verifying the claim during the July 20 meeting.
Al Baldasaro of 41 Hall Road, an abutter to the salvage yard, said he sees police officers responding to Hall Road frequently to address concerns from neighbors on the street, and thinks Dudek has done everything in his power to comply with the conditions on his license.
“No one wants a junkyard in their backyard, but it’s needed to get rid of old cars,” he said. “My water was checked. It was not found to be contaminated, and his next door neighbor’s is not. I’m required through my VA loan to have it checked again and it has not been found to be contaminated. There must be the only one neighbor on the street whose water is contaminated. The DES requires every junkyard in the state to monitor wells and make sure they are at certain levels.”
Baldasaro noted many trucks coming down his road that neighbors complained about are looking for the access road and are simply lost.
“The biggest issue on Hall Road is all the trucks coming down the road from one end to the other – some of them are not supposed to be on that road at night. They’re looking for the access road – they don’t know where they’re going,” he said. “But this has to stop. There comes a place in time where you’re harassing a business owner. And look at the taxpayer money that has been spent on this over the years.”
Town Manager Kevin Smith confirmed the cost of legal fees related to licensing of the auto salvage have run in excess of $10,000 since 1998, when Murray’s was established.
Freda asked Dudek to confirm that if the Council granted him his license, he would continue to adhere to its conditions.
“We took a lot of effort to move the cars. Everything’s organized and there’s no intention to return to that. I’m not going to do it again. The cars will always remain below the fence,” Dudek said.
Dudek noted his salvage yard doesn’t look like a junkyard from the outside, as Baldasaro told the Council during his testimony.
“What (Baldasaro) is saying is true. Everyone driving by doesn’t know it’s a junkyard. Customers always drive right by because it doesn’t look like a junkyard,” he said. “Unless you stop on the Mammoth Road side, you wouldn’t even see the cars. We’ll leave it that way because I don’t want to ever go through that again.”
Bielinski argued the Town said they would use violations of the conditions of Dudek’s 2014 license as grounds for denying his license renewal in 2015.
In a letter dated Jan. 21, 2015 from Canuel to Dudek, Canuel informed Dudek the Council was aware of repeated violations of his license, and that he had come into compliance shortly before the public hearing on his 2014 license renewal.
“The Town Council is aware that this year is not the first time that Dudek’s junkyard has failed to comply with the “anti-stacking of cars” provision in his license until shortly before the public hearing on his license renewal. If Dudek’s junkyard violates this provision prior to its license being renewed in 2015, the Town Council will use the repeated violation of this term of the license as a basis to deny the renewal application,” Canuel wrote.
Bielinski argued that because Dudek had only come into compliance with the provision related to stacking cars on June 12, as Canuel stated during the public hearing, the Council should deny Dudek’s license renewal.
“If you’re men of your word, you’ll do what you said you would do. If you don’t want to do what you said you would do, you should resign,” he said.
Richard Innie of 72 Hall Road, who stated he “has no problem with the junkyard,” asked the Council how much the Town has paid in legal fees specifically to address complaints from Hall Road neighbors.
Farrell asked Finance Director Doug Smith to pull legal records and report back to the Council with an approximate amount the Town has spent on legal counsel as a result of junkyard-related complaints since 1998.
“I would estimate it’s in the high tens-of-thousands of dollars,” Smith said.