Residents may soon need a permit for garage/yard sales
Residents may soon need a permit for garage/yard sales
By Amanda Estes
Staff writer
There may be an end in sight to those garage sales that seem to last all summer long. The Scarborough Town Council is considering an ordinance to require a permit for garage/yard sales of more than three items of personal property.
Councilor Sylvia Most, chair of the Town Council’s Ordinance Committee, said last fall, a group of citizens came before the committee to complain about an ongoing yard sale on Route 114. The citizens asked the town to do something about it, but because there was no ordinance in place regarding garage or yard sales, the town had no authority. Most said the town tried to put a different ordinance in place about five or six years ago, but it was met with controversy and never passed.
The committee asked Town Manager Ron Owens to research ordinances in other towns and he came back to the committee with a policy similar to the one in place in South Portland.
If the ordinance is adopted, residents must obtain a $5 permit from the town clerk for sales of more than three items of property. The permit is valid for three consecutive days. The town clerk would be authorized to issue only two permits per resident within a consecutive six-month period.
Residents may advertise the sale provided that signs do not block or obscure public right-of-ways and are not placed on public property or the property of others. Signs may not be erected more than 24 hours prior to the sale or allowed to remain more than 24 hours after the sale.
The ordinance is meant to reduce the traffic and parking issues that become problematic with ongoing garage and yard sales. Most said neighborhoods are “not meant to be retail areas.”
The council held a public hearing on Feb. 21 and it will vote on the ordinance at its Mar. 7 meeting.
By Amanda Estes
Staff writer
There may be an end in sight to those garage sales that seem to last all summer long. The Scarborough Town Council is considering an ordinance to require a permit for garage/yard sales of more than three items of personal property.
Councilor Sylvia Most, chair of the Town Council’s Ordinance Committee, said last fall, a group of citizens came before the committee to complain about an ongoing yard sale on Route 114. The citizens asked the town to do something about it, but because there was no ordinance in place regarding garage or yard sales, the town had no authority. Most said the town tried to put a different ordinance in place about five or six years ago, but it was met with controversy and never passed.
The committee asked Town Manager Ron Owens to research ordinances in other towns and he came back to the committee with a policy similar to the one in place in South Portland.
If the ordinance is adopted, residents must obtain a $5 permit from the town clerk for sales of more than three items of property. The permit is valid for three consecutive days. The town clerk would be authorized to issue only two permits per resident within a consecutive six-month period.
Residents may advertise the sale provided that signs do not block or obscure public right-of-ways and are not placed on public property or the property of others. Signs may not be erected more than 24 hours prior to the sale or allowed to remain more than 24 hours after the sale.
The ordinance is meant to reduce the traffic and parking issues that become problematic with ongoing garage and yard sales. Most said neighborhoods are “not meant to be retail areas.”
The council held a public hearing on Feb. 21 and it will vote on the ordinance at its Mar. 7 meeting.
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