Peru, Maine, residents voted on Tuesday to saddle themselves with draconian new homeowners association-style rules governing how they use their property, including strictures on yard maintenance, vehicle repairs, and parking.
[RELATED: Peru, Maine, Sexual Assault Suspect Found Dead After Threatening Suicide During Police Standoff…]
Voters in Peru were confronted at the ballot box with a series of 41 local referenda along with their statewide primary ballots. Most of the questions authorized appropriations and expenditures, sure to raise taxes for residents, but one, the “Property Maintenance Ordinance,” imposes significant new restrictions on how landowners use their property.
Every referendum on the ballot passed, the maintenance ordinance passed with a 280-197 margin.
“The purpose of this ordinance is to set minimum standards for the maintenance of structures and the grounds of property in the town in order to protect public health, safety, and welfare and provide access for safety personnel in the event of an emergency,” the ordinance reads.
The new list of rules requires that all structures be maintained in safe condition and that all fences on property be in good condition and functioning.
No one will be permitted to have visible trash, junk, or anything that could provide bedding for rodents outside their property, and owners of vacant properties will be required to manicure their lawns to keep them free of vegetation.
No one may keep more than three unregistered vehicles parked on their land and may not have any vehicle “at any time” in a state of major disassembly or disrepair unless it is hidden in a garage. That provision apparently prevents anyone without a garage from performing their own vehicle repairs.
Residents will no longer be allowed to leave furniture outside for pickup or disposal, and “material intended for the owner or occupant’s private use” may only be stored on property if it is screened from view and does not create a “nuisance.”
Refusing to comply with the new rules will be subject to minimum penalties of $100 in fines per day of violation and possible legal action.
Though the election was held on Tuesday, the small-town residents were left in the dark about the referenda results because their town office closed the day after the election and failed to make any posts or publish any information on the results until Thursday.
Paper tigers amassed as select boards in the Western Maine
OH WAIT !
No nasty , water soaked , dirty bed mattresses , no old torn up recliners and faux leather couches, out sunning themselves on the front lawn ?. No piles of rodent torn trash bags, holding the trash from three months ago, allowing the neighborhood rats a place to hide ? . No trashed out , busted up , oil and fluid leaking , hulks of trashed out cars, that have no hope of ever driving the roads again .?
Sounds pretty “ draconian “ to me , unless you have the misery of having to live next to one of these scofflaws , and having to look at their perpetual yard mess every time you drive by .
Maine …..The Way Life Should Be ….LOL