Wood-Burning Furnaces Target of Proposed Town Ordinance in Killingworth
Neighbors complaint has led to serious look at operation of outdoor units.
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If townspeople approve the measure, a new town ordinance would regulate the operation of all wood-burning furnaces in Killingworth, including a limitation on the number of months they can be burned.
Selectmen have endorsed the ordinance, and a number of other matters of governance, for discussion and a vote at a town meeting tentatively set for Sept. 7.
Both selectmen and the Planning and Zoning Commission began evaluating ways to regulate the use of wood-burning furnaces – the large outdoor units that have come into use for heating everything from swimming pools and garages to the vast greenhouses at Running Brook Farms on Route 80.
Both initiatives were spawned by complaints raised by Barbara and Gerard Irzyk about a neighbor’s wood-burning furnace that they say is polluting their property because it isn’t installed as specified by regulations and improper fuel is burned.
The state passed legislation in 2005 that regulates the use of wood-burning furnaces, and the PZC has adopted regulations that apply to them.
The problem is, as in the case of the Irzyk’s complaint, the PZC regulations cannot be applied to furnaces installed prior to the adoption of state statutes.
At the PZC’s urging, selectmen have drafted an ordinance that incorporates the regulatory language from the state statutes, limits the use of wood furnaces from Oct. 15 to May 1, and causes those regulations to be applicable to all Killingworth furnaces, regardless of the date of their installation.
The ordinance, mirroring state and PZC regulations, addresses the proper installation of wood furnaces and the type of fuel that may be burned within them.
Finally, it establishes a $90 fine for each day a furnace is operated in violation of the regulations.
“It essentially takes the state regs and makes them retroactive to pre-existing furnaces, and has a seasonal limit,” First Selectwoman Catherine Iino explained.
PZC Chairman Thomas Lentz, while supporting the adoption of the ordinance, said the PZC has tabled its consideration of stiffer language in Killingworth’s zoning regulations for furnaces.
At a public hearing, he said, “The main concern was the distance from a house that a furnace could be installed. We currently limit it to 200 feet, and the proposed distance was 500 feet. Some thought that was excessive.”
But Lentz said the matter also was tabled because the state also is considering revisions to its statutes. “We thought it was better to study it some more and wait to see what the state does,” he said.
Town officials are unsure how many wood furnaces were erected in Killingworth prior to 2005, but Lentz estimates that five or six now are in operation, the largest of them at Running Brook Farms Nursery.
When selectmen first discussed the matter last January, Town Foreman Walter Adametz, who is president of the Middlesex County Farm Bureau, told selectmen he opposed the ordinance. “Most complaints about wood furnaces come from people burning improper material or the improper use of a furnace,” he said.
Adametz said, when properly used, wood furnaces do not pollute. “There was a situation in Haddam with a contractor who was burning creosote-soaked wood posts,” he said. “If you’re burning dry, seasoned wood, there’s a little smoke at start-up. In the summer, it’s a different situation.”
The Irzyks’ neighbors are said to use their furnace year-round, and Selectman Fred Dudek, with Adametz concurring, said he would favor an ordinance limiting the type of fuel that can burned and the months a furnace can be operated.
George Hedrick
7:51 am on Saturday, August 20, 2011
We live in the woods, buck up people if burning wood offends you move to the city. We DON'T need anymore regulations
Shirley Brandie
11:01 pm on Monday, August 22, 2011
It's in the cities, too, so don't feel you are being picked on.
Bob Sullivan
1:44 pm on Saturday, August 20, 2011
Funny how people complain about pollution and green house gasses out of one side of their mouths, but when oil hits $4 a gallon, they all want to fill the air with low lying wood smoke and ash! Gonna drive the Prius to sears to get a new chain for the saw?
George Hedrick
11:07 am on Sunday, August 21, 2011
Bob, I hope for your sake nobody complains about that loud chain saw, then we will have to deal with noise pollution issues.
Shirley Brandie
11:00 pm on Monday, August 22, 2011
One only needs to live next door to someone who fills their house with smoke to know how bad things can be. I know because it took legal action in our case to end the burning.... lengthy and expensive. Had there been a bylaw it would have solved the problem.
Residential burning is affecting too many people and unless there are regulations put into place those that are hooked on burning will never stop.
Katy
11:08 am on Wednesday, August 24, 2011
I have COPD and I live in a residential area with neighbors burning on both sides. The smoke doesn't bother me in the least. This is just another case of yuppies moving into town for the "country affect" but then find they can't stand living in the country and want it to be "civilized." Can't stand the area- Go back from where you came.
George Hedrick
8:26 am on Thursday, August 25, 2011
Most people in Killingworth have the availability of wood on their property.and, alot of us use it. Oil and gas is skyrocketing out of control instead of complaing about wood burning complain to your elected officals about all the regulations on oil,gas, nuke. If we didn't have those regulations we would not even be having this discussion. And I agree with you Katy
Grizz
10:05 pm on Monday, September 12, 2011
Well, Katy and George, I've lived here for over 40 years and really have copd. Try to go out in the morning to walk the dog and you can't breath around Here (Schnoor Rd.). People moving in and burning any crap they want in the outdoor furnace. You can miss the low lying layers of smoke and the stench. I've burnt and cut wood years ago and never seen anything like the stench and smell these things can put out. Any person burning one of these furnaces can not care the least for their families, let alone their neighbors. It's funny, most of the people improperly burning wood in my area moved in from the cities. Just because you have wood to burn on your property, you have the right to make everyone elses air unfit to breath? How selfish! Stink up your own house and air ... but leave other peoples alone.
Bill Romero
11:16 am on Tuesday, September 13, 2011
If I lived next to an outdoor furnace whose smoke was a nuisance to my home, I would want something done about it…period.
We live in a small rural community. Why do we need to pass an ordinance to regulate a problem that should be resolved between neighbors? There is a cost to “everyone” every time government tries to regulate an issue. If neighbors can not agree and work together to a compromise; then it is the responsibility of the Town government to help the neighbors arrive to a compromise.
Based on what was said at the Town meeting, there is this “one” outdoor furnace that we are specifically aware of. There is speculation of a handful of others. Before the Town passes an ordinance to regulate “all” of the older outdoor furnaces in Town I think we should determine; are there any other local, state, or federal ordinances/laws that may currently regulate this, how many other outdoor furnaces are there in Killingworth, and are the neighbors who live next to the other furnaces having issues with them?
We are a Community. We should do everything possible to work together. Only after that fails than our government needs to pass an ordinance to fix the problem.
This quote seems to fit here: “Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.” Ronald Reagan
Bill Romero – Republican Candidate for 1st Selectman in Killingworth