The State Junkyard Law

Training for: Legal Notes

Like Ben Franklin’s dark observation on death and taxes (they’re both certain), illegal junkyards and auto graveyards are, it seems, an inevitable part of the Maine landscape. That’s too bad, because this doesn’t have to be.

Maine has, and has had for many years, a tough law prohibiting outdoor junkyards and automobile graveyards unless properly permitted and operated in compliance with strict aesthetic and environmental standards (see 30-A M.R.S.A. §§ 3751-3760). The law, commonly called the “State Junkyard Law,” is administered by the municipal officers (selectmen or councilors) and is enforceable by them or their designee. No municipal ordinance is required, though the law does acknowledge municipal home rule authority to enact additional restrictions relating to hazardous waste, fire and traffic safety, noise, proximity to residential uses, groundwater and surface water, etc.

To ensure compliance, municipal officers or their designees are expressly authorized to enter any junkyard or automobile graveyard property and inspect all outside areas at reasonable hours and to enter any building with the owner’s consent. If entry is denied, an administrative inspection warrant can be obtained from the Maine District Court.

If voluntary compliance is not forthcoming, the law is enforceable by filing a land use complaint in the District Court. Penalties include a court order to correct violations, substantial monetary fines, attorney fees and court costs. If the violator does not complete a court-ordered correction within the ordered schedule, the municipal officers or their authorized agent can enter the property, correct the violation, and recover the municipality’s expenses via a special tax on the property in the next annual tax commitment; the tax is subject to interest and collection by lien, in the same manner as other property taxes.

For more on this potent but often overlooked remedy for combating manmade blight in Maine’s outdoors, see MMA’s “Information Packet” on junkyards and automobile graveyards, available free to members at www.memun.org. (By R.P.F.) 

Like Ben Franklin’s dark observation on death and taxes (they’re both certain), illegal junkyards and auto graveyards are, it seems, an inevitable part of the Maine landscape. That’s too bad, because this doesn’t have to be.

Maine has, and has had for many years, a tough law prohibiting outdoor junkyards and automobile graveyards unless properly permitted and operated in compliance with strict aesthetic and environmental standards (see 30-A M.R.S.A. §§ 3751-3760). The law, commonly called the “State Junkyard Law,” is administered by the municipal officers (selectmen or councilors) and is enforceable by them or their designee. No municipal ordinance is required, though the law does acknowledge municipal home rule authority to enact additional restrictions relating to hazardous waste, fire and traffic safety, noise, proximity to residential uses, groundwater and surface water, etc.

To ensure compliance, municipal officers or their designees are expressly authorized to enter any junkyard or automobile graveyard property and inspect all outside areas at reasonable hours and to enter any building with the owner’s consent. If entry is denied, an administrative inspection warrant can be obtained from the Maine District Court.

If voluntary compliance is not forthcoming, the law is enforceable by filing a land use complaint in the District Court. Penalties include a court order to correct violations, substantial monetary fines, attorney fees and court costs. If the violator does not complete a court-ordered correction within the ordered schedule, the municipal officers or their authorized agent can enter the property, correct the violation, and recover the municipality’s expenses via a special tax on the property in the next annual tax commitment; the tax is subject to interest and collection by lien, in the same manner as other property taxes.

For more on this potent but often overlooked remedy for combating manmade blight in Maine’s outdoors, see MMA’s “Information Packet” on junkyards and automobile graveyards, available free to members at www.memun.org. (By R.P.F.)