What's good for the goose

At the January 21 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, the governing body voted unanimously to begin removing abandoned vehicles currently being stored at the east baseball field behind the Saratoga Branch Library. The property, owned by the Town of Saratoga, is technically zoned RD 6000.

The council also discussed a decision made by the Saratoga Planning Commission pertaining to property owned by Randy Stevens.

Good For The Gander

The Town of Saratoga property was brought up at the January 14 meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission following discussion about property near Saratoga Middle High School that is zoned RD 7200. A complaint was made about that property in regards to the storage of vehicles and placement of a storage shed as an accessory building without there being a residence.

Discussion moved to the property in RD 6000 which the Town of Saratoga had been using to store impounded vehicles following disuse of the baseball fields.

“I had no defense when that was brought up in the planning commission,” said Councilmember Bob Keel. “In fact, I actually agree with it that if we’re going to ask our citizens to comply with this, so do we.”

Saratoga Police Chief Ken Lehr informed the council that the use of the east ball field as an impound lot had been started before he worked for the department. He added that the property was insufficient as it was not secure and that nearly all of the vehicles there had been damaged over the years.

Councilmember Judy Welton asked Lehr if the vehicles could be scrapped. Lehr stated that they could. Mayor John Zeiger asked Tom Thompson, Town of Saratoga legal counsel, what the process would be to dispose of the vehicles.

Thompson stated that the Town of Saratoga would be able to follow the State of Wyoming’s Abandoned Vehicles Act. Under that act, which can be found under Wyoming State Statute 31-13, 30 days after notification of impoundment, a vehicle having a retail value of more than $2,000 can be sold in public auction following public notice in a newspaper not less than 10 days before the date of the auction. 

Vehicles determined to have a retail value of $2,000 orless may be disposed of by contract with a business to store, rebuild or dismantle vehicles or through public auction.

The council voted unanimously to begin the process of removing abandoned vehicles from the ball field. Zeiger asked the council to consider other areas within town limits that could be used to impound vehicles. Keel stated he would bring that up at the next meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission.

Til The Cows Come Home

Keel also informed the rest of the council that, following a concern raised about cattle grazing on property owned by Steven at 707 North 9th Street, the Saratoga Planning Commission had decided that the property was grandfathered in its non-conforming use.

As was reported previously (see “Cattle, homelessness and codes” on page 1 of the January 15 Saratoga Sun), a nuisance complaint had been made in regards to cattle on the property owned by Stevens.

“The planning commission determined that Mr. Stevens’ current use of that property hasn’t changed from the previous landowner. Therefore, the use that he has is consistent with the grandfathering of that property when that (code) was adopted,” said Keel. “Unless there is any other information that refutes that, we sided with Mr. Stevens that he is grandfathered into the use of grazing cattle on that parcel of his land. It meets the acreage requirements and he’s got a fence that keeps the cattle away at least 150 feet from opposing property lines.”

Councilmember Jon Nelson, who had served on the planning commission, brought up a decision made when he was on the commission in regards to the saw mill. Nelson stated that an argument had been made that, as production had ceased at the mill for more than 30 days, it was no longer protected by the non-conformance code. He added, however, that he believed that same protection did not apply to Stevens’ property.

“The fact that it had been pasture is one thing. The fact that it wasn’t used for grazing of livestock is another,” said Nelson. “I would suggest that the non-conformance protection was lost during any 30 day period.”

Nelson went on to state that he had no problem with cattle being grazed on property within town limits if it had the non-conformance protection, but that he wanted to ensure that the town council was enforcing the municipal code consistently.

“The saw mill situation was brought up and we felt this was consistent with how that was treated,” said Keel.

Keel added that any of the council members were welcome at the next meeting of the planning commission for additional information on the commission’s decision.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council is at 6 p.m. on February 4 at Saratoga Town Hall.