Neighbors upset with delay of burn ban
By Amanda Gray,
10:43 AM EDT, August 15, 2013
advertisementSOUTH BEND -- The smoke from burning leaves is more than just a nuisance for residents of a St. JosephCounty neighborhood.
It's a health hazard, according to resident Doug Dunham.
He said he's lived in his ClayTownship subdivision, Irongate, for eight years -- with intense leaf burning making the last six years a hassle to go outside at times.
Dunham contacted the South Bend Tribune after a long-proposed burning ban bill failed to make it out of committee with the St. Joseph County Council last month.
The leaf burning ban legislation has been held in committee since November 2012, according to County Council documents.
Dunham said the air quality in his neighborhood is terrible, and that he wished the County Council members had been able to move forward with the ban.
"It's inexcusable that just a few people held up the process," he said.
About 40 homes make up his subdivision, he said. The burning problem doesn't come from his neighbors, he said, but rather from about 10 homes in adjacent subdivisions.
Jen McAward also lives in Irongate. With three children and one child on the way, she's concerned for the health of her family.
"I'm worried about my kids' health," she said. "I want my kids to be able to play outside without the smoke. There are all kinds of particulates, which isn't good for them to be breathing in, or me (because of her pregnancy)."
Dunham shared a letter written by local doctor Alan Engel, M.D., which he and 88 other doctors signed, stating support for the burn ban.
"As physicians, we know that leaf burning is hazardous to everyone's health," the letter states. "Leaf burning creates smog-like particulate matter that can and often does instigate or exacerbate asthma attacks in children or worsening COPD in the elderly. Leaf burning also produces cancer-causing compounds and is a fire hazard. In short, leaf burning is unhealthy."
"The air quality is terrible," Dunham explained. "We literally have to run inside, shut our windows and stay inside."
Tatiana Botero-Jauregui also lives in the subdivision. She said the smoke, which is showing up more and more frequently in the spring and summer, is toxic -- but she also fears the dangers of fire.
"Many times, no one is minding those fires," she said. "We have a lot of homes close together here, and what if it would spread?"
Amnesty weeks
County Council member Mike Hamann said the ban should be moving out of the committee stage at the Aug. 27 meeting of the council, but it will ultimately be amended to have built-in amnesty weeks, one each in the fall and spring when residents are allowed to burn leaves.
Though this isn't the ban he originally intended, Hamann said he and his fellow Democrats on the council agreed to compromise with their Republican peers, who said they couldn't support the ban without amnesty periods, in order to pass at least a ban in some form.
"On one hand, I'm disappointed that we couldn't pass an outright ban," Hamann said. "But on the other hand, we want something in place for at least 50 out of 52 weeks. It would've been irresponsible for us on the Democratic side to hold the line, and then we would have nothing done."
Hamann said the Republican County Council members and county commissioners wanted the amnesty weeks as a sort of fail-safe while kinks are worked out with the leaf pickup program. That program should be solidified by the Aug. 20 commissioners meeting, according to Commissioner Andy Kostielney.
Both Hamann and Kostielney said the amnesty weeks are not permanent, and could be addressed, changed or removed as early as next year, if the leaf pickup program proves successful.
"I've had overwhelming feedback in favor of a burn ban, but some folks were concerned about leaf pickup," Kostielney said. "The amnesty weeks give folks some means of getting rid of leaves without having to pay for private service, should leaf pickup not work out.
"We want to make sure we can work through the bugs, as well as give people access to a way to get rid of their leaves responsibly."
Hamann said the proposed amnesty week in the fall would come after the leaf pickup, preferably after a second sweep -- probably sometime in late November.
"This is a huge quality-of-life issue," Hamann said. "It's about health, about safety. It's an investment of about $900,000 (for two leaf pickups), but if that's what it takes, it's worth it."
Ban foe
Yet, not everyone in St. JosephCounty wants a burn ban. For resident David Kahlmorgan, burning is convenient, and he doesn't feel like a one-sweep leaf pickup program is worth the expense.
"One leaf pickup is not going to work," he said.
Kahlmorgan said he's not sure if he would be covered under the burn ban, seeing as he lives quite a distance from his neighbors.
And, even though he and his neighbors burn, they do so considerately, he said. He added that he's never had any complaints about his burning.
"We don't burn when it's windy out, and we have burn containers with mesh on top of them," he said. "We're trying to be considerate of each other."
Kahlmorgan said he is also wary of a burn ban and leaf pickup program because of the possibility that the county may eventually charge residents for such a service.
"I think they're going to find a way to pay for it, like the county option income tax or the wheel tax," he said. "I think they could come up with something like a leaf pickup tax or fee."
Kahlmorgan cited the earlier leaf pickup program, abandoned a few years ago, as evidence that things might not work out now.
"They had this pickup at one time, and then got rid of it because of cost," he explained. "Where are they getting the funding now?"
While he is not in favor of a complete burn ban, he said he could see a program with built-in amnesty weeks working for the county.
"If you just had burning in October, or just in November, I think people would go along with that," he said. "I think you definitely need longer than two weeks, though, because you never know what the weather will be like."