By Lisa Loomis
The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation salvage yard program issued a notice of violation to Hap's Garage on Route 100 in Waitsfield after determining that the business meets the definition of a salvage yard and does not have a state certificate of registration to run a salvage yard.
Marc Roy, salvage yard program manager for the Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation, explained that state statute defines a salvage yard as a place where more than four unregistered cars are stored for more than 90 days and a place where other materials are stored outside. He said that the cars at Hap's, as well as a dumpster where scrap metal and other metal and steel items were stored, also meet the definition of salvage yard.
Hap's Garage for many years has collected and then recycled salvage materials and cars. Owners Walt Gaylord and Claire Ewald could not be reached for comment on whether they would seek a state certificate. Such a certificate costs $350 to $1,250 annually depending on the types of salvage operation being conducted
Obtaining a certificate of registration to run a salvage yard requires a business owner to first get a certificate of local approval. Susan Senning, zoning administrator for Waitsfield, said, if requested, she would issue a written decision indicating that the use has continued since before the town had zoning and, hence, while it did not meet current zoning regulations (because such a use would not be allowed under current zoning), it was on solid footing with the town because its use had continued uninterrupted since its start. She said that her written decision was appealable.
With a local certificate in hand, Roy said, state permission requires that certain operational standards are met, primarily a fence so that the public does not have to see the scrap operation.
Asked how Hap's Garage came to the state's attention, Roy said that there was an open complaint from 2004 and a second complaint from 2011. He said that the salvage yard compliance department went through some flux and was transferred to the waste management prevention division last summer.
"We've been working through a backlog of cases. We investigated and went on site at Hap's last July," Roy said.
He said that upon finding violations, a notice of alleged violations was written that required Hap's to stop accepting unregistered vehicles, scrap metal, tires or junk and to remove the existing materials that are on the property "so that the property does not meet the definition of a salvage yard."
"In the case of Hap's Garage, what has to happen is that they have to take steps to no longer be a salvage yard. They have to get rid of the cars that aren't pending repair or the cars that aren't complicated by the towing business that may take more than 90 days to get the title," Roy explained.
Asked whether the uses at Hap's Garage were grandfathered, Roy said no.
"There is a provision in the statute that allows for grandfathering that is restricted to the facility, but only if that facility has a certificate of registration from the state prior to 2010."
Asked how a potentially grandfathered business could have known to seek certification before 2010, Roy explained that the grandfathering only applies to siting, i.e., whether a salvage yard facility meets stream bank setbacks.
Prior to 2009, there was salvage yard legislation that focused primarily on screening and was administered by VTrans. In 2009, jurisdiction over salvage yards was transferred to the Department of Environmental Conservation and the enabling legislation was "fleshed out more," Roy said. In 2013, jurisdiction was transferred to the waste management division.
Asked where people could responsibly dispose of the type of items that Hap's Garage has been collecting, Roy said that there were certified salvage yards in Moretown and Middlesex and said that the local transfer station may accept such items as well, depending on its arrangement with the Mad River Valley.
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