'Not The Firewood Police': Brick Council Approves Ordinance In Split Vote

In a divided vote, the Brick Township Council passed an ordinance setting firewood rules for residents.

“It’s not about being the firewood police,” said Council President Paul Mummolo, who cast the deciding vote in the 4-3 approval. “It’s about a quality of life issue.”

“It’s sad that we have to do this,” Mummolo said before the vote. “It’s sad that we don’t have a ‘Good Neighbor’ policy, where people are considerate of their neighbors.”

The ordinance limits firewood deliveries to once per month and allows a resident to store up to five cords of wood at one time. No more than a quarter of a cord may be stored on a front porch at one time and must be stored “in a factory-built metal container,” under the ordinance. The ordinance also says residents have 10 days from the time firewood is delivered to get it properly stored.

Ronald Stutesman told the council the ordinance does not go far enough.

Stutesman, who said he has a neighbor who has been receiving deliveries frequently of large logs that then take several people several days to cut down to size, said the ordinance still gives the neighbor 10 days per month -- 120 days per year -- to run chainsaws for long periods of time to cut down the logs.

“If I want to hold a yard sale, I have to get a permit and I can only do it four times a year,” he said. The situation in his neighborhood is such that he believes it would impact the value of his home if he tried to sell and move away from the problem -- which, he said, he would have to do because “the code requires me to disclose any problems with my neighbors, such as noise.”

“I’ve lived here 47 years,” he said, adding that he is not a fan of government stepping in and telling people how to run their lives. But this situation, he said, requires it.

“I’m looking at this from a liberty vs. order standpoint,” Stutesman said.

Councilman James Fozman, who voted to approve the ordinance, said it was necessary for the town to put something in place because previous attempts to address it through code enforcement complaints had been dismissed by a judge.

Councilwoman Andrea Zapcic, who had clearly been unhappy about the ordinance two weeks ago and cast a grudging ”yes” vote to introduce it, said she had given the issue a great deal of thought in the intervening two weeks.

“I was conflicted,” she said, until she read the ordinance the council approved on first introduction Tuesday night to limit real estate soliciting and to ban tactics that have created a great deal of conflict in other nearby towns.

“It comes down to the intent,” Zapcic said. “The intent is not to create the firewood police, the intent is to provide protection for the quality of life for our residents.”

“Who am I to say one quality of life issue is more important than another?” she said.

Councilman Bob Moore also voted in favor of the ordinance, without additional comment.

Councilwoman Marianna Pontoriero, who voted against the ordinance along with Susan Lydecker and Council Vice President Heather de Jong, said she felt the timing was bad because it was being enacted as residents are already preparing for the winter season, when the firewood is more frequently used.

“Taking action now will create problems,” she said, “and I don’t think it hits the issue,” which she felt could be addressed by taking a look at the township’s nuisance ordinance.

“The way and manner of this is misguided,” she said.

After the meeting, Mummolo acknowledged the all-Democrat council had taken heat during the election over the issue of putting in firewood restrictions, but said he felt the action was important.

“I have a resident asking for help. What am I supposed to do, say ‘Sorry, go away,’ “ he said.

“Code enforcement isn’t going to be driving around town looking at people’s firewood,” he said. But when there’s a complaint, code enforcement can address it, and have the action hold up.

“Now the judge can do something,” Mummolo said.

“It’s just sad we have to do this,” he said, reiterating his comment from the meeting.

(Firewood, by Ari Helminen, via Flickr and under Creative Commons license)