Agitation growing as dozens sign petition

banning outdoor devices

ELIZABETHTOWN -- The Elizabethtown Town Council recently heard from citizens concerned about its proposed law governing outdoor wood-burning devices.

After Supervisor Noel Merrihew noted that no decision would be made that evening, a petition with 59 signatures asking for the banning of any new wood-burning devices and the phasing out of existing outdoor wood boilers was presented by Evelyn Hatch.

She read from a New York Times article which, among other statistics, stated that one outdoor furnace pollutes the equivalent of 45 cars during the same time period.

"My feeling is the Town Board has the responsibility to ban all wood boilers," she said.

Maggie Bartley checked on the two townships that Elizabethtown is basing its proposed ordinance upon, Champion and Queensbury, and found they had very limited areas where the boilers were allowed.

"We're taking a template from rural areas and making it fit residential," she said. "A few people may save money, but it affects everybody."

She likened it to putting sewage into the Boquet River and trash into the forest.

"I take issue with the proposal and the 25-foot setback," said Ron Testa. "There's no consideration for elevation changes from one house to the next."

He pointed out that the hamlet is in a valley and thus would hold particulate matter and look like pre-World War II Pittsburgh.

Testa inquired as to who would police the burning. Merrihew said it would be the code-enforcement officer.

Susan Willnus indicated she had been a nurse and protector of children against environmental hazards. She presented articles that listed the outdoor boilers as being of dangerous design and causing cancer, respiratory and cardiac problems.

"Your job is to protect this community," Willnus said. "Two hundred feet is nothing. The smoke will hang here in the valley. I would not come here to shop. I would ban them not just in the hamlet but the whole town."

John Deming questioned whether the Town Council had received complaints, as he has one wood boiler by his house and another at his business in the hamlet.