By STEVEN JUPITER
PITTSFORD—Several residents of Fire Hill Road and the surrounding area in Pittsford expressed their continued frustration over the condition of three properties owned by members of the Forrest family at the Selectboard’s regular meeting on Wednesday, May 21.
The alleged issues with the properties include abandoned vehicles, neglected animals, and potential contamination of adjacent waterways.
The properties were the subject of heated discussion at several Selectboard meetings last year. Neighboring landowners had asked the town to force the Forrests to clean up their properties. At the time, the Board felt that it had limited means to compel compliance but tasked town management, the town health officer, and the town zoning administrator with resolving the situation.
At the May 21 meeting, several of those neighbors returned to demand action from the Selectboard, asserting that conditions have not improved and that they are running out of patience.
Interim Town Manager Ann Reed read a letter submitted by Zoning Administrator Jeff Biasuzzi in which Mr. Biasuzzi asserted that he had issued formal violations for all three Forrest-owned properties but only minimal clean-up had been done on one property with no response from or action taken by the other two.
Mr. Biasuzzi also said that he believed the next step would be “fresh issuance” of violations, delivered in person by a police officer. He also said that no further clean-up agreements should be made, because of non-compliance, and that the town’s attorney should be consulted.
One neighbor stated that the problem had been going on for over three years and that it’s not possible to see all the abandoned vehicles on a drive-by. He also complained about the “piles and piles of discarded crap.” He distributed recent photographs of the properties to the Selectboard and urged that tickets be issued for the unregistered vehicles.
Health Officer Rich Bowman stated, via Zoom, that Mr. Biasuzzi had been asked to issue tickets but never did. Mr. Bowman also said that the vehicles were a zoning issue and not a health issue and therefore Mr. Biasuzzi’s domain.
The neighbor said that Mr. Biasuzzi had not done his job and demanded that the Selectboard pressure him to act.
Another neighbor asked whether the issues involving neglected animals had been resolved. It had been alleged last year that dogs, pigs, and horses were being neglected at the properties. The neighbor stated that some of the pigs had recently been slaughtered on one of the properties and the meat given to other pigs. She also said that there was a horse in distress.
The first neighbor corroborated this claim and said that he’d found a pig leg on his own land.
Mr. Bowman said he couldn’t prevent anyone from butchering an animal on their land. And as long as the animals were given food, water, and shelter, the town couldn’t remove them for neglect.
Board member Dan Adams said that he had recently driven past the properties himself and had been affected by the poor condition of the horse.
Another neighbor said, via Zoom, that a dog had died chained to one of the houses and that Pittsford Police Chief Warfle had refused to provide any information about the death of the animal. This neighbor also said that she had been patient with the Board and had been told that the issues had been resolved. She asked whether dogs on the properties had been registered and vaccinated. She also said that her property values were being affected and that she might ask for an adjustment on her taxes if the situation wasn’t resolved.
Board member Mark Winslow said that the buck stops with the Board and that he had thought the problem had been resolved.
Former State Rep. Butch Shaw was present at the meeting and suggested that the town consider applying the state’s “junkyard law” rather than town ordinances. He said it had been a more successful approach in a similar situation in Sudbury. He suggested that the state might get involved if the town showed that the properties were contaminating natural waterways.
Mr. Shaw also said that the landowner in Sudbury pays a $7,500 fine every year for non-compliance and faces jail time if he fails to make the payment.
A couple who lives on an adjacent road called the properties an “absolute disgusting embarrassment” and suggested that the owners of one of the properties were bathing and disposing bodily wastes in a waterway on their land because they had no running water in the camper they’d been living in on the land.
Mr. Winslow said that Mr. Biasuzzi would be compelled to attend the next Selectboard meeting to discuss the situation. He also said that the town should contact the Department of Agriculture about the neglected animals and get the town attorney involved as well.
