At Wednesday night’s Land Use Board meeting, the question of what residents can store in their own garage became a lesson in civic engagement and interpretation of borough resolutions.
There are two sides to every story, but for the MacDonald family, there were more than 100 reactions to their story when a Facebook post by a family friend about their three-car garage spurred community interest leading to a full house at the Wednesday, April 19 Land Use Board meeting in Borough Hall.
In January, a complaint accusing the MacDonald family of using their garage for more than just storage forced Palmyra’s zoning official, Tracy Kilmer, to investigate the family’s garage, at which time she found commercial vehicle shop equipment, which she said led her to believe the structure was being used as a “private auto repair garage.”
Kilmer found the family in violation of the “storage” wording of a 2005 resolution allowing the MacDonalds to create a three-car garage large enough to “store” their antique cars and recreational vehicle. Kilmer offered the family two choices: remove the equipment or rally people to go to the next Land Use Board meeting and dispute the resolution’s wording. The family chose the latter, rallying residents through Facebook and word-of-mouth.
For all parties involved, the dispute came down to one simple question: what does “storage” encompass?
Wanda MacDonald said her family members are auto enthusiasts, and as such have acquired equipment over time to fix their antique cars. In their garage, MacDonald said they own a lift and other powerful equipment to restore and maintain these vehicles. In the past, neighbors have seen the lift from time to time when the garage doors are open, with most understanding the family’s passion for restoring their personally-owned, classic cars.
However, MacDonald said she has received complaints from an unidentified neighbor accusing her of using the garage to fix cars for profit, which she thinks led to Kilmer’s investigation. MacDonald said she was more than happy to give Kilmer a tour of her garage on two occasions, during which she never denied having the industrial equipment and emphasized all of the tools were utilized solely to work on their own vehicles.
Kilmer said the equipment — the lift in particular — wasn’t the type typically found in a private garage. She said in interpreting the 2005 resolution, she had to find the MacDonalds in violation.
“I took the words storage of vehicles to truly mean storage of vehicles,” Kilmer said.
MacDonald’s lawyer said as Palmyra does not have any definition for a “private auto repair garage” in its codes, the resolution is all a matter of interpretation, as is Kilmer’s instruction to remove all equipment from the garage. He said the family was told to remove all tools and machinery from the garage, but he questioned whether that meant the garage cannot even have smaller items such as a shovel or wrench.
“I think what we’re working with is a very in-artfully worded resolution, perhaps, and I think that you said it best at the outset, what we’re really doing is talking about interpretation of that language,” Borough Administrator John J. Gural said.
Land Use Board Member Michael Stokes said as a carpenter with heavy duty equipment of his own at home, he wondered where the line is drawn when people work on hobbies on their properties.
“If she’s doing her own personal work on her own personal cars, you’ve got to define your ordinance,” Stokes said. “A lot of people in this town do work on their own personal cars in their own personal garage, and that’s how I look at this.”
While Kilmer said she’d be happy to withdraw the complaint, the resolution’s vague wording still opens the MacDonalds to future investigations should the borough receive more complaints. Gural suggested the board make a motion to overturn the complaint on appeal and have both the borough’s attorney as well as the MacDonald’s attorney can produce a resolution, which would carry more weight moving forward. The board, in turn, overturned the complaint.
“I think we also have learned a lot of lessons this evening; I know I have,” Mayor Michelle Arnold said. “Wording of resolutions needs to be thought out a little more, so there’s a better understanding of exactly what to expect so that there aren’t any misconceptions moving forward.”
MacDonald said she felt vindicated having an outpouring of Palmyra residents support her and her family.
“I feel that the residents of Palmyra, when they’re rallied together, can be the tightest knit, most supportive group that you can find,” MacDonald said.
MacDonald also praised the board members for being reasonable and taking a “common sense approach” to interpreting the law. In the end, MacDonald and Kilmer embraced each other in a hug.
