MIDDLEPORT: Outdoor wood-burning furnaces banned

By Joyce Miles/milesj@gnnewspaper.com

MIDDLEPORT — Tom Winkley and Debbie Morgan are out $2,200 after the village board banned the use of outdoor, wood-burning furnaces Monday.

Trustees voted unanimously in favor of the ban, which prohibits construction and operation of the devices anywhere in the village. Trustee Terry Kirkpatrick was absent.

“These units are being marketed quite aggressively,” village attorney Dan Seaman said, “and there are potential health hazards” in their operation.

The preface to the law, virtually a copy of the one passed earlier this month in the village of Barker, says “the types of fuel used and the scale and duration of burning ... create noxious and hazardous smoke, soot, fumes, odors and air pollution. ... (s)uch pollutants are detrimental to residents’ health, and deprive neighboring residents of enjoyment of their premises.”

That finding doesn’t sit well with Winkley and Morgan, a couple at 22 Sleeper St. who’ve had their furnace for a while and say it’s generated no heat from neighbors. They don’t use their outdoor furnace in summertime, when others’ windows are open and the smoke might bother them, Winkley said.

“I try my darndest to satisfy my neighbors without polluting them out,” he said. “I don’t think I should get slapped ... because of someone else.”

Winkley, who purchased a used unit for about $2,200, operates it in the cooler months to heat his home and water. He’s one of only two village homeowners known to use an outdoor-based furnace at this point.

Village officials said the ban was prompted by the other homeowner, who reportedly used his boiler as an incinerator for disposing materials such as carpet and roofing shingles.

Trustee Tom Conley said he had heard complaints about “people getting choked out” by smoke; trustees Frank Sarchia and Liz Bateman said they had not taken any complaints.

Winkley questioned why the board didn’t get after the person burning non-wood materials instead — and how trustees could decide smoke from his outdoor boiler is more dangerous than the smoke that comes out of chimneys from indoor wood-burners.

The difference, Building Inspector Tom Arlington suggested, is the outdoor furnaces are relatively new devices for which the Environmental Protection Agency has not emission standards.

Iris Waters of Royalton, an outdoor, wood-burning furnace owner/operator who publicly applauded Lockport Mayor Michael Tucker’s veto of a similar ban earlier this month, said the real problem with the devices is ignorance.

“The outdoor (furnaces) are so much safer than having any type of wood-burning device in the home; they’re also an alternative to gas and electric,” she said. “(Government) should be working with people on this, not against them. ... Banning these devices is a huge mistake.”

Debbie Morgan asked whether enforcement of the law could be put off for up to six months while she and Winkley burn the rest of their wood supply. The law is going into effect immediately, according to Seaman, but at the board’s request, he will write a secondary local law allowing boiler owners to apply for a temporary exemption.

The Middleport board began tackling the boiler ban this past winter after complaints about smoke, according to Clerk-Treasurer Rebecca Schweigert. Passage on the heels of the City of Lockport ban and veto is “coincidental,” she said.

The issue is bound to arise in cities and villages, which are more densely populated than towns, according to Seaman.

“The key is the proximity of one resident to another in the village,” he said.

In the town of Newfane, which has several more densely populated core areas, there is no consideration of a boiler ban, according to Supervisor Tim Horanburg.

“We have not had a problem with them, as of yet, anyhow,” he said.

Ditto for the Village of Wilson, Mayor Tom Bateman said.