PORT ANGELES – Clallam County’s revised junk car ordinance chugged into law Tuesday like a ’73 Ford Maverick with fouled plugs and a blown muffler.
It took county commissioners three work sessions to get it running as they weakened the law largely at the urging of Commissioner Mike Doherty, D-Port Angeles.
Where the original ordinance would have outlawed a single junk car on property of any size, the revised law allows one on a lot larger than 2½ acres.
In addition, a person may have up to three inoperable vehicles if he or she signs affidavits promising to restore or repair them within a year.
The commissioners’ tinkering disappointed Selinda Barkhuis, the senior planner who drafted the law for the Department of Community Development, and Planning Director Steve Gray.
“There was a lot, a lot, of public health concern about a junk vehicle,” Barkhuis said, referring to a March 13 public hearing where speakers condemning abandoned cars far outnumbered those defending them.
Gray echoed her, saying lot size didn’t matter where junkers are parked close to the road or property line.
