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Supervisors defer action on 239 Long Meadow Road trash complaint pending health department recheck
Summary
The board reviewed repeated neighborhood complaints about trash and uncontained refuse at 239 Long Meadow Road in Fishersville and voted to revisit the item after a health department inspection and a two-week staff check.
Augusta County staff presented the board with a code-enforcement request regarding trash, refuse and other material accumulating at 239 Long Meadow Road in Fishersville. The county packet cited repeated complaints dating back to February 2023 and two letters from the health department indicating that uncontained garbage could represent a public-health concern.
During the meeting, Supervisors noted that some material had been moved from a back porch and that the property’s occupants recently secured weekly trash pickup. The supervisor representing the district visited the site and reported seeing a mattress on a trailer and toys in the yard but did not observe an active health hazard during a site visit. He recommended securing a more timely health-department evaluation before ordering county removal.
County staff told the board the case had been sent to the county attorney’s office for consideration and that current county code has a different procedure for tall grass enforcement than for garbage removal. The attorney’s office recommended the remedy presented in the agenda packet, which would allow county agents to remove trash and recover the cost as a lien on the property under specified code sections. Staff said the state code contains authorities the county does not currently exercise for trash removal and suggested a potential code amendment to create a process similar to the tall-grass remedy.
Because complainants reported the problem had persisted for months, a supervisor moved that staff request a health-department inspection early next week and then report back at the board’s staff meeting in two weeks; if no action has been taken by the property owner, the item would then be placed back on the board meeting agenda. The motion (to request inspection and return in two weeks if unresolved) passed with a 6–0 vote and one abstention.
County staff also confirmed the grass standard for residential property—used in related enforcement—is 12 inches. The board directed staff to request a more timely health-department determination in future similar cases, and to consider whether county code needs amendment to provide a clearer enforcement path for repeated trash complaints.
