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DENTON – Last week the Caroline County Commissioners heard a first reading of two legislative bills that deal with trash accumulation in residents’ yards and the open air burning of trash. After having a week to think it over themselves, as well as receiving public comment on the bills, the Commissioners expressed at their April 21 meeting that they’d like to go back to the drawing board on the language and scope of the bills.
Legislative Bill 2026 prohibits “the accumulation of rubbish and garbage on exterior property and premises” for unincorporated areas of Caroline. It also authorizes Planning and Codes to review and enforce violations. Rubbish and garbage is defined by the bill as household trash, food and pet waste, etc. It does not include natural vegetation like brush, leaves, and untreated wood. Commissioner Larry Porter added that he received a phone call from a concerned collector of antique tractors and other similar items, and clarified that this bill specifically references piles of garbage that create health or fire hazards.
Commission President Travis Breeding explained that this bill adds an extra layer of enforcement for standard health codes, which are usually enforced by the state health department. While involving the state takes a significant amount of time, giving the county the authority to inspect and enforce code violations through bill 2026-004 would speed up the process and get messes cleaned up faster. Additionally, both bills are complaint-based, meaning the county will only review possible violations if a complaint is lodged by a neighbor or fellow resident. The fine for a first infraction would be $500 and the property owner would have 10 days to correct said infraction. If the same property owner is found to be in violation again within a three-year period, that would constitute a second offense, and a $1,000 fine.
After hearing public comments at the meeting, via social media, and through individual conversations, Commissioners Breeding and Porter expressed that they were unsure about a clause in 2026-004 that specifically references the open-air burning of garbage. While the goal of the bill is to eliminate unsightly and potentially hazardous piles of waste and discourage people with close-by neighbors from burning that waste, Commissioner Porter said he doesn’t feel the language of the bill is adequately aligned with that goal. “I'd like to see some discussion. Because…I think everybody knows that we have people who have burn barrels. And I think the difference with that is you have a contained barrel… I don't know that we want to kind of eliminate burn barrel people burning in burn barrels,” he said. Commissioner Porter also referenced the rural character of Caroline County, adding, “I don't want to restrict people who are doing things that are not creating a problem… We're trying to control the situation where it starts affecting other people's property.”
Commissioner Breeding agreed with that sentiment, saying, “The intention is not to prevent people from doing what they want to do on their property. They just can’t smoke out the whole neighborhood.”
The second bill, 2026-005, relates strictly to open-air burning. So, the Commissioners directed staff to strike any language that references the burning of garbage and rubbish from 2026-004, and have that bill only prohibit the accumulation of uncontained trash in residents’ yards.
Similarly, both the public and the Commission had reservations with the restrictions of bill 2026-005, which does three things: prohibits the open air burning of garbage or rubbish, authorizes the county commissioners to adopt a burn ban during specific drought related conditions, and provides the means of enforcement for these regulations. While the legislation aligns with other local counties as far as the authority to enact a burn ban during extenuating circumstances, it is again the balance of the intent of the bill versus the execution that caused the Commission to pause.
Commissioner Breeding said he’d received a phone call inquiring about controlled burning of old houses or structures on their property, to which he said “[we] definitely need to make a provision in this to allow the removal of a structure in that manner.” Other public comments pointed out that allowing the burning of leaves and brush still would not solve their particular problem, as their neighbor tends to set large amounts of yard waste on fire and leave it unattended. Commissioner Breeding clarified that like 2026-004, cases would be strictly complaint-based, to avoid penalizing people who are not causing a nuisance.
Again, Commissioner Breeding said that he is “not a proponent of taking away people’s property rights,” but he wants those burning in their yards to “be respectful of other people.” The Commissioners discussed ideas on how to ensure the bills only pertain to people who are causing undue harm to their neighbors. They eventually came to the conclusion that more work would need to be done to get the bills “right instead of fast,” as Commissioner Porter put it.
Bills 2026-004 and 2026-005 will be discussed and reworked by county staff, and once the Commissioners believe they each match their respective intent, a new legislative calendar will begin and another public hearing will be scheduled.
