Melvindale City Councilman Steve Densmore (right) introduces an outdoor burning ordinance for fire pits, for which the first reading was held at the Aug. 18 city council meeting, as City Administrator Rick Ortiz, Mayor Wheeler Marsee, City Attorney Lawrence Coogan, and Council members Joe Jackson and Julie Rauser listen.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE – The city held its first public hearing Aug. 18 for a proposed revision to the city’s outdoor burning ordinance, which would allow fire pits.
City Attorney Lawrence Coogan said the proposed ordinance change was initiated after discussions with fire officials and residents concerning the use of residential fire pits.
“We were asked to put together a proposed ordinance that would allow citizens, under certain circumstances, to burn wood at certain times, provided it is in the right structure,” he said.
Melvindale City Councilman and Dearborn Assistant Fire Chief Steve Densmore assisted Coogan in drafting the ordinance.
Densmore said most cities surrounding Melvindale allow fire pits, while Melvindale has not had an open burn policy.
“The last time it was looked at was in 1965,” he said. “The only way to enforce any type of issue, if you were burning something, was with our head of the DPW.”
Densmore said that based on the many nuisance complaints he responds to during the course of his job, he felt it was important to become proactive and offer a fire pit ordinance that would be safe in nature, and which would let people enjoy their backyards with picnics and seasonal celebrations, with fires properly contained and monitored.
“So, I took it upon myself, with corporation council and Police Chief (Dan) Jones, to come up with this draft, and then we put it into an ordinance, to be read tonight,” he said.
Coogan said Mayor Wheeler Marsee thought it was important to hold a public hearing to get residents’ input.
Fire pits would be off the ground, Coogan said, and would have to be a certain distance from an occupied dwelling, a garage, cars and property lines.
“You can’t put it right next to your neighbor’s fence line and start a fire,” he said. “It is spelled out in the ordinance what is allowed and what is not allowed, and typically would have a coverable piece made out of steel or brass, and a chimney, and it cannot exceed 36 inches by 36 inches – you can’t have a huge bonfire 30 feet wide.”
Resident Annette Taylor said having fire pits will allow families to spend time together.
“I think that is a good thing, because lately, with the pandemic, there wasn’t too much to do, so, in the backyard, with s’mores and the family, I think that’s a good thing.”
Marsee also noted that city parks are available for rent to residents for outdoor events as well.