Two and Done: Proposed Bylaw Would Set Limits on Belmont Yard Sales

Steve Ganak loves living in Belmont.

A person who grew up in Belmont, graduated from the schools and has spent nearly half a century in town, Ganak has resided for the past 15 years with his wife, Meira, in a modest single-story house on Hurley Street.

"I take pride living in town," said the former ad man whose client list included the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops.  

"I know all my neighbors, everyone is friendly and nice. It's everything you'd want," said Ganak.

But in the past year, the Ganak's happy retirement has been disrupted by the sound of slamming doors and a line of cars parked along Hurley Street nearly every weekend this past summer.

On Saturdays and Sundays starting around 8 a.m., a resident living at the corner of Hurley and Brighton has been holding day-long yard sales that have attracted a legion of bargain hunters. And the traffic and noise would continue until late afternoon, sometimes up until 6 p.m., he claimed.

"We had our summer hijacked. The noise was constant," said Ganak as he pointed to the location of the yard sale, where a mid-sized trailer sits in the drive way along with an aging auto. 

"My 90-year-old neighbor who lives next to the sale needed to walk down to the other end of the street to catch (the MBTA's) "The Ride" because cars were blocking the entire street," said Ganak, who planted a pair of trees outside his bedroom window "so I could have some relief from the activity."

"This is a quality of life issue," said Ganak.

In an effort to regain control of his and his fellow Belmont resident's weekends, Ganak did something most people would only dream of doing: he wrote a law. Well, in reality, a proposed bylaw. 

"I took the initiative so that residents can have some control over their lives," said Ganak. 

Ganak successfully filed a citizen's petition, with more than 115 signatures, with Belmont Town Clerk's Office on Tuesday, Sept. 24, proposing to limit the number and time of yard sales by any resident over a one-year period.

And Ganak also added a provision that would mark the end of every second pole and post plastered with handmade sale signs weeks and even months after the event, requiring that if you put a sign up, you take it down.

And administrating the proposed bylaw – which will need the approval of representatives at Belmont's Special Town Meeting in November – would be as simple as going on-line and clicking a few fields on the Town Clerk's web page, suggests Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman.

"I see where not only where a resident would receive a license, at no cost, but it would tell you if you exceeded the limit. It will also allow you to go to a web site and see who is holding yard sales around town. It would all be automated," said Cushman, who added that other nearby towns, such as Arlington and Lexington, have similar bylaws.

The proposed addition to the town's general bylaws says "the willingness of neighboring residents to tolerate cheerfully such sale events can only be expected if they take place infrequently and are conducted respectful of the neighborhood." 

And that would now require setting limits on when and how many yard and estate sales residents can have in a calendar year. 

Defining a yard sale as "informal, infrequent sale event," the bylaw would require a resident to obtain a license online from the Town Clerk's Office at least three days before the event. 

Yard sales would be restricted to no more than two consecutive days and can only be held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. And sorry early birds, no items will be sold before 8 a.m. In addition, after the sale, all items need to be out of public view by 6 p.m. Violate these rules will result in a $50 fine.

The bylaw would also limit the number of sales on a residential "lot" – a street address – to two a year. Under the rule, a sale that runs for two consecutive days would be considered as "one" yard sale. 

Holding a yard sale without a license can be halted by the Belmont Police and the resident holding the illegal sale fined $100. If a resident is hold in a third sale in a given year, the police will order the sale shut down "immediately." If that person refuses or tries to sneak in an added date later in the year, they'll be hit by a $300 fine.

Cars coming to neighborhoods would be required to comply with the town's traffic and parking laws.

If approved, the license would be sent to the resident, again online, who would than print it out or have it available on their "smart" phone or tablet for inspection. 

The proposed bylaw would also place limits on items that could be sold, restricting them to stuff that are owned by the resident in an attempt to prevent the reselling of items bought specifically to be sold at the yard sale.

And Ganak's bylaw would also come down on all those handmade signs placed on light poles and street signs advertising the sale. They now will be required to be of "a reasonable size and number," restricted to no more than 10 days before the sale and be removed by the resident "promptly" after the event. Scofflaws will be fined $25 by Belmont Police who will be the enforcement agent.

There are a few exclusions to the bylaw: a managed estate sale is exempt, rummage sales by churches and charities are still restricted to two a year but can run for up to three days and infrequent indoor sales that are advertised on craigslist or eBay are exempt but only if there are no signs or advertising on the premises and the public is not invited to the residence to make the sale or pick-up the merchandise. 

Ganak's petition will be sent to the Bylaw Review Committee (on Oct. 1) and the town counsel for a once over so that the proposed bylaw meets legal requirements and town bylaw standards.

With the help of a friend who assisted in writing the bylaw, Ganak circulated the petition for signatures around town, not just in his neighborhood.

"I found out that people across Belmont believe that there needs to be some limits on a public event that can be a nuisance," he noted.

If the language and article passes muster, it will join three other articles on the Special Town Meeting warrant and be voted on by the reps on Nov. 4. 

"I never thought of myself as one day putting in a petition. That's not my style. But this is important, not just for me but for everyone who loves living in this town," said Ganak.