WYTHEVILLE, Va. – The Wythe County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt the county’s first property maintenance ordinance during their regularly scheduled meeting this past Tuesday evening.

The vote came following an advertised public hearing in which six residents addressed the Board, none of which spoke in opposition to the proposed ordinance

After a period of answering the questions of citizens pertaining to the ordinance’s specifics, the board voted to approve Wythe County Ordinance No. 2016-01, “Property Maintenance Ordinance of Wythe County, Virginia.”

The new local law states that “It shall be unlawful for the owner of any parcel or property, occupied or vacant, to allow the accumulation of Trash… The owner of any parcel or property shall maintain all exterior property areas in a clean, safe condition free from the accumulation of trash, garbage, refuse, litter, scrap metal or wood, unused household appliances or junked furniture and any substance which might endanger the life, health or safety of any resident of the County. The property to be kept free of litter shall include, but not be restricted to, sidewalks, alleys and driveways; yards and grounds; fences, walls and property lines; drainage ditches and catch basins.”

Exempt from the ordinance is farm equipment, farm machinery and farm implements, or remnants of farm equipment, farm machinery and farm implements; and licensed and permitted businesses regularly engaged in business as an automobile dealer, salvage dealer, scrap processor or recycler.

A copy of the ordinance is available by clicking on the following link: http://www.wytheco.org/documents/PropertyMaintenanceOrd.pdf