Sylva’s Mayor Maurice Moody has reportedly made it his pet project to clean up nuisance lots. Nuisances aren’t defined in the Smoky Mountain News article, and apparently not clearly in peoples’ minds. Moody claims public health hazard abatement is not a violation of property rights, and Commissioner Chris Matheson said it is not enforcement of aesthetic standards. Seventeen nuisance lots have been identified. Identification is the purview of persons employed by the town. Hazards include “rusting hulks of trailers,” “piles of junk parts,” and “old tires.”
One person cited for nuisancing remarked:
I don’t think it’s a health concern if it’s car parts. . . . If it was trash, they might have something. . . . I guess it’s just people nosing around and saying that’s junk.
