On Thursday evening, April 25, the Iron Gate Town Council met up during a regularly scheduled meeting to discuss local issues, the ongoing issue of folks speeding through town, and listen to public comments. Attending the meeting were Mayor Gary Craig, Vice Mayor Greg Erskine, Councilman Gordon “G.W.” Reynolds, Councilman Brandon Marshall, Councilwoman Jennifer Tyree, Town Clerk Jodi Watts, Town Attorney Jared Jenkins, Craig’s wife, Sergeant Mike Garcia, three members of the community, and three members of the press. Two members of council: Councilwoman Kawahna Persinger and Councilwoman Debbie Harris, were absent.
Following the convocation and pledge, a few small matters were discussed and voted on which included the approval of minutes and the approval to pay the bills. After both passed unanimously, it was time to move on to the mayor’s report. After a few comments on the warm weather and how well the town workers have cared for the grass, Craig moved on to discuss the constant issue of speeding cars through town. “Again, I guess it’s been about a week or so —and I’m glad Mr. [Mike] Garcia is here— I actually had to step out and stop a vehicle coming up Commerce Avenue around 7th Street,” Craig said. “It rolled up over the hill and if its tires didn’t leave the ground, it was a miracle! I’ve got two grandkids… and I just told him, ‘My grandkids are out here and they happen to throw a ball out here and they run out and you hit my grandkids because you’re doing something stupid, we’re going to have problems.’ And I was being nice.” According to Mayor Craig —who ironically was wearing a t-shirt that read, “You can’t tell me what to do. You’re not my granddaughter”— the driver apologized, was cordial, and has since slowed down when coming through town.
The next order of business was to listen to public comments, though there was only one couple who signed up to speak: Leonard and Beverley Clark. The couple was present to discuss an issue they were having with their neighbors, Michael and Ashley Prior, regarding the Prior’s outdoor wood stove. In addition to speaking on the issue during the meeting, the Clark’s provided the council with a handout that included several photos of alleged smoke emanating from the Prior’s wood stove. The handout also included a brief letter to council members, a section that covered who was at risk from wood smoke [information obtained online from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website], and the code (according to the handout is 1381.18: OUTDOOR WOOD FURNACE) the Prior’s are alleged to be in violation of.
Beverley Clark said during the meeting, “I’ve given all of you copies of the pictures of the smoke that is overwhelming us. We literally have the smell in our house. My husband and I had a wood stove for 42 years and it’s not that we’re against wood stoves, but this one is, it’s just hazardous. My husband had open heart surgery in 2011. He is more susceptible to having more health issues because of this. We cannot go outside without the smoke just covering us,” Clark said before discussing the photos in the handout. “…One day I came home from work and I thought my house was on fire, but it was the smoke from the outdoor wood stove. I did talk with our neighbors because I done research on it and if the smoke stack is extended properly, it has to be two feet above the highest roof of a residential area and they did put another stack on it, but it’s still not doing anything and I know that we’re in the warmer weather, but we’ve only had two weeks so far that we’ve not had smoke, so then of course I gave a printout of some things I had researched… I had sent Ashley Prior a text to let her know that we were having issues with the smoke, that we were just overwhelmed with it. She [Prior] called, we talked on the phone. She herself said that she’d been sick since they had the stove put in and then I told her about extending the smoke stack and that’s when they did purchase one extension, so they are aware of it.”
The Virginian Review researched the ordinance listed on the handout (1381.18: OUTDOOR WOOD FURNACE) to get a better understanding of alleged violation. However, that ordinance is outlined for Princeton, West Virginia, and not the town of Iron Gate. The Virginian Review was unable to find a town ordinance in Iron Gate that specifically addressed the issue of outdoor wood stoves.
We then reached out to the Clark’s neighbors, Michael and Ashley Prior, who sent us the following statement regarding their wood stove:
“I [Michael Prior] contacted Iron Gate Town Clerk Wendy Biggs and the Alleghany County Inspector Chuck Little last summer before the outdoor stove was even purchased, inquiring about any ordinances in place in the town of Iron Gate or County of Alleghany. Both parties told me there were no ordinances in place. We [Michael and Ashley Prior] contacted our Home Owners Insurance and the Iron Gate Town Clerk about the specific location in the yard that it needed to be installed. We followed those guidelines. After installation, we contacted the Iron Gate Town Clerk, the Alleghany Inspector, and Mayor Gary Craig about ordinances/regulations on how tall our stack needed to be. There were no regulations/ordinances in place and we were given the thumbs up to install the stove as is with factory stainless 3 ft. stack. A few weeks go by, and Mrs. Clark contacted Ashley about the smoke issue. We then purchased and installed another 3 ft. stack to appease our neighbors. We didn’t hear anything else from Mrs. Clark about any other smoke issue until she spoke with the town council. Furthermore, I contacted several outdoor stove dealers regarding regulations and installation. One of the pictures provided showed “smoke” coming from both ends of the stove. The “smoke” coming from the back of the stove is actually steam from the overflow port of the stove so that the outdoor stove doesn’t build up pressure because it is an open system. We’ve been in contact with Mayor Gary Craig and we are waiting to hear back from the ordinance committee.”
When asked about Mrs. Prior being sick, Michael Prior stated, “She (Ashley Prior) did get sick in the middle of December, but that was after the wood stove installation. Ashley didn’t offer an explanation when Mrs. Clark messaged her, but she (Ashley) gets bronchitis, sinusitis, laryngitis, severe stomach infection, double ear infection, and a pneumonia-like cough that tends to occur simultaneously,” Michael Prior stated. “Sinusitis is something she (Ashley) tends to get annually. She got the flu, which caused her to have bronchitis and that led to everything else. The timing was about two months after the startup of our stove, but the smoke didn’t cause her to be sick.”
Mayor Craig stated that council would be setting up a meeting with the Prior’s as well as have the ordinance committee look into the ordinances regarding wood stoves. The issue was tabled for the time being to allow the council time to research the town ordinances about wood stoves and to set up the meeting with the Clark’s neighbors in order to seek out a resolution.
The final order of business for the night was to schedule the regular work session as well as the regular town council meeting. The work session was scheduled for May 21 (3rd Tuesday) and the town council meeting was scheduled for May 30 (4th Thursday). Both will be held at 7pm.