Wed, 10/05/2011 - 10:19pm - Posted by: whitespider

survivalrealty.com FYI

Wed, 10/05/2011 - 2:24pm - Posted by: jersey_girl

barkingdogs....I bet that big a** SUV you drive puts out way more pollution than someone burning wood....plus are you that stupid to realize that back in the old days when there was clean air all people did was burn wood. Do you really thing that the oil and coal pollution that you use to run you vehicle, pop your popcorn, take a hot shower, etc is healthier for the environment than burning wood...The world is becoming such a screwed up place because of people like you. You've you got your head so far up your you know what you wouldn't last a week without modern conveniences...hopefully karma pays you back when the power goes out and you neighbors with wood burning appliances tell you to go pound sand. Also, for the record unless the smoke stack is blocked heat rises and you never smell enough smoke that it would actually bother anyone....you want to make comparisons yet they don't even make sense....yes smelling the calming peaceful smell of wood burning in the distance is the same as someone lighting up 6,000 cigarettes or filling a room with smoke. Maybe next time you should think before you speak, or in this case type, because then maybe next time you won't look like such a jerk.

Wed, 10/05/2011 - 6:53am - Posted by: barkingdogs

Mr. Big...No I'm not an ex-smoke. I'm downwind of a neighbor who burns any trash wood he can find. Why? Because he can, 'no one is going to tell him what he can burn in his stove'. With a Range Rover & a BMW in their driveway it's not a financial issue.

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 10:37pm - Posted by: Mister Big

Barkingdogs...From your tone it sounds like you're a ex-smoker. I live in Middle and winter and wood heat have gone hand in hand for many years. You also have to remember the Villas is no Beverly Hills.......more like Belleplain with a pulse!

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 8:22pm - Posted by: barkingdogs

• A person’s right to burn wood should stop when it interferes with another’s right to breathe clean air on their property. Wood smoke from a neighbor is a nuisance, a health concern, a contributor of soot, green house gas and a superfluous insult to our already derogated quality of air. • Why on earth would you prefer to dump wood smoke onto your neighbors? Cover your chimney when you light your next fire and sit back and enjoy the smoke-filled room. Smoke trespass onto another property is an issue that is dealt with more & more in court rooms. Takes away any enjoyment of their property. Unlike highly regulated industrial sources of pollution, wood burning occurs right in the neighborhoods where we live—sometimes right next door. This means that people can be subjected to levels of hazardous pollution from wood burning that are far higher than from any other pollution source. We all need air to breathe. We don’t need smoke. What would you think if one of your neighbors had a smoking habit of six thousand cigarettes per hour What if you had you had one of these neighbors? Unfortunately, I do, and any chance of fresh air starting from the first cool weather, well into late spring, early summer is frivolously absent. We can tell our house guests that smoking isn’t allowed in our homes. We should be able to declare our own property a smoke-free zone outdoors! The adverse effects of cigarette smoke are well-known, but another source of second-hand smoke has become noticeable in parts of our state, as chimneys are releasing wood smoke into the air.

A movement away from residential wood burning is beginning to emerge, in light of ongoing research about its harmful effects. Wood smoke actually contains many toxins similar to those found in cigarette smoke, and components of both types of smoke are carcinogenic.

“It is time to care about the air that we pollute because it is the air that we breathe.” I hope people will consider the potential costs for the environment and health before burning wood in residential areas, to help the air stay healthier for everyone, in all seasons.

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 7:32pm - Posted by: waynemaz

I now live in the adirondack mountains and there are 3 of these within a half a mile of my home and not a problem. I'm not sure why council chose to pass this ordinance but I do wonder if they can pass a rule, and after the fact make someone who already had a unit in place have to remove it. Cigarette smoking is banned indooors and where crowds might gather in some instances, outdoors where crowds may gather but is not in any way a valid comparison to this. I remember when i was on council there was a person who used their outdoor fireplace to an obnoxious excess, and we really couldn't legislate against it, but it was eventually solved.I hope they can resolve this without the removal of the alternative heat source. I'm kind of surprised republicans who are usually big on less gov't regulations are going in this direction.

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 4:54pm - Posted by: Mindless

All I can say is I am VERY thankful I don't have such horrid neighbors!! Ok ban these energy saving units but if your going that far, then ban everything that may put out smoke or any kind...that would be just as ridiculous! I think the neighbors costing the tax payers money with all their uncalled for boo-hooing should be written a summons and made to pay the expenses incurred over all this nonsense and any politicians being sucked in to this mess should have their jobs reviewed!

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 4:34pm - Posted by: sherluck gnomes

How typical of Lower Township Council!!!!!!!!! Is there a backbone amongst them? Once again it appears that the way to get things done in Lower is to bring in your friends and neighbors and 20 other clones and whine and complain and eventually....usually SOONER than later Council just bellies up and gives you what you want.

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 3:07pm - Posted by: whitespider

It is uplifting to read the comments below. Apparently I am not the only one who realizes the urgency and responsibility for all of us to remove ourselves from dependence on Big Utilities, and prepare for the worst ahead. And yes, the Grid WILL go down and for a long time, in the near future. It is also clear that when Lower could not find an ordinance to snuff out this alternative energy device and shut up the banshee shrill of the neighbors' complaints, then it devised an ordinance to do so. The misuse of office smells like a rotting corpse.

I am going to suggest to the Banachs to put a big fat For Sale sign up on their house and remove themselves and their wonderfully advanced heat unit to a more enlightened state (there are many). Have faith, there ARE communities in which neighbors support each other in ecological endeavour such as yours. This is what I am doing - & day by day, step by step, I inch closer to the final brushing of the corruption and dis-ease from my feet as I exit Cape May County. And... when all of us citizens here FINALLY HAVE HAD ENOUGH of the insanity and immorality of paying taxes to this county and state, and we are long vanished, who comes to take our place? The present puppets in power will have nothing left. Nothing. Their voices will be as an echo in an empty garbage can. Their wallets will be unnecessary because their jobs will be gone, and we will read about them as they stand in line at the Food Banks and shelters. And little Miss Martin the Mouth will be helpless, hungry & powerless, and shaking right there alongside of them. Mark my words.

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 1:32pm - Posted by: shoreblonde

If I find the smoke from my neighbors fireplace to be offensive, does that mean I can call the cops and complain and waste their time? . I applaud the Banachs for finding an alternative heating source. Get a grip people -

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 1:32pm - Posted by: Mister Big

I guess that is why the people of Lower Township pay Voll the Troll the big bucks! By the way did the "Troll" ever get his state certification, to run this little hamlet in good old South Jersey? Yes ........Tax dollars at work here folks!

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 12:29pm - Posted by: billnjcm26

Our city counsel is a BIG JOKE!!!!!! Next they will be telling you that you will get a fine if you hang your clothes on the clothes line because the odor of the laundry detergent is going in our neighbors windows This town sucks

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 11:51am - Posted by: jersey_girl

So glad that the Lower Twp. Council would rather us use foreign oil to heat our houses and create more pollution. You wonder why people aren't more "green". It's because ignorant people who have no common sense get elected, meanwhile people with common sense get chastised for actually doing something good. I think Lower Twp. has a lot more issues that could be addressed, rather than attacking someone for being eco-friendly. And people wonder why this country is going to hell? No one stands up and says" no I'm not going to support, use or buy foreign materials", they'd rather put us further in debt and kill us off faster due to high pollution of the oil that is burned. How about the ignorant Lower Twp. Council actually stand up for something to benefit this country rather than putting down some guy who wasn't doing anything the least bit wrong. To tell him he can't have that on his property, you might as well as just charge all of Lower Twp. homeowner association fees while your at it.To the idiot Martin, seriously are you that stupid? People aren't supposed to smell smoke? What do you think they did for warmth and food in the old days, cause guess what darling gas and electric heat wasn't invented yet and I believe they ate more than raw vegetables and they survived just fine. Also sweetheart, last time I checked my cigarettes it warned about smoking while pregnant, but I guess my box was a misprint because I don't see a warning that says people shouldn't smell smoke. I'll have to give the surgeon general a call and complain. Lower Twp. you should be ashamed of yourselves, I hope the cops are at least smart enough that when a complaint about a wood boiler is called in (unless it's actually on fire) they ignore it like they do other silly pointless complaints that people come up with.

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 10:08am - Posted by: freddy

Did that idiot woman really say people arent supposed to smell smoke and compare it to cigarettes? I would stand behind her car in the morning and then file a complaint. If I was these folks I would file 20 complaints a day when people use their grills or whatever else they use. This is silly.

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 9:42am - Posted by: ms.kitty2010

first of all it's not the villas,second mr. banach, must be a smart man to invest his money to be able to save money in the long run, he just moved into a snoot neighborhood,were the folks there are just jelious of his sucess.

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 8:56am - Posted by: rwiley52

yea lets start to ban lighters and mathches too u guys just a joke u do nothing but think of things you can band or make money off of

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 7:53am - Posted by: Mumbles

Mr. Banach installs an alternative heat source something we should all be doing if it were affordable to convert and he's punished for it. How does a wood burning boiler cause problems in the winter when all the doors and windows are closed? This time of year you pull up in your driveway and everyone is smelling smoke from wood burning fireplaces/stoves - what's the difference? Oh, that's right, most everybody has converted to clean gas burning fireplaces. Mr. Banach obviously likes splitting wood, saving money and enjoying the exercise and outdoors.. I would be more than willing to bet if he installed solar panels on his roof he'd get the same reaction from his jealous neighbors. Windmills are a no no too in this township. I bet all these neighbors support Obama's green movement too!!! Hypocrites!!.

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 7:53am - Posted by: artdoc

"Products of combustion should not be offensive, obnoxious, or create a nuisance that negatively impacts any property".... I'm not defending this guy, but does anyone remember the MUA Compost plant stench in Swainton that did ALL OF THE ABOVE back in the 1990's (and still does)?? Typical bureaucrats.... Nail the little guy, but fold up when it comes to problems CREATED by the bureaucrats. Nothing ever changes with these people!

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 6:43am - Posted by: Hemisphere Dancer

While we're at it let's not only ban fireplaces but also campground fires and barbeques. Afterall, that creates smoke too. Sheesh! What next?

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 6:37am - Posted by: Dave G

I'd like to know, as was mentioned in this article and a previous; why is this a problem when there are wood burning fireplaces everywhere? The boiler has a tall chimney, as to simulate what would be on a house. This ordinance is subjective. Who's to say what is objective, offensive, injurious, or creating a nuisance?