Dust Pollution Ordinance Amended To Increase Enforcement And Fines
The City of Dearborn is dedicated to providing its residents with a safe, clean, and healthy environment as much as resources and authority allow.
To that end, the City Council voted on May 11 to amend the “fugitive dust” ordinance in order to increase enforcement and fines for violations. The ordinance was originally adopted in August 2020.
“Fugitive dust” refers to visible particulate emissions created through mechanical processes or natural forces, and comes from a variety of sources like dust blowing off storage piles, or dust distributed on unpaved roads or lots.
The amendments to the ordinance do the following:
- Increases the fines for violations of the ordinances from $500 to $1,000, with an additional increase from $1,000 to $2,500 for repeat violations. Additionally, a fourth violation within a 12 month period would be classified as a misdemeanor.
- Reduces time to correct notices of violation from 14 days to 3 days in order to better address ongoing nuisances concerns and reduce the detrimental impact of dust pollution on surrounding properties and people.
- Requires owners and operates of unpaved and partially paved lots with truck traffic to clean trucks leaving the lot, install rumble strips, and have trucks pass through a wheel wash station.
Fines collected from enforcement of the ordinance will be placed in a city fund to be used to pay for projects or initiatives designed to address public health, pollution prevention and reduction, and environmental protection and restoration.
Although the authority to regulate air quality lies with the State of Michigan, the City is addressing Dearborn residents’ concerns to the extent possible through the creation and strengthening of this ordinance.
More details about the ordinance will be found in Sec. 13-5.3 of the City’s Code of Ordinances, which can be accessed at cityofdearborn.org.
Source: City of Dearborn