Some garage sales occurring in Barron have been irking city council members. In response, the city is now considering a proposal that would aim restrictions on such sales in residential areas.

The proposal, drafted by the city's attorney Gerald Liden at the request of Mayor Dave Vruwink, would restrict what is described as "occasional retail sales" by taking the following approach:

"It shall be illegal to conduct any retail sales of goods, including, but not limited to garage sales, from any area located within the city of Barron or within its extra territorial jurisdiction zoned for residential use," according to the proposed ordinance, which goes on to give two exceptions. "This ordinance shall not apply to sales by any person, persons or organizations permitted by the city council to conduct special events which include occasional retail sale of food, beverages or entertainment. This ordinance shall not apply to occasional retail sales by residences who conduct no more than three such sales on such premises in any calendar year."

In a letter dated July 12 and addressed to the mayor, Liden gives some background on what motivated the proposal.

"I am aware of the fact that while there are few, if any, complaints about occasional retail sales by residents (usually conducted as garage sales) some of our citizens are very concerned about continuing sales which are in effect ongoing business ventures," according to the city attorney's letter, adding that traffic congestion is one complaint related to the issue. "Some of these sales also include not only personal belongings of the residents themselves, but also goods purchased elsewhere for resale. Some merchants are complaining about this competition."

Wording in the proposal attempts to walk a fine line, so to speak. It would outlaw more than three garage sales per year from a home, yet services offered from a residence-photography, musical instrument tuning, child care, etc.-would be left intact. The three-per-year limit for garage sales would be tied to residences, rather than individuals, because it would be nearly impossible to track who is actually holding sales on a particular property.

Even so, Barron Police Chief Byron Miller said that trying to keep a tally of how many garage sales each residence has had each year would be a challenge for law enforcement. Convincing a judge that a violation has occurred would be difficult.

Liden said that having a citation stick could take residents monitoring their neighbors' garage sales and then testifying in court about them.

Alderman Bob Rollins, a major proponent of brining more restrictions to the city's garage sales, said that he and his neighbor Norm Yamada have been having problems with another neighbor who regularly holds garage sales and leaves sale items outside for extended periods of time, sometimes covering all of it up with a blue tarp. Rollins also gave examples of how more than aesthetics are at stake.

"Mailboxes are blocked. There was a guy there with a 30-foot camping trailer ... Norm Yamada's driveway was blocked. You got to run around trying to get people to move their vehicles to get out of your driveway," Rollins said.

Alderman Mike Dietrich questioned whether drafting a new ordinance was the right approach to Rollins' concern.

"I'm struggling with the fact that, you know, it's one specific issue that we're dealing with, and we're trying to make an ordinance to deal with basically one or two cases," he said. "I don't like that because we're infringing on the entire city's right to have garage sales-that have them the right way, for the right reasons. Isn't there a different way to handle the situation than to make a blanket ordinance, you know, involving everyone?"

Rollins maintained that there were other problem garage sales happening in the city, and an ordinance would help.

Council members decided to send the proposed ordinance to a sub-committee for review before voting on new regulations.

In a July 27 interview, Dietrich said that Barron's codes and ordinances review committee took the original proposal and asked that Liden incorporate some additional language into it patterned after Rice Lake and Turtle Lake's approaches. Examples include that sale items have to be brought back in to the permanent structure at the end of the day and that signs advertising garage sales must abide by several size and placement rules.

Once a new proposal is drafted, then it is expected go before the full city council for a vote next month.