Babylon Residents Fight Proposal To Regulate Yard Sales

BABYLON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A proposal to regulate yard sales in Babylon, Long Island, is unfair, residents argued at a public hearing Tuesday.

The proposed ordinance by the Town Board would require homeowners to pay $5 for a permit. They would be limited to holding two sales per year, and each must be no longer than two days long, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.

The fines would range from $100 for a first-time offender up to $2,500 for a third violation.

Listen to Babylon Residents Fight Proposal To Regulate Yard Sales

"This very strict restriction is unfair," one woman said. "And someone like me, who follows all the rules, and the one time I have a three-day garage sale, someone's going to slap me with a $100 fine?"

"You can have a yard sale once a month," a man said. "You know, it's recycling. If you don't want to give it to the Salvation Army, what are you going to do? Throw it in the garbage."

Hall could not find one person at the hearing who supported the idea.

Councilman Tom Donnelly said the issue came to the board after it received dozens of complaints of residents collecting items that people left on their curbs and then having yard sales every week.

"We're not going to have the garage sale police out patrolling neighborhoods," Donnelly said. "But what it does is it gives the town some enforcement power."