Wood-Burning Boilers Banned in Lakewood

After four months of back-and-forth, has banned wood-burning boilers in the city.

The three existing boilers in the city can stay, but any of them can be removed if they are deemed a nuisance.

The controversial  after neighbors of three Lakewood homes — on Merl Avenue, Manor Park Avenue and Waterbury Road — filed complaints.

— along with health concerns — fueled a nine-month moratorium on the approval of the outdoor furnaces, which expired this month.

The new ordinance keeps out any new boilers, and will regulate the three existing ones. The will also: 

• set the legal burning season as Nov. 1 through April 30;
• establish no-burn days during the season when the Air Quality Index is unhealthy or very unhealthy to the general public;
• define acceptable solid fuel source as “clean, seasoned wood.”

A part of the proposal that required the stack to be raised 5 feet was scrapped.

The city can also determine that the existing boilers are a nuisance if they “endanger the health, comfort, safety or welfare of the public.”

“If a nuisance condition is found,” said law director Kevin Butler, “the city has at its disposal a number of options, all the way through an attempt to abate the nuisance condition by forcing the owner to shut down the wood-burning boiler altogether.” 

Butler added that “careful and thoughtful” inspections would be made.

The boilers operate like most other hot-water-based boiler systems, except that the heat is generated through burning wood as opposed to traditional gas. And unlike wood-burning fireplaces, boilers often run in excess of 12 hours a day, resulting in much higher carbon dioxide emissions.

Two residents at Monday's meeting spoke out against the boilers, and two of the property owners in the city who own boilers attended to support the appliances.

Bert Wirtz, a resident on Manor Park Avenue who owns one of the boilers, said he tries to be a good neighbor, noting that he only loads his wood-burning boiler when his neighbors are sleeping.

“I try to do my best to keep it under control,” he said.

He said he worries what will happen if the boiler breaks and needs replaced. 

“I wouldn’t be allowed to do that,” he added.

“Why would they hold us to these standards but it excludes all fireplaces, fire pits and all other wood-burning units?” he said. “It’s only an ordinance for wood-burning boilers… I think it’s discriminatory based on the fact that there are more than 5,000 people in the city who burn wood.”

Eric Lowery, a resident of Waterbury Road, has worries of his own. He said that the boilers could drive down neighboring property values.

“The impact on the neighborhood is not just smoke coming out at 6 in the evening and 10 in the evening. But 10 in the morning, 11 in the morning — all day long our homes are invaded by smoke put out by these appliances.”