City Manager Micheal Haney says he wants to keep the Chickamauga Historic District picturesque, so he is enforcing the fact that ongoing yard sales in that district are prohibited by city ordinance.
Ronald Eugene Fouts has been selling general merchandise in his yard at 407 1/2 Lee and Gordon Mill Road, according to Haney.
“If you establish a [store] building you will be within your rights to do that,” Haney told Fouts during a recent Chickamauga City Council meeting. “We don’t allow stuff on the roadway. It has to be indoors. It can’t be outside.”
Councilman Daymon Garrett said he would like to see Fouts get a building to put his merchandise inside.
“Can I have weekend yard sales to get rid of it?” Fouts asked. “It’s everybody’s stuff that’s moved in and out of there for the last 20 years. In order to clean up the place, I’ve got to get rid of this junk. I have real low income.”
Haney suggested that Fouts contact a flea market, stressing that a continuous yard sale is a business and the way it is being run in the historic district is against city codes.
“I need a chance to get rid of my stuff,” said Fouts. “I painted the inside of the house. I want to beautify the place. I can’t do just two yard sales a year. If I could do it on the weekends, then that would be good. I sit out 10 to 12 items at a time. It wouldn’t be right to take all the stuff to the dump. Could I put stuff in the garage and sell it out of there?”
Councilman Lee Miller said if Fouts can keep his merchandise inside a garage or some type of building, that will work as long as he has a business license.
“The council has never condoned yard sales,” said Haney. “You have to keep things inside or the police will shut you down. Come by City Hall for a business license.”
After the meeting, Fouts said he plans to obtain a business license, but that since he can’t keep merchandise outside, he will most likely decide to take it to a flea market to sell it in the future instead.
According to Police Chief Ronald Roach, Fouts has been cleaning up the property that is near the McDonald’s. The Police Department would like to see the property continued to be cleaned up in the future, he added.