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<br />
<br />Worse yet, from 2003 to 2006 there were
<br />15.350 residential fires caused by washers
<br />and dryers (92 percent from dryers), with
<br />16 deaths, 433 injuries, and $201 million in
<br />property damage (www.nfpa.org/assets/filesll
<br />PO F I DryerFactSh eet.pdf).
<br />So what can you do? Simple-hang your
<br />clothes outside, like your grandmother used
<br />to do.
<br />But wait. It may be against the law. First,
<br />there are a few municipalities that prohibit
<br />clotheslines-for example, Palm Beach, Florida,
<br />does not permit exterior clotheslines for
<br />multifamily dwellings (City Code Section 134-
<br />1872). Meanwhile, many other local governments
<br />- ban clotheslines in front and side yards and
<br />require them to be screened from view.
<br />Second, one out of five Americans, 57
<br />million people, live under the regimes of home
<br />owners associations-many of which expressly
<br />prohibit hanging clothes outside to dry. Take,
<br />for example, the covenants on my own single-
<br />family detached lot:
<br />"No clotheslines or wash lines shall be
<br />erected or used on any lot." And, in an overt act
<br />of civil or at least covenant disobedience, here
<br />is our daughter, Lucy, hanging clothes out on
<br />our line.
<br />But take heart. Change Is blowing in the
<br />wind. As of last year, only Florida, Colorado,
<br />a~d Utah had state laws specifically protecting
<br />the rights of home owners to dry their clothes
<br />outside. This year, Vermont and Maine joined the
<br />
<br />
<br />list of Right to Dry states, and Hawaii, for the
<br />second year in a row, enacted full protection
<br />with legislation intended "to prohibit real
<br />estate contracts, agreements, and rules from
<br />precluding or rendering ineffective the use of
<br />clotheslines on the premises of single-family
<br />dwellings or townhouses" (Senate Bill 1338,
<br />found at www.capitol.hawaiLgov/session20091
<br />bills/SB1338_ CD1_.pd1).
<br />In 1992 Vermont became one of the first
<br />states to introduce right-to-dry legislation,
<br />but it took the Green Mountain State more
<br />than 15 years to get it enacted. As they say in
<br />Vermont-slower than cold molasses running
<br />up a steep-hill in the middle of winter.
<br />o Vermont's new law, with classic Yankee
<br />~
<br />~ frugality, simply states that municipalities,
<br />~ deed restriction~, and the like cannot
<br />~ "prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting
<br />solar collectors, clotheslines, or other
<br />energy devices based on renewable energy
<br />resources from being installed. . . "This
<br />language follows Florida's (www.leg.state.
<br />vt.usl docs/20101 Actsl ACTo45.pdf).
<br />A flap over aesthetics in Virginia
<br />defeated attempts to get legislation there;
<br />Maryland also saw two competing bills
<br />defeated this year. Legislation in Connecticut
<br />got nowhere this session, but the fight goes
<br />on in Oregon. For information about what's
<br />happening in your state, check out http://
<br />right2dry.org and the leader in the field,
<br />Project Laundry List, at www.laundrylist.org.
<br />
<br />Dwight Merriam, FAICP, is a lawyer with
<br />Robinson & Cole LLP in Hartford, Connecticut. .
<br />
<br />
<br />VOL. 26, NO.8
<br />Zoning Practice is a monthly publication ofthe
<br />American Planning Association. Subscriptions are
<br />available for $75 (U.s.) and $100 (foreign). W. Paul
<br />Farmer, FAICP, Executive Director; William R. Klein,
<br />AICP, Director of Research
<br />
<br />Zoning Practice (lSSN 1548-0135) is produced
<br />at APA. Jim Schwab, AICP, and David Morley, AICP,
<br />Editors; Julie Von Bergen, Assistant Editor; Lisa
<br />Barton, Design and Production.
<br />
<br />Copyright <92009 by American Planning
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<br />1600, Chicago, IL 60603. The American
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<br />
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<br />AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIAnON Ipage 7
<br />. 73
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