Connecticut judge rules against "metallic Mount Trashmore"

February 27, 2012

Bridgeport, Connecticut: Judge Dale W. Radcliffe, of the Ansonia/Milford District Superior Court, has sided with the Bridgeport Zoning Board of Appeals in a case regarding LaJoie's Scrap Metal. A 40-foot pile of scrap metal, known as "Mount Trashmore," rests on LaJoie's property. Some in the neighborhood have fought its existence for years. In 2010, the zoning board upheld a cease-and-desist order against the business. Judge Radcliffe supported the order in his recent ruling. As it turns out, LaJoie's does not have the proper permits to process and sell metal on their property. The site is zoned for storage only. Even the storage of metal in this case, Radcliffe ruled, has gone too far. "A nonconforming use enabling a property owner to store metal cannot be contorted to sanction the presence on the site of a metallic Mount Trashmore, which towers over the neighborhood," he wrote.