Skowhegan, ME Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

The rule sits in Section V of the Property Maintenance Ordinance, adopted at the Annual Town Meeting on June 13, 2022. It applies to the grounds of any lot, plot or parcel of land, because Section II defines property that way and Section III applies the ordinance to all existing premises. Section V.1(b) names the condition: any place where three or more old, discarded, worn out, junked, unserviceable vehicles are kept. The only exception printed is an approved licensed junkyard or an auto repair business permitted under the Town of Skowhegan Licenses and Business Regulations Policy.

Two definitions decide what a vehicle must look like to count. Section II defines junk as dilapidated, discarded or used material or objects. It defines unserviceable by adopting two Maine Supreme Court decisions, Town of Pownal v. Emerson and Town of Mt. Desert v. Smith, under which unserviceable means not ready for use or presently useable, as opposed to incapable of being serviced. A vehicle that is not ready to be driven can therefore qualify even if it could be repaired.

The three-vehicle count is not the only hook. Section IV requires grounds to be maintained to prevent nuisance conditions as defined in Title 17 section 2802, which the ordinance reprints in Section II. That text declares a public nuisance any place where one or more old, discarded, worn out or junked motor vehicles, or parts of them, are gathered, kept or allowed to accumulate in a way that is unsightly, detracts from the natural scenery or injures property rights. Section V.1(c) lets owners store materials for private use if screened from the public way and abutting properties.