Is it junk or is it art?
That's what a Clinton County judge will decide, after a Bath Township man was issued a citation, stating that his property violated a junk ordinance.
FOX 47's Cryss Walker spoke with the home owner who says he's working to prove his art is not trash.
Robert Park says he's a life-long artist and he’s fighting to keep his outside installation, The Blue Loop.
“They said that I was in violation of their ordinance of storage of junk outside a closed building”, Park said. According to the Bath Township Junk Ordinance, his work is a civil infraction. “Well this is not junk”, Park explained.
“These are art pieces that I’ve assembled and organized meaningfully. You can't remove my Blue Loop.”
Bath Township officials say a citation was issued after they received numerous complaints about Park’s property from neighbors.
The issue will now go before a judge.
“He has the right to do this, it's his private property”, said Park’s attorney, William Metros.
“It's not like he's going out and putting this stuff on somebody else's property and saying it's art. It's his own private… and you can't even see it from the highway.”
But the Blue Loop is not the only issue. Bath Township officials say Park's property is littered with brush and debris.
“An ordinance compliance officer went out to investigate and there was a variety of plastics, metals, woods…piles of brush”, said Bath Township Superintendent Dan Wietecha.
“Just a whole variety of things that would fall under the junk classification.”
Park told FOX 47 that he's working to clear his land of rubbish and wild plants but he has no intentions of taking down The Blue Loop.
Wietecha told News 10’s Cryss Walker the 72-year-old was first cited back in April but since then he has cleared up a lot of brush and debris from his property.
As for the fate of The Blue Loop, that matter will be taken up by a Clinton County Court in a few weeks.
Park's case will go before the court August 13th.
We'll let you know what the judge decides.
