Neighbors Complain About Frequency Of Yard Sales

A Gaston County woman said she will not have any more yard sales after hearing complaints from her neighbors.

“I began having a yard sale a month ago, three days a week, in order to survive,” Kim Castle, who lost her job three months ago, said.

Neighbors said they complained to city zoning officers because Castle’s yard, located on Wren Road at the entrance to the neighborhood, began to resemble a flea market.

Wren Road, just north of the Gastonia Municipal Airport, provides the only access to about 60 homes in a nearby subdivision. In addition to appearance-related concerns, neighbors said they were troubled by the traffic the sales attracted. One woman said she decided to call zoning officers after the traffic almost caused a head-on collision.

Zoning officers then contacted Castle, telling her a city ordinance allows residents to have only six yard sales per year. Castle was told to either stop having sales or pay a $100 a day fine.

Castle shut down her sales, but said the money she made from selling items at her house was her only source of income.

“They have no clue what they have done,” she said. “It went beyond being a yard sale.”

Neighbor Autumn Mohr said Castle’s sales were like having a store in the neighborhood, but said she didn’t object.

“She was there almost every day, so it kind of is like a business,” Mohr said, who signed a petition Castle collected, hoping to fight the city in court.

However, Castle said she decided to stop the yard sales after saying a prayer.

“(God) said you love your neighbor as yourself, so I decided to shut the thing down,” she said. “(But) I have no idea how I'm going to pay for my rent this month.”