SOUTH PORTLAND – Arguing there was not enough solid evidence, the South Portland City Council declined to name the property at 29 Willard St. a public nuisance Monday, but also requested that steps be taken to address the complaints of neighbors.

Those steps included continuing the hearing until Nov. 17, which would give the fire department and the city’s health officer a chance to meet with the homeowner, Mary Giggey, who is accused of burning trash in her fireplace to the detriment of the air quality in the neighborhood.

The City Council also asked the Code Enforcement Office to set up a specific protocol for tracking complaints of burning and that city staff coordinate with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to see if there is a way to determine what is being burned and where the smoke is coming from.

According to the petition requesting Monday’s public hearing, the burning of trash at 29 Willard “releases noxious fumes causing the air quality in our neighborhood to be a major health hazard.” The petition also states the burning has caused some residents to experience nausea, headaches and disorientation.

Fifteen residents of both Willard and Henry streets signed the petition earlier this summer. Under the city’s ordinances, the council must hold a public hearing if at least 10 property owners located within 500 feet of the nuisance property sign a petition requesting such action.

Giggey, who attended the hearing on Monday, categorically denied burning trash in her fireplace, other than using paper to get a wood fire started. Giggey said she first moved to Willard Street 20 years ago and was “thrilled” that her new home had a fireplace.

During the 1998 ice storm, Giggey said, her neighbors were also happy that she had a working fireplace, with many congregating at her house to get warm and cook.

She acknowledged receiving a letter from the South Portland Code Enforcement Office in 2011 telling her to cease and desist burning trash and also recaled a visit last summer from a staffer at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

But, Giggey said, she was still “shocked” to see the petition requesting Monday’s public hearing, adding, “All this has been really tough on us.”

Giggey lives with her husband, who has suffered a stroke and been treated for cancer. She called the anonymous complaints during the past couple years “harassment” and said she’s concerned what the next anonymous complaint is going to be about.

“I just want this to go away,” she concluded.

But Ann Thomas, who lives at 45 Willard St., said the burning of trash at the Giggey household has caused her to be ill on numerous occasions and made her feel trapped in her own home, since she can’t have the windows open or go outside when the burning is going on.

Thomas said she was “truly sad” all her attempts to solve the problem without involving the City Council have failed, but said she was left with no other recourse.

“I had hoped to be able to work this out with my neighbor and get her to understand the issue, but after six years I am asking the City Council to intervene,” Thomas said.

She called all her previous attempts to convince Giggey not to burn trash “a long and difficult road. My home is in a direct line with the chimney at 29 Willard St. and (the situation) has caused me great distress.”

Thomas added, “This is no way to live. The toxins and chemicals spewing from this chimney have a huge negative impact.” And, she said, there is no reason for the trash burning since South Portland has curbside pickup of household waste.

Thomas was backed by Terry Reager, who lives at 43 Willard, which she described as being situated between Giggey’s home and where Thomas lives.

Reager said she’s lived on Willard Street for the past eight years, and the entire time she’s been in the neighborhood smoke regularly comes from the home at 29 Willard, in all seasons of the year.

She called the “black, oily smoke with an icky smell a regular occurrence” and said it’s both “disruptive and nauseating.”

Reager also said that for more than a year she’s been plagued with a chronic cough, for which she now has an inhaler. However, she’s noticed that when she travels and is away from home for a while, she no longer needs the inhaler.

“This (burning) is happening and it’s making people sick. It’s important for this to stop,” she told the council.

Jane Cook, who lives at 51 Willard and also owns the home at 55 Willard, said, “For years we’ve continually smelled burning trash and plastic.”

She said the petition asking the City Council to intervene in the situation is not a vendetta against Giggey, and said that “there is no question plastics are being burned.”

Cook said she’s documented dates and times when the smell and smoke have been particularly bad and said that although she has “no particular dog in this fight, I would respectfully ask (Giggey) to stop doing it.”

The problem for the city’s code enforcement and fire departments is that they cannot enter the Giggey home without cause and no one on the city staff has caught Giggey in the act of burning, according to Pat Doucette, South Portland’s code enforcement director.

Doucette also said her department doesn’t have the capability to test the air quality in the neighborhood and that she’s never personally seen the smoke or smelled it. “That’s not to say it’s not happening, though,” she told the council.

Doucette added, “This is the first issue like this we’ve ever had in a residential neighborhood.”

City Manager Jim Gailey agreed, calling the burning question “a unique situation.”

In response to questions posed by several councilors, City Attorney Sally Daggett pointed out that burning solid waste is illegal under state law and that the city of South Portland also has a specific ordinance dealing with the proper disposal of household trash and recyclables.

And, Daggett said, the city’s nuisance ordinance also makes specific reference to both “noxious fumes” and improper trash disposal as being grounds for a public nuisance complaint.

But several councilors questioned how they could know for sure that Giggey’s fireplace was being used to burn trash without “catching her red-handed.”

Councilor Melissa Linscott called the situation “really tough. Unfortunately, it’s clear that something is going on, but we have no physical evidence, only conflicting verbal statements.”

And Councilor Michael Pock said, “This is conviction by accusation. I don’t feel we have any proof. It’s shameful (the situation) got this far and that it couldn’t be resolved within the neighborhood.”

Councilor Tom Blake concurred and said that while there’s no doubt there is a problem, “there is not enough evidence to proceed” with a finding that 29 Willard is a nuisance property.

However, Blake also said, “we can’t leave here this evening without doing anything.”

That’s when he suggested that the city take steps toward communicating with Giggey and the Department of Environmental Protection, as well as asking the code staff to keep track of further complaints.

His motion passed in a 6-0 vote with Mayor Gerard Jalbert absent.