Princeton’s only scrap dealer found guilty of violating township laws.
By: David Campbell
Ziya Polat, who runs Princeton’s only scrap yard, considers himself a friend of artists, whom he permits to scavenge his piles of discarded scrap metal, sewer pipes, grates and industrial appliances for junk artifacts that are then transformed into sculpture.
But if Mr. Polat is a patron of the arts, that hardly impressed a municipal court judge last week.
Princeton Municipal Court Judge Russell W. Annich Jr. found Mr. Polat, a native of Turkey who has run the yard for about five years, guilty of violating a township noise ordinance and of failing to comply with a promise to the township to clean up his residential property, which had begun to look like his Basin Street scrap business next door.
Following a daylong hearing last Friday, Judge Annich fined the scrap dealer $1,750 for each violation.
Under an agreement Mr. Polat had made with the township, he was to clean up his residential property within a set period of time. But the Princeton Health Department and Princeton Township Zoning Office determined he failed to meet the deadline.
Mr. Polat told the judge he started to clean up his residential property as soon as the township agreement was drawn up in October, but that it proved to be a much bigger job than expected, prompting him to seek an extension from the township, which he said he was granted.
The agreement also stipulated that Mr. Polat conduct business at the scrap yard only between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and never on Sunday.
But a township police officer testified that Mr. Polat operated a forklift on Sunday, the noise of which prompted neighbors to complain.
Mr. Polat said he wasn’t working with the forklift, merely testing its engine for the resumption of work on Monday, and claimed the noise generated by the machinery was below the maximum level permitted by ordinance.
According to neighbor Dr. Philip Felton, a senior research scientist and lecturer at Princeton University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, "The issue is that in the last two years he’s greatly increased the scope of the business."
At one time the scrap yard was an innocuous presence in the small historic neighborhood, but now it has grown into an eyesore and a nuisance, particularly when it comes to noise, said Dr. Felton, who testified before Judge Annich last week.
The university researcher cited instances of noise pollution from the scrap yard, scrap metal piled up to 2 feet above the edge of Mr. Polat’s fence, and working on forbidden Sundays.
Ironically, he continued, because the neighborhood is in a historic district, with all the restrictions that come with that designation, residents are not even permitted to paint the fronts of their houses without a permit.
"However, if he wants to stack trash 2 feet above the fence, we can do nothing about it," Dr. Felton said.
The university researcher noted that the neighbors’ only interest is in compelling Mr. Polat to comply with the noise ordinance and his October agreement with the township, not to put him out of business.
Jules Schaeffer, a sculptor who says he visits Mr. Polat’s yard up to twice a week and pays him by the pound for his scrap, described the scrap dealer as a close friend and one of the most generous men he knows.
"If I’m looking for a part of a motor, he will take the motor apart for me," said Mr. Schaeffer, whose sculptural work, assemblages and monoprints have been exhibited at galleries throughout the region and in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Mr. Schaeffer said the scrap dealer gives him deals on copper, cuts metal to specifications free of charge, and generally helps out in any way he can.
"They broke the mold when he was born," Mr. Schaeffer said. "He’s really a very special man, and I’m happy to be counted among his friends. I just hope everything will turn out well for him."
And Mr. Schaeffer said he is not alone in his high regard for the scrap dealer, noting that several other artists feel the same way.
In fact, Mr. Schaeffer said, Mr. Polat is very nearly an artist himself.
"I’m always telling him he’s the artist and not us," Mr. Schaeffer said.
To visit Mr. Polat’s scrap yard, which he renamed Princeton Recycles when he took it over from Princeton Waste Co., one would have to agree. He seems to have an innate ability to judge the value and provenance of his metals, and arranges them neatly on his property.
There are piles for all things copper, stainless steel, aluminum and iron. There are piles for roof gutters, water heaters, air-conditioning units, heating grates, bicycle parts, armored cable, sewer piping.
"This is not just a junk yard, it’s a scrap yard," Mr. Polat said with enthusiasm. "This is a scrap yard. An old-fashioned scrap yard."

