The Mathews Planning Commission and the Mathews Board of Supervisors will hold a joint public hearing on proposed changes to the junk vehicle ordinance at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the historic courthouse on Court Street.

If enacted, the changes would give the planning and zoning director the authority to have non-compliant inoperable vehicles removed from private property after successive notification periods.

A non-compliant vehicle is defined as one that hasn’t been in operation for 60 days or longer, has been partially or totally disassembled, or doesn’t have license plates or a valid inspection sticker. The ordinance allows one such vehicle on the premises. Antique and agricultural vehicles are excluded.

The change would include a requirement to notify the property owner first and give him or her 30 days to place the vehicle in a building or behind a six-foot fence or wall or a six-foot hedge or stand of dense evergreens. It would also include deleting a provision that...