OK from court
to proceed
Town plans to finish
cleanup of junkyard
Howell receives
OK from court
to proceed
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
The stalled cleanup of an illegal Maxim-Southard Road junkyard in Howell will be resumed and completed by the township.
Edmund Corrigan, an associate township attorney, told the Tri-Town News that a judge’s order allowing the township to complete the work will be carried out.
Howell Township Manager Bruce Davis said municipal officials will walk the property this week in order to develop a plan to complete the cleanup.
Corrigan said Howell will take over the completion of the court-ordered cleanup of the 8-acre property owned by William Lackey because Lackey was taking too long to complete the work and was therefore in violation of the terms of a state Superior Court agreement overseeing the cleanup.
Corrigan said employees in the Department of Public Works will complete the cleanup "to the extent that they are able."
Under the terms of the court order issued by Superior Court Judge Joseph P. Quinn more than a year ago, Howell was to be allowed to complete the cleanup of the property if Lackey did not work diligently to do so.
Corrigan said any part of the cleanup that proves to be beyond the ability of the township workers will likely be put out to bid. He said any money Howell spends will be incorporated into the amount Lackey will end up owing the township.
Under the terms of the court order, one of the ways Howell can recoup any expenses it incurs in undertaking the cleanup is to place a lien on Lackey’s property. This means the township would be paid when Lackey sells the property.
Corrigan said another way for Howell to get its money back would be to take money from any revenue generated in salvage fees from the sale of any of the equipment being removed from the property.
The court order was not going to be enforced unless Lackey demonstrated that he was not going to complete the cleanup in a six-month period that started last fall.
Contending that Lackey was almost halfway through the four-phase court-ordered cleanup that he started almost six months ago but had since stalled on, officials moved in May to enforce Quinn’s order.
Lackey’s conflict with Howell was the end result of his having spent more than a decade turning the property which had once been use for agricultural purposes in an agricultural-residential zone into an industrial salvage yard.
Neighbors concerned about the possibility of contamination of their well water campaigned relentlessly for years for the town to shut down Lackey’s operation.
Howell has been in and out of municipal court and Superior Court over the matter since the summer of 2001.
Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lawson ruled in 2002 that Howell had the right to enforce the agricultural-residential zoning in the area.
Lackey has contended all along that his use of the property was consistent with the prior use of the property.
That claim was denied by the daughter of the property’s former owner.