Community Corner

Topsoil Depot Site Still Not Cleaned Up

Thousands of cubic yards of fill and solid waste remain on the 12-acre site on Pompton Plains Crossroad.

Thousands of yards of fill and solid waste has not been removed from the Topsoil Depot site in the time alloted per a settlement agreement.

Some 30,000 cubic yards of fill and solid waste was supposed to be removed from the Topsoil Depot site by Monday under a pact between the DEP, the site's owner and 24 trucking companies that was approved in May 2012. A cleanup plan was devised and was expected to take five years.

“No material has left the site,” said Lawrence Hajna, a spokesman with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

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Attorneys representing the DEP argued in state Superior Court that Topsoil Depot owner Allan Rombough Sr. allowed the trucking companies to dump as much as 22,000 cubic yards of contaminated fill and solid waste on the site since 2009 in violation of court orders.

The DEP has maintained that toxic waste on the 12-acre property is a threat to the area’s water supply. The site is located on Pompton Plains Crossroad next to the Pequannock River and is in the floodway of the Pompton and Ramapo rivers.

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Hajna said that no contaminants were found in 5,000 cubic yards of material on the site that were tested.

“We still expect the site to be cleaned up and for the defendants to find a buyer of the fill,” Hajna said. ”We plan on sending a letter to the defendants to demand that the fill be removed.”

David DeClement, Rombough’s attorney, said that it was his understanding that a contract is in place and that it “should be complete by next week.”

Attorney Frederick Roughgarden, who represents several of the trucking companies in the case, said, “as of right now there’s no news.

“I’d have to discuss it with my clients before saying anything,” Rougharden said. He would not comment further.

Annual inspections of the property are to be made during the cleanup. Penalties will be imposed if the cleanup schedule is not followed.

Also in the matter was Rombough’s mental health. Superior Court Judge Mary Margaret McVeigh could have put him in jail for violating a court order to remain off the property. A DEP inspector saw Rombough and his son Alex disposing of records at the site. McVeigh ordered that no one was to go on the site without the DEP’s or the court’s approval. The DEP wanted Rombough to serve jail time but he avoided a sentence.

Competency hearings were held to see if Rombough, who DeClement said in court suffers from Parkinson’s disease, had the mental capacity to know whether he was knowingly violating the court order. Findings from the hearings were never publicly released.

— Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Daniel Hubbard at Daniel.Hubbard@patch.com or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.


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