Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

The owner of an illegal stump dump in Richmond, which has been the subject of a years-long dispute, will soon begin grinding the wood debris and ship it off site, under a temporary court order the Attorney General's Office this afternoon called a "hopeful first step" toward cleaning up the alleged "public nuisance."

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch's office, the Department of Environmental Management and the town entered into the temporary court-ordered agreement yesterday with Richard Romanoff, owner of the Skunk Hill Road stump dump, Lynch's office said in a statement.

Within 21 days of the order being entered, Romanoff's company will have a stump and wood grinder at the site, with grinding to begin "immediately after" the grinder is set up. The material produced by grinding shall be removed within five days of when the material is produced.

"The neighbors and business owners nearby should not have to live and work in fear of a fire possibly created by the waste buried in the dump," Lynch said in the statement. "The parties are working together to get the situation under control."

The site has been the scene of several stubborn fires. The case drew statewide attention and prompted legislation defining tree stumps as solid waste.

Lawyers from Lynch's Environmental Advocacy Unit and the DEM, as well as the town, in 2006 filed lawsuits against Romanoff, principal owner of Richie Realty Corp., which owns the land where the dump is located.

In Washington County Superior Court yesterday, Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson approved an interim agreement to begin to clean up the site and to "minimize the interim harm," Lynch's office said.

The 90-day consent order says that so as to make progress "without protracted adversarial proceedings," the parties enter into the agreement "without any admissions regarding any of the issues raised by the complaints or motions for injunctive relief" filed by various state agencies.

The order also states that agencies could resume legal proceedings "in the event of a default or non-performance for any reason" by Romanoff.

Judge Thompson will supervise further negotiations among lawyers on all sides.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with Journal archival reports

 Tags  Richmond Richmond stump dump Skunk Hill Road

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