Couple sues neighbors over ‘dump’ along U.S. 412
Posted on Thursday, December 4, 2008
ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Donald and Karen White are being sued for an alleged illegal dump on their property along U. S. 412 West of Sonora. This large pile can be seen from the highway, and neighbors Rick and Carla Ridenoure claim runoff from the pile is damaging their property.
A Springdale couple filed a lawsuit Tuesday against their elderly neighbors and three companies alleging that rainwater that’s flowing over an illegal dump is damaging their property.
The neighbors said that the lawsuit is over a big pile of dirt that a contractor hauled in from construction sites to fill in a low spot on their property along U.S. 412 near Sonora.
Rick and Carla Ridenoure of 16482 E. U.S. 412 sued Donald and Karen White, Sweetser Construction, Roll Off Service and Crossland Construction claiming the Whites began using their property as an illegal dump for construction waste and other materials in 2000.
The plaintiffs claim that the Whites have used their adjacent 35-acre tract to dispose of concrete, asphalt, plastic pipes, wood, Sheetrock and other construction debris.
The lawsuit seeks damages based on trespass, private nuisance, public nuisance, negligence and other charges.
The suit claims that the dumping of construction debris disrupts the use of the Ridenoures’ home, has diminished the value of their property and that dirt and sediment “and potentially other substances” from the White property dump site have damaged their property. The Whites disagree.
“It’s not construction waste. It’s dirt,” Karen White said in a telephone interview. “We’re 72 and 75 (years old). I don’t know why they want to bother us.”
Storm-water violation
The lawsuit states that it is additionally based “upon information and belief the Whites have been cited by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for violations of state environmental laws.
”Department records show no violations for illegal dumping. The agency conducted an inspection in 2006 and referred the matter to the Boston Mountain Solid Waste District. The district later referred the investigation to Washington County Office of Environmental Affairs and Recycling, which recently reviewed video records of alleged illegal dumping.
The county convinced the Department of Environmental Quality to conduct another inspection in September, but the only violations that were found involved the owners’ storm-water pollution prevention plan, officials said.
According to a department letter dated Sept. 25, sediment and dirt from the fill operation have eroded along the slopes and are present in the ditch, the storm-water plan was not available on the site for review, and a construction site notice was not posted. These are all repeat violations from a 2006 inspection, the letter states.
Washington County Attorney George Butler notified the Whites’ attorney in a letter dated Nov. 3 that the Whites needed to cease allowing any further dumping. Butler claims in the letter that “even legal fill material can only be used for 60 days.”
The Department of Environmental Quality conducted a follow-up inspection on Nov. 19 and found storm-water violations similar to those found two months earlier. The Whites are supposed to take corrective action and respond in writing to the agency by Dec. 12. Steve Martin, deputy director of the Environmental Quality Department, said that he is in the process of responding to a letter from Butler urging the agency to cite the Whites for violations. Martin said that he does not expect the agency to issue an illegal dumping violation in this case “based on what we’ve seen” during inspections.
Companies deny fault
Karen White said that she agreed to allow Sweetser Construction to fill in her property with dirt from construction sites. She said that she’s not aware of any dumping by Roll Off Service, but it may have dumped some stumps on the site. She said the fill dirt has improved the look of their property.
“Anyone who drives up here will see dirt. We’re waiting on (Sweetser) to finish up so we can plant grass on it,” she said.
Bill Sweetser of Sweetser Construction said his company has dumped some fill dirt at the site but has not done any illegal dumping of construction waste.
“We’re just basically filling up a piece of waste land,” Sweetser said. ”The Whites are good people and would not do anything to hurt anyone.”
Chris Schnurbusch, the Arkansas division manager for Crossland Construction, said that he understands that someone claims to have seen a Crossland dump truck at the site, but Crossland got rid of its dump trucks three or four years.
Schnurbusch said that Crossland has one dump truck in Northwest Arkansas and the driver looked at the White property Wednesday and said that he’s never dumped anything there.
“We don’t dump junk and trash (illegally),” he said. “We don’t ever dump anywhere we don’t have permission or anywhere there is a problem.”
Tom Smith of Roll Off Service said that his company has never dumped anything at this site. He said that he plans to file a countersuit against the plaintiffs in the case.
The Ridenoures did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
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