SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A long-term solution to a once towering pile of construction debris butted up to the Village Green Mobile Home Park will come before Sycamore Township trustees in early December.
The WCPO I-Team repeatedly covered neighborhood complaints of excessive dust, potentially dangerous runoff and noise pollution from the property's construction and demolition debris operation.
Sycamore Township provided WCPO with a proposed "consent decree" the township, property owners St. John Holdings LLC and property operators Aztec Services could enter into if approved by the township's trustees.
In the proposal, a third company, Sunesis Solutions, would buy the property and Sycamore Township wouldn't pursue damages against previous owners.
Sunesis, then, would agree to a long list of conditions under which they could continue to operate a Construction and Demolition Debris facility next to the mobile home park.
Conditions would include an agreement to keep the debris pile under eight feet, fences would remain impermeable, dust and runoff would be kept to a minimum and more.
Tish Jones has lived in the park for years and spent more than a year fighting to get the mound of garbage removed.
"I'm excited that we're making some movement," Jones said. "I'm excited that people are taking notice. It's been a long time coming."
Large containers and heavy equipment labeled Sunesis already sit on the property, and much of the massive pile has been moved from the property.
The pile had been encroaching on Gabriel Gonzalez's backyard.
"Everything looks better now," Gonzalez said.
He said Sunesis had already made significant improvements to the property, though he still complained that the banging of the large trash dumpsters disturbed him inside his home.
Gonzales said he hoped the company would hold true to the promises made inside the consent decree.
"I hope they do. Like everything starts, everything goes well, but in a year everything changes," he said.
Sunesis legal representative Charlie Baverman with Dinsmore Shohl LLP told WCPO that the consent decree was designed to end the use of the property as a debris processing facility within five years.
"The agreement sets forth specifically the improvements that Sunesis is committing to the township to make the property so as to address the issues that we understand residents have previously been complaining about," Baverman said.
Jones said she wanted Sycamore Township trustees to think about the people living near the facility when they consider the proposal at a special meeting Dec. 5.
"We want them to make sure they're thinking about the safety of residents in this area," she said.
Attorneys for St. John and Aztec didn't respond to a request for comment.
You can read the full consent decree here:
Final Consent Decree With Exhibits by webeditors on Scribd
