Dumping along Route 924 discussed at three municipal meetings

SHENANDOAH HEIGHTS – Someone’s aversion to proper trash disposal has two municipalities pointing the finger at each other and a third seeing what they can do to clean it all up.

Route 924 between Shenandoah and Brandonville is a known dumping ground for residential trash and contractor debris, particularly in the area of Fetter Pond.

That mess was the subject of discussion at last Tuesday’s Union Township supervisors meeting, Monday’s Shenandoah borough council meeting, and Tuesday’s West Mahanoy Township meeting.

Shenandoah owns the property and it sits in a quirky area where West Mahanoy, Union, and East Union townships intersect. The bulk of the dumped trash sits in Union Township. The township line is just north of the entrance to the Locust Ridge II wind farm and continues for about a quarter mile down Locust Mountain.

Recently, West Mahanoy sent an enforcement letter to the borough threatening code enforcement action if the Fetter Pond property isn’t cleaned up.

Borough Council Vice President Mike “Zeckie” Uholik and Councilman Mike Whitecavage both said at Monday’s meeting the letter was in “bad taste” and claimed they were blindsided.

Township officials say they had contacted multiple borough officials over the past few weeks to no avail, leading to the letter.

At last Tuesday’s meeting, Union Township Solicitor Bob Matta said he had received a call about three weeks ago on the matter.

“There’s a lot of garbage up there,” Matta said. “It’s pretty bad, if you drive by, you’ll notice.”

“I’m not sure what we can do about it,” Matta added, mulling the potential of seeking assistance from Juvenile Probation or local high schoolers in need of community service hours. “Maybe we could get someone up there, just to get a cleanup effort started.”

Union Township Supervisor Jeff Ambrose worried that a cleanup could potentially invite recurring dumpers.

“Then it’s garbage there all the time,” he said.

“But what’s the alternative,” Matta said.

“Get some cameras up there,” Union Township Police Chief Phil Beaver said.

West Mahanoy Township Police Chief Matt Williams at Tuesday night’s meeting said four people had been caught and cited for dumping along Route 924 in that area.

“Chief and I, we went up there, we went through the trash and we found out who the individuals were and they were cited,” West Mahanoy Code Enforcement Officer Matt Kropp said. “We put up cameras. We did catch one person on camera throwing trash and they were cited.”

“I even talked to Shenandoah several times trying to get them to respond on working together to get it cleaned up and I’ve gotten no response,” Kropp said. “We are doing everything on our end.”

“The way we look at it, it’s whoever owns the property, it’s their responsibility,” West Mahanoy Supervisors Chairman Paul “Pepper” Martin said. “If you own property in this township, it is your responsibility to keep it clean.”

At Monday’s borough council meeting, Uholik read off the enforcement letter from the township.

“The property owned by the borough of Shenandoah is in violation of West Mahanoy Township ordinance (Accumulation of rubbish, garbage, junk, or litter),” Uholik read. The letter outlined the ordinance and penalties. “This letter is intended to serve as a courtesy notice requesting that the borough correct the issue within 30 days.”

He said “I think this is in bad taste.”

“Mike [Cadau, borough manager] was never notified, Joe [Boris, council president] was never notified, or our code officer,” Uholik said.

“We want to work with our neighbor in West Mahanoy Township, but they’ve got to have some common sense,” Whitecavage said. “Just don’t send us a threatening letter. We want to work with them just as much as they want to work with us. So I think that was in bad taste.”

Uholik added concerns, like Ambrose, that a clean-up will only be temporary, though he conceded that “it is a mess up there.”

“You clean it up, it’s going to happen again,” Uholik said. “This is a community problem. The people of Shenandoah should start having some pride.”

He added that the borough is “going to do something soon” but said “I guarantee you, if we clean it up, next summer, it’s going to be the same.”

Cadau said they plan to install cameras and prosecute offenders to the fullest extent.

At the same time, Uholik sought a motion to survey and appraise the Fetter Pond property for potential sale.

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The article Dumping along Route 924 discussed at three municipal meetings first appeared on The Shenandoah Sentinel.