(The following story by Richard Pearsall appeared on the Cherry Hill Courier-Post website on March 7.)
HAINESPORT, N.J. — The owner of a trash-transfer station that has drawn complaints from nearby residents is suing those neighbors, accusing them of defamation, trespassing and harassment.
The Hainesport Industrial Railroad filed the lawsuit against Steve and Donna Thomas, whose home backs up to the trash transfer station, as well as unnamed neighbors who have opposed the facility.
The suit accuses the Thomases of “an intentional and ongoing scheme to interrupt the business operations of HIRR, to place it in ill repute with the community, and to gain personal advantage in an unjust and malicious manner.”
Appended to the suit is a long list of complaints from the Thomases that resulted in no citations being issued against the firm by either the state Department of Environmental Protection or the Burlington County Board of Health.
But the company’s inspection record is not as unblemished as it contends.
On two occasions that produced no violations, a DEP inspector was denied access to the facility. In one of those cases, the inspector reported a “tremendous amount of dust” and a “great amount of noise.”
Critics have complained repeatedly of noise, dust, vibration and smells emanating from the transfer station, which handles construction debris.
Steve Thomas on Thursday called the lawsuit “bogus.”
“The state and county didn’t do their job and now I’m getting sued for making complaints,” he said.
The suit, while not listing extortion among its charges, pointedly notes that the Thomases have been trying to sell their house to the railroad or its principals, beginning in March 2006 with an offer to sell the Cape Cod home for $1.65 million.
The Thomases, the suit alleges, “have continued to demand that HIRR purchase their home at an inflated price, and have advised that they will continue their course of making complaints to public officials until HIRR accedes to their demand.”
Thomas said Thursday that it’s no secret he “wants out” and the $1.6 million price tag reflects what he considers the land is worth as a “commercial lot.”
Darryl Caplan, the attorney who owns the station, could not be reached for comment Thursday. He has insisted in the past that the Thomases’ charges against his facility are false.
On Feb. 23, 2007, DEP investigator Brandi McPeak arrived at the facility expecting to conduct a joint inspection with a Burlington County health inspector.
But in a report, McPeak noted, “The county inspector informed me that we were not allowed to enter and inspect because we did not have jurisdiction.”
On April 3, McPeak was denied access again, this time by Caplan. McPeak reported that, while parked at the site’s entrance, she noticed “a tremendous amount of noise” from company operations.
Trash transfer stations such as Caplan’s maintain that, as railroads, they are exempt from certain state and local regulations. A federal judge upheld that decision shortly before McPeak’s initial visit, but an appellate decision has since returned the case to the lower court for reconsideration.
Hainesport Township sued the HIRR in 2006, contending it would be a threat to the welfare of nearby residents. It withdrew the suit in favor of a settlement with the railroad under which it agreed not to handle ordinary municipal trash.
Recently the township has been reconsidering that settlement and contemplating litigation, township administrator Paul Tuliano said.
After meeting with Caplan behind closed doors last week to discuss the problems at the railroad, township committee decided it is not necessary to sue, Tuliano said.