Man suspected of playing a role in burying a contaminated junkyard near Ford Lake headed to court
A backhoe removes debris from a junkyard buried in Ypsilanti Township.
Photo courtesy of Ypsilanti Township
Updated: Hearing adjourned for man suspected of burying contaminated junkyard near Ford Lake; EPA investigating An Ypsilanti Township man will have to explain to a judge why an illegal junkyard that could be contaminating Ford Lake is buried on his property. Township officials discovered the buried junkyard on Friday while inspecting his lot.
The Environmental Protection Agency took over management of cleaning up the property on Monday, and a hearing at which the township will present its evidence was scheduled for this morning in Washtenaw County Circuit Court.
The lot is owned by Ypsilanti Township resident George Madison and located on Daytona Avenue, just 1,685 feet from Ford Lake and above aquifers that possibly feed into the lake.
Township Building Director Ron Fulton said the property first came to township officials’ attention in April 2010 while they checked on another property in the area.
They discovered a paved area on Madison's 5-acre property that was filled with cars, trucks, dump trucks, car parts, boats, an engine hoist, garbage cans, debris and canisters full of chemicals.
The site was declared a public nuisance in August, and Judge Timothy Connors ordered Madison to clear the property and return it to its natural state.
Madison told the township the property was cleared and ready for a final inspection over the winter, and building inspectors went to evaluate the yard in March.
Fulton said inspectors noticed freshly excavated ground and mounds of dirt elevated approximately a foot above the rest of the lot. In comparing pictures taken prior to the clean-up in August with pictures taken in March, officials were able to see that the mounds were new.
A large backhoe in the yard also tipped off officials, who grew suspicious that something had been buried. After receiving court approval to check the ground last week, township officials used a backhoe to dig several test holes approximately 10 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep.
Fulton said each time the shovel went into the ground, it pulled up new debris, including gas cans, tires, metal pieces, a bowling ball, car parts, various chemical containers and other items. Once the hole got about two feet deep, Fulton said, officials found groundwater.
Mike Radzik, director of the township office of community standards, said inspectors dug eight feet deep and found items too large to pull out of the ground with the backhoe.
Fulton then called interim Ypsilanti Township Fire Marshal Vic Chevrette, who is on the Washtenaw County HAZMAT team. Chevrette took preliminary samples and found the presence of petroleum and high acid levels in the water.
Radzik said the township also contacted the EPA, which came to the site and told township officials that the EPA, along with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, would share jurisdiction over the site.
Township officials found debris and junk in groundwater that could contaminate Ford Lake.
Photo courtesy of Ypsilanti Township
Radzik said he was told EPA officials would contact the township when they were ready to begin the clean-up process, though no timeline is available. He said more details would be available soon. The EPA is planning a comprehensive evaluation of the site, Radzik said, and will utilize sonar equipment that can locate metal objects deep in the ground.
Fulton said he told Madison what the township had found on Friday, and Madison asserted that there was a dump there prior to him purchasing the land. But Fulton said Madison purchased the land from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and it was highly unlikely the DNR had placed a dump on the land, which is protected wetlands.
Fulton said Madison also told him he hired a company to clear the land, so he isn’t sure how the company went about it. AnnArbor.com was unable to reach Madison for comment.
Madison also told the township Board of Trustees at a meeting that the items in the yard weren’t for commerce and were only items he owned for personal use, though he doesn’t live on the property.
Township Attorney Doug Winters said Madison also told township officials Connors had given him permission to have a junkyard on the lot.
Winters said officials aren't yet certain who buried the junk, but called the move a “game changer” in the year-long legal fight over the property. On May 5, Connors held Madison in contempt of court for failing to comply with his August orders.
“It’s a shame that it's happened, but it’s better to find out now than have leakage into the aquifers and Ford Lake later,” Winters said. "It’s a sad commentary on what people will do to destroy to the environment but now we have to respond to it appropriately.”
Comments
Mr. Tibbs
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 6:05 p.m.
Has anyone tried to find out what is under the art train? it used to be a scrap yard that I have personally witnessed "indescretions" with certain substances, not necessarily bad, but cerainly not healthy. but I am sure the proper people were paid the proper "fees" just like gelman sciences did.....right?
SemperFi
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 5:04 p.m.
I'm fully in support of Ignatz's post. While the state budget is cutting everything from DEQ & DNR funding, the miscreants who dessicrate our great state for their own greed will have more opportunity to perpetrate their villianous ways with impunity. Let's hope that there are still some teeth left in the DEQ when the T-partiers get through with their dismantling of government services.
dading dont delete me bro
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 4:28 p.m.
there is a short sales history on the township property look up...
dading dont delete me bro
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 4:14 p.m.
there's a lot of residential between that location on daytona, not to mention all the ponds around...
dading dont delete me bro
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 4:06 p.m.
ford lake has finally started showing water improvements...now this. this is sad, i hope DEQ and YT gets to the bottom of things and makes those accountable.
lumberg48108
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 3:40 p.m.
Only 15 comments??? This is actually a pretty big storu involving property rights, the environment, township regulations and owner resposibibilities ... i was expecting many more comments - thought most have been constructive Perhaps if .com added changed the headline to read "Man suspected of playing a role in burying a contaminated junkyard near Ford Lake headed to court... he also drove a Hummer" many more people would be outraged!
loves_fall
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 3:55 p.m.
Or "Ducklings killed by pollution caused by a buried Hummer in former Ypsi Township junkyard" :)
grye
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 3:35 p.m.
Bowling ball. That was the best one.
RoboLogic
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 3:24 p.m.
I hope the person who buried the junk has to pay for all of the clean up. Only trashy people do stuff like that.
AT
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 3:08 p.m.
Looking at some old maps, that has been a junkyard since at least 1998.
Atticus F.
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 2:31 p.m.
Unfortunately, Ypsi Township has lost all credability due to recent incidents of harrasing people they consider "undesirable". Anything that Ypsi Township says should be basically ignored as being overstated. It's the same as the boy who cried wolf... By the time they uncover something that truly is a problem, they have lost all credability due to their overzelous persecution of their citizens.
Bear
Sun, May 22, 2011 : 9:50 p.m.
Uhm, hey atticus, did you see the pictures alongside the article? Do any of those pictures look "overstated"? I think not.
Atticus F.
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 3:41 p.m.
Sounds like you're for limited government...Up until the point where your neighbors anger you.
cinnabar7071
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 3:10 p.m.
The Township still has my full support, of corse I have no idea what you're talking about. I heard they are targeting dog owners for license fees but I don't feel thats a big deal. I think holding property owners accountable for the way they keep their property is a good thing. If you want to live without regaurd for the people around you maybe you should live further out in the country.
Top Cat
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 2:18 p.m.
Reminds me of a kid who is asked to clean up his room and does so by stuffing everything under the bed.
Ignatz
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 1:50 p.m.
This is a great example of why laissez faire policies are not a good idea. The government, aka representatives of the citizens, need to be active in protecting the people and our natural resources. Without agencies such as the EPA, some business owners would just as soon use the planet as their waste can to save a buck.
5c0++ H4d13y
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 6:28 p.m.
Given that it was illegal dumping when it happened what did the EPA do to stop it?
lumberg48108
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 3:43 p.m.
This is a SINGLE example - not a case study or indictive of all property owners. The same can be said of those who de-fraud our welfare systems or assistance programs ... "Lottery winner takes home $2 million - still uses Food Stamps" He is but a SINGLE game ... same as this guy.
glimmertwin
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 1:41 p.m.
>> Google Earth imagery dated Yes, I see it also. Somehow while reading the article I had visions of this thing being "right near the lake", which really isn't the case. I love walking the boardwalk around the lake and viewing the metal drums and other refuse sticking out of the water in plain site. Let's hope that because the township and EPA seem to have time to go after this "secret" dump site, they can actually clean up the obvious ones.
loves_fall
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 3:53 p.m.
I think from an environmental/pollution perspective, 1400-ish feet is right near the lake since the groundwater is probably shared.
a2cents
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 1:31 p.m.
This is an obvious case of the government trammelling constitutional rights and inhibiting the enjoyment of personal liberty and interfering with fundamental property rights. Sic 'em tea party...
Mr. Tibbs
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 6:07 p.m.
I have noticed that when the tea party is attacked it is allowed. so much for being fair and balanced....
cinnabar7071
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 2:52 p.m.
I accused you of watching the Ed Show, you don't find that funny?
a2cents
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 2:49 p.m.
What? No sense of humor?
cinnabar7071
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 2:12 p.m.
You need to go back and watch more of the Ed Schultz show if this is the best you got.
omniskeptic
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 1:23 p.m.
"Township Building Director Ron Fulton said the property first came to township officials' attention in April 2010 while they checked on another property in the area. " Google Earth imagery dated 5/9/2010 shows what is obviously a well-stocked junkyard at the south end of Daytona Avenue. I don't know -- I'm not a civic official -- but it would seem reasonable that someone who is concerned with land use would sit down at a computer once a month or so and scroll back and forth over his or her county, township, etc. This one would have been a sore thumb. You can check this yourself, with either Google earth or Google maps -- just search for Daytona Avenue Ypsilanti, MI, zoom in, and follow the road south.
Wguru
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 7:34 p.m.
You can also view historical imagery in Google Earth by clicking on the "clock" icon. Right now the historical imagery of that area in Google Earth goes back to 4/25/2000 but likely will go back farther as they load older images.
evenyoubrutus
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 1:53 p.m.
What's really ironic about it is that the dump is LITERALLY a couple hundred yards - basically right next door - from the Township headquarters.
AA
Thu, May 19, 2011 : 1:12 p.m.
Obviously this person does not care at all about the environment and I would bet has a 'victim' menatality.