Car Storage Settlement Includes Cleanup Requirements
Township accepts fine, cleanup agreement after December fire at Hercules Enterprises.
The Township Committee accepted an agreement to settle seven zoning citations issued to CoPart Auto Auction and Hercules Enterprises, on Valley Road, after a December fire destroyed about 20 vehicles illegally stored there.
CoPart had been storing the vehicles at Hercules in violation of township zoning regulations. The company also operates a salvage yard on Camplain Road.
After the fire, officials cited several employees of the companies, as well as the businesses.
Township Adminstrator Anthony Ferrera said the settlement included $75,000 in fines, and CoPart of Connecticut must restore the site by April 30. The company is also required to investigate and mediate any environmental damage at the site, and provide a report to the township by June 30.
Before the committee approved the settlement, Mayor Frank DelCore said the vehicles must be moved from the Hercules site by March 30.
The Hillsborough fire follows several others at locations where CoPart stored vehicles, including a fire in Glassboro in April 2009, a fire in Contra Costa County, in California, on June 22, 2009, and a December 1997 fire in Newington, Conn.
watchful one
11:06 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
why aren't you reporting how much the fines would be "straight up" without a "settlement"? How can the public know if settling was a good deal?
John Patten
4:53 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
I'll check to see if it's possible to determine--zoning violations aren't like traffic tickets, with defined fines. The township code notes violations in industrial zones are punishable by "revocation of any approval, permit or certificate theretofore granted."
S.G.
10:19 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Mr. Patten, it is also important to know what the seven viotations were. And are these the same violations that Copart has incurred in other incidents in other towns.