State agencies report stockpiled dirt is safe
Overgrown with weeds and grass, it's hard to even notice that numerous piles of dirt have been dumped on a 5-acre parcel along Beaver Dam Road in Lewes.
Those dirt piles became the subject of debate after the owner of the parcel filed a conditional-use application with Sussex County to operate a business on the parcel. Neighboring property owners turned out to oppose the application this past spring during planning and zoning and county council hearings.
Jay Beach has plans to operate a landscaping/site-work on the AR-1, agricultural-residential, land. During a May 19 Sussex County Council hearing, Beach, who said his son, Chase, would operate the company, said he plans to build and live in a house on the lot.
The county's planning and zoning commission voted to recommend approval of the application with 16 conditions. Council was not so quick to act requesting more detailed information from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Sussex Conservation District on the status of the soil.
Most of the soil was removed from a state-regulated brownfield at the new Lewes library construction site.
Lawrence Lank, director of county planning and zoning, presented reports from the two agencies to council during its Aug. 11 meeting. The Sussex Conservation District wrote that Beach was complying with all conditions and had a permit to stockpile up to one acre of dirt on the parcel. The report noted that the dirt has little or no impact on neighboring properties.
Although initially requesting the soil from the brownfield site be removed from the Beach property, DNREC officials recanted and reported that testing revealed no high levels of contaminants in the soil.
The public record will remain open until Wednesday, Aug. 26, for written comment on the agency's reports.
Beach said the dirt was being stockpiled for future site work on his lot. He said eventually, up to 200 loads of dirt would be needed to fill in areas where buildings would be located.
