Temple remains embroiled in a lawsuit that seeks to clean up what the town alleges is a junkyard, a year and a half after filing it.
The site in question lies on West Road near the center of town, and is owned by John Jackson-Marsh and Alan Marsh. The landowners are collectors of historical construction equipment and belong to the Historical Construction Equipment Association, Jackson-Marsh said. “It’s a personal collection, that’s all it is,” he said. “Primarily, we live here,” he said of the property’s use. No commercial activity, abandoned vehicles, or vehicle recycling is associated with the site, he said. Jackson-Marsh declined to share the number of vehicles on site, saying he did not think it was relevant.
The Town of Temple feels differently. Abutters complain that the “dozens of pieces of large machinery” on site violates the state junkyard ordinance, Select Board member Bill Ezell said. “The conduct on the site consists of the placement of truck bodies, heavy earth moving equipment, heavy machinery of sundry uses, size and type, much of it in dilapidated condition and various state of deterioration and disuse,” the town’s complaint read. Even if the activity was construed as an attempt to store historical and significant items of equipment, it would require a special exception, the complaint read. The town alleges the conditions on site constitute a nuisance and a violation of Temple’s zoning ordinance and state law, according to the complaint. The 39-acre property was deeded to the current landowners in 2014, according to court documents.
Temple first served a notice of violation to the landowners in April 2018. The landowners applied to the ZBA for a special exception to continue their use of the site that May, but it was denied. Although there was appropriate visual screening on site, the ZBA didn’t believe the landowners proved their activities wouldn’t impact adjacent property values. Specifically, the Board was concerned about negative valuation impacts due to the visibility of the vehicles from Google Earth. The ZBA also provided a list of conditions for addressing concerns about groundwater and soil impacts, according to meeting minutes, which included limiting the collection to 25 pieces, storing any equipment containing antifreeze, oils, or gases on an impervious service, and submitting to annual inspections and inventories.
Temple served a second notice of violation in May 2019, and filed the ongoing lawsuit that July, according to court documents.
There has no compliance with either notices of violation to date, according to the complaint. The Town is seeking the court to order the landowners remove all unregistered and uninspected motor vehicles from the site, and fine them $275 a day for every day the violation persisted after the town gave notice, according to court documents.
The landowners denied that their use of the property constitutes a junkyard, and denied that their use violates the law, according to court documents.
The lawsuit is still in a mandatory mediation phase, Select Board members told Temple residents at a Select Board meeting on April 26. The lawsuit’s timeline has been affected by court closures and related disruptions due to COVID-19, Ezell said. Several residents expressed concern about the potential for water pollution on site, and when they’d be able to find out more. The town can’t make changes to the site until the case gets through the courts, Ezell said, and the town’s legally bound not to discuss the situation in detail until the mediation phase is complete. However, he assured residents that “water quality is at the top of the list” in their settlement negotiations. “Any settlement that doesn’t address that will not be satisfactory,” he said.
When asked to respond to resident’s water quality concerns, Jackson-Marsh said that a hydrologist was advising them on necessary actions to take to assure no pollution was coming from the site. He said that the equipment is not in an aquifer recharge zone, and the well on their property is 300 feet deep. “There’s really no way that we’re going to pollute the area,” he said.