BENTON TOWNSHIP - A case pitting local property owners against a company that wants to put spent lime in the former Stoneco quarry is scheduled to go to bench trial in March but could be decided by summary judgment, the county's prosecutor said Tuesday.
Ottawa County Prosecutor James VanEerten said Benton Township filed a motion for summary judgment in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court against Rocky Ridge Development LLC and Stansley Industries.
If the case is not decided by summary judgment, a bench trial is scheduled to begin March 18.
VanEerten and Benton Township allege the companies' activity violated local zoning laws.
Rocky Ridge Development LLC bought the fractured limestone quarry in 2014, reviving the abandoned site as a new resting place for spent lime sludge from Toledo's Collins Park Water Treatment Plant.
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Benton Township opponents say Rocky Ridge Development LLC dumped spent lime sludge into excavated cells and covered it with dirt, not in compliance with the company's Ohio EPA Land Application Management Plan (LAMP) permit, which requires the lime sludge to be dry and mixed with 65 percent native soil to 35 percent dried sludge from the treatment plant.
There's been a halt in activity at the quarry since March 2017 after a court injunction issued by Ottawa County Common Pleas Judge Bruce Winters.
Rocky Ridge Development LLC representatives repeatedly insisted publicly that they were following the conditions of their Ohio EPA-issued LAMP permit and were safely disposing of the spent lime sludge from the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant.
The Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals dismissed a motion by Rocky Ridge Development LLC in October 2017 to lift a temporary injunction halting operations at its Benton Township quarry.
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Tuesday, VanEerten said there had been a little activity recently at the quarry site.
The prosecutor said Rocky Ridge Development filed a request to do some cleanup work at the Benton Township quarry site to prevent flooding from spreading to adjacent property owners' land.
"We did not oppose that," VanEerten said.
Brenda Weidner, a member of The Benton Township Quarry Dumping Opposition, said her group is in a holding pattern waiting on a ruling in the case.
She said the group is trying to maintain awareness with its billboard on Ohio 2 and through yard signs.
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