Wood and timber waste processing can return to a Northampton County property once home to a stump dump that, under previous ownership, plagued neighbors with noise, odors and ground fires.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection last week issued a permit to Gravel Hill Enterprises Inc. to operate at 10143 Gravel Hill Road in Lower Mount Bethel Township.
The permit allows the Deer Park, New York-based company led by Gerald DiDomenico to process wood and timber waste like tree stumps, limbs, clean wood, untreated and unpainted wood, and pallets, in addition to leaf and yard waste.
“The approved processing is limited to size reduction (grinding), screening, mixing, biological decomposition of wood waste prior to beneficial use as a landscaping material and processing and beneficial use of leaf and yard waste limited to screening and blending,” the DEP says.
Gravel Hill Enterprises’ permit application was the focus of a DEP hearing in January 2020. There, the company stressed it “has absolutely nothing to do with the Stine family” that previously processed wood and timber waste on the property.
The company in December 2008 bought 100-plus acres for the operation along Gravel Hill Road from Clayton Stine Jr. He ran the prior stump dump there with son Michael Stine, and the property was known among neighbors for noisy nighttime operations and several fires -- including one that smoldered for months.
Lower Mount Bethel’s zoning hearing board in October 2014 rejected Gravel Hill Enterprises’ proposal for stump grinding on the agricultural property. DiDomenico appealed the decision in Northampton County Court, leading to a 2015 settlement with the township that put restrictions on operational hours, truck trips, truck routes and noise emissions.
The DEP in 2019 deemed Gravel Hill Enterprises’ permit application complete, and at the ensuring hearing in 2020, the company agreed to follow all state regulations in addition to the township settlement.
In approving the application, the DEP established 14 pages of “special conditions” on Gravel Hill Enterprises’ operation, along with use restrictions that “apply to the beneficial use of finished mulch as a landscaping material and/or finished compost.”
The permit expires Sept. 20, 2022, and Gravel Hill Enterprises will have an opportunity to submit a renewal application for a 10-year term. That is due prior to March 24, 2022, or 180 days before the expiration date, according to the DEP.
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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
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Old Stine stump dump OK’d for wood, timber waste processing in Lower Mt. Bethel - lehighvalleylive.com
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