By JESSICA KERMAN
jessica.kerman@heraldbulletin.com
ANDERSON — After an attempt to open before the April 1 deadline, Mallard Lake Landfill has been cited for a violation of a zoning ordinance, regarding a posted sign stating the site was open for waste.
Cory Wilson, executive director of the Madison County Planning Commission, said he sent the letter to owner Ralph Reed regarding a “wall sign placed on the property that (was) advertising the collection of waste and debris.
“This is in direct violation of The Madison County Zoning Ordinance,” he wrote. “Currently, the site is zoned conservation residential, which only permits signage in conjunction with an agricultural operation or for a home-occupation.”
On Saturday, the Reeds opened what they called the “Mallard Lake Landfill Collection Container System” to the public. The operation consisted of two Manifold Refuse containers sitting on the land with a sign that read “Open to the Public.”
Reed did not return phone calls on Thursday.
The ordeal attracted attention from neighbors and the Killbuck Concerned Citizens Association, who called the Planning Commission to complain.
“I have had a number of phone calls about this,” Wilson said. “We are under pending litigation with them.”
The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation in its latest session that required any landfill operation that had not collected trash before April 1 to go back to the local authority, in this case the Board of Zoning Appeals, for approval.
Wilson said the county did not cite Reed for trash collection because the commission could not prove he collected any.
“We’ve got to physically catch them doing it,” Wilson said. “We are definitely watching the property to make sure. They have never obtained permits from this office to do trash collections.”
Bill Kutschera, from KCCA, said he saw the sign as a “ruse.”
“As far as the KCCA is concerned, I don’t know what impact if any, it has,” he said. “It was a witty attempt with the intent of making it appear as though there was an opportunity to take in waste.”
However, the attention upset several people, including Brad Manifold, who owns the refuse company that brought two containers to the site.
“Ralph Reed called our office and requested a container or two to go out to Mallard Lake because some farmers left some trash,” Manifold said. “After I read the story in the paper and made some phone calls, I realized why Ralph wanted the containers out there. He wanted to beat the deadline. He knew what his intentions were.”
Manifold said he had never entered into an agreement with Reed to transport trash for the landfill operation.
“I called him and told him, I said, ‘You misrepresented why you wanted us to bring those trash bins out there,’” Manifold said. “He kind of used us.”
