Ross Township wins 17-year battle to evict 'eyesore' owner
By Andrew Scott
Pocono Record Writer
August 21, 2012
Rockne Newell has been fighting Ross Township for almost 20 years, refuting the township's view of his Flyte Road property as an "eyesore" filled with "junk."
Now, Monroe County Court has ruled in the township's favor, ordering Newell to vacate his property within less than a month and clean it up within less than two months. The court order, which Newell received a week ago in the mail, says
he can never again live on,
use or occupy the property
unless he gets occupancy and sewage
permits
from the township.
"Looks like I'm gonna be homeless because I have nowhere to go," Newell said, his voice rising in outrage as he walked among tires, cinderblocks, piles of lumber and other items on his unmown property. "Applying for a sewage permit means I have to get a soil test done, which costs $40,000, which I don't have."
Claims 'harassment'
Newell, who's on a property/school tax payment plan with the mortgage paid up, said he lives on Social Security disability payments from a crash injury. He said the township has been harassing him with claims that he has never obtained the proper permits and that he has sewage and "junk" clustered about the property.
Township officials referred all Pocono Record inquiries to their attorney, John Dunn, for this article, but a 2002 article quotes then-township supervisor Butch Kresge as saying Newell shouldn't be allowed to have "junk" on his property since no one else does.
"That's funny because, when I moved here, this property was one of only three on the entire road that didn't have what they call 'junk,'" Newell said, though his property now has the largest amount of visibly cluttered items on Flyte Road.
"I'm a collector from a family of collectors," he said. "I use most of what I collect, like part of a playground slide to pour concrete for cinder blocks and wood to fence my yard from people driving by and throwing beer bottles. This saves me hundreds of dollars. I scrap and sell what I can't use."
The contention began after Newell bought the secluded, wooded property from the previous owner in 1990. According to court papers, Newell got a building permit from the township to have a storage structure on the property, but then built a dwelling without first getting a zoning permit or certificate of occupancy from the township.
Newell said the storage structure and dwelling are the same building. He said the township in the beginning never required him to have an additional permit to use the storage structure also as a dwelling.
"But (in 1995), they took me to court and lied to the judge about how they did tell me I needed another permit," said Newell, who has always represented himself in court.
"They showed (Magisterial District Judge JoLana Krawitz) the permit application form I filled out and signed," he said. "The word 'only' was written next to the word 'storage' so it read 'storage only.' That 'only' wasn't there when I filled out and signed that form."
Krawitz ruled in the township's favor, saying Newell could not use the storage structure as a dwelling without a zoning permit or certificate of occupancy. Newell appealed and went before then-county court judge Peter O'Brien.
"After listening to my side and then taking a look at that permit application form with 'storage only' on it, Judge O'Brien dismissed the case with prejudice," Newell said. "He basically told them to stop harassing me."
No sewage permit
Though the 17-year-old case is no longer on file at county court, Dunn remembers O'Brien's ruling a bit differently.
"What the judge actually ruled was not to proceed any farther with the case unless we could prove Mr. Newell was actually living on the property," Dunn said. "Mr. Newell at the time claimed he wasn't living there, and we were unable to prove otherwise."
As years passed, Newell collected more items, some of which he stores in several trailers on his property.
Another issue arose when county sheriff's deputies responded to a complaint about the property in 2009 and found "buckets of fecal matter stored inside and outside of the residence," according to the court order's findings. Newell said he has used buckets for storing paint, carrying water and other things, but never for storing fecal matter.
As a result of what the sheriff's deputies reportedly found, the township determined Newell was illegally disposing of sewage on his property without having gotten a septic permit to do so. He said he has a composting toilet for any sewage because he cannot afford septic hookup fees, but the township says he needs a permit for that toilet.
Stream work
A third issue arose in November, when county resource conservation specialist Victor Motts responded to a complaint about Newell having dredged a stream on his property and installed a four-feet-wide culvert. Motts works for the county Conservation District, which he said takes interest when any construction on private or public property potentially affects waterways.
Newell had the culvert, supported by two concrete blocks, installed as part of a driveway built over the stream for flooding.
"My foot bridge had gotten washed out in a flood, so I applied for help with (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), who told me I had to replace that bridge with a culvert driveway so emergency vehicles can get over the stream to access my property," he said. "FEMA gave me $5,000, and I hired a contractor to put in the culvert."
Motts told Newell and the township that the culvert violates state Department of Environmental Protection regulations. The township said this also violates its stormwater management ordinance.
"So now, they're telling me to rip out the culvert that FEMA told me to install because I didn't have a permit when I had it put in," Newell said. "First off, FEMA told me I don't need a permit."
Newell cannot recall exactly who at FEMA told him no permit is needed. Nick Morici, external affairs specialist at FEMA's Region 3 office in Philadelphia, said the agency cannot comment on any cases involving pending court action.
"Second, I don't have the money to have the culvert removed," he said. "They're talking about the effect it has on the environment. Won't it have a bigger effect if I rip it back out?"
What led to the July court hearing that has resulted in the current court order is Newell admitting to Motts that he in fact lives on the property, Dunn said. Since the township earlier had been unable to prove this and was thus forced to drop its case, Newell's admission gave the township its most important ammunition against him, Dunn said.
"This is absolute (b.s.), but there's nothing I can do about it," Newell said, shrugging his shoulders. "They're kicking me off my property. It would be great if I could get some help getting my stuff off the property, because I don't have the money for dumpsters."
Newell asks anyone who can help him to contact him at 570-856-5518.
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