By Steven Hoffman

Staff Writer

At the Aug. 14 Lower Oxford Township Board of Supervisors meeting, supervisor Ron Kepler announced that the township recently received notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that a judge had issued an order requiring a Lower Oxford Township property owner to remove all the mushroom soil from his property.

Kepler explained that Gregory Mazepink has 45 days to move 150 loads of the mushroom soil from his property on Kimble Road. There must be 300 loads moved within 90 days, and within 120 days all remaining mushroom soil must be moved to a facility authorized to accept compost. Once the soil is removed, the property owner is prohibited from bringing it back. Kepler added that Mazepink must stabilize the area and also allow inspections of the site to make sure that the order is being complied with.

“If he hauls one more load in there,” Kepler said, “he has to tell it to the judge.”

The township has been working to get the issue resolved for years. A cease-and-desist order was issued as far back as 2008.

“It has been a long, drawn-out affair,” Kepler said.

In June, the township supervisors addressed another drawn-out issue when they voted to turn accounts over to a collection agency for those Lincoln Village property owners who have not yet paid in full the tapping fee to tie into Lincoln University's sewage treatment facility. Ten property owners in Lincoln Village have not made any payments on the tapping fee balances owed. Five other property owners are delinquent in the payments, but have been paying on the balance.

In other business at the Aug. 14 meeting:

~ Joel Brown, one of Lower Oxford Township’s representatives on the Oxford Region Multi-municipal Comprehensive Plan Committee, reported that five of the six municipalities—Lower Oxford, Oxford Borough, Upper Oxford, West Nottingham Township, and Elk Township—have authorized implementation agreements. The approval of the implementation agreement came almost one year after the municipalities approved the comprehensive plan that was several years in the making. East Nottingham Township is the lone holdout, and township officials have said that they are not interested in enacting the implementation agreement.

~ Supervisor Ron Kepler reported that Lincoln University officials are working to get all the streets on the campus named and all the buildings numbered in an effort to make it easier for emergency-response vehicles to respond to calls. Currently, all emergency calls are directed to the address at the front gate of the campus.

~ Supervisor Ken Hershey asked the other supervisors if they would be in favor of making a donation to the Oxford Union Fire Company No. 1. Hershey said that the fire company recently borrowed $400,000 to purchase a new ladder truck and is in the process of conducting a fundraising campaign. The supervisors agreed to donate approximately $1,750.

~ The supervisors also announced that fall clean-up day is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 27 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 28 from 7 a.m. to noon.