Volume 32, Number 180
Division of Water Resources
Contact: Rodney Wyatt, Ground Water Discharges, phone: (302) 739-4762
SEAFORD, DE – JUNE 28, 2002
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Nicholas A. DiPasquale has issued a Notice of Administrative Penalty Assessment and Secretary’s Order to Ward Melson, owner of Concord Mobile Home Park, for failing to comply with a Notice of Conciliation and Secretary’s Order issued March 29, 2002.
Concord Mobile Home Park is located on Road 20 near Seaford, Del. The Notice of Conciliation required Melson to immediately disconnect and remove illegal piping from the on-site septic system and hire a wastehauler to pump out the system as necessary to prevent discharge of effluent; hire a site evaluator to perform the preliminary work for a replacement on-site system capable of servicing all the mobile homes at the park by May 23, 2002; and hire a system designer, submit an application for a permit and install the new system.
The Department is assessing Melson a $1,000 per day penalty for each day of continuing non-compliance between the date of the first deadline, for disconnection and removal of the illegal piping, that was due on May 3, 2002 through the present, for a penalty totaling $50,000. In addition, Melson is directed to reimburse the Department $2,955.31 for legal and investigative costs associated with the violations.
On Tuesday, June 25, 2002, Melson pled no contest in Sussex County Superior Court to a criminal charge of “installing a septic without a permit.” He was assessed a $2,500 fine.
Melson has 30 days to request a public hearing on the Department’s penalty assessment.
