Orange County towns at odds over tons of trash

The garbage along Seven Springs Mountain Road goes on for hundreds of feet, roughly one-third of a mile on the border of Monroe and Kiryas Joel in the Town of Palm Tree.

News 12 Staff

Apr 5, 2021, 9:49 PM

Updated 1,208 days ago

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Two feuding towns in Orange County appear to be at odds once again – this time over tons of trash.
The garbage along Seven Springs Mountain Road goes on for hundreds of feet, roughly one-third of a mile on the border of Monroe and Kiryas Joel in the Town of Palm Tree.
"Most of it is construction debris or old furniture," says Monroe Supervisor Tony Cardone.
"I have spoken to leaders in Kiryas Joel about the issue but it falls on deaf ears," says Cardone.
There are old mattresses, trash bags, couches and more. Cardone says the town has foot the bill to clean up three times, even though he says it's being illegally dumped by Kiryas Joel workers and residents in the Town of Palm Tree.
"It cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of $700," says Cardone.
Palm Tree officials say there's no way the trash is coming from residents, noting the town offers bulk pick-up. It claims no one in the insular community has TVs.
News 12 reached the property owner by phone who says he's also cleaned it up multiple times and has the license plate numbers of people dumping trash, but wasn't able to speak with a trooper when he tried reporting it to state police.
State police in Monroe say they are looking into what's going on, but in the meantime, violations are now being issued - and Cardone says bottom line is that Monroe isn't going to foot the bill.
"It's a constant battle. Our feeling is Palm Tree is skirting their responsibility and trying to pass it on us," says Cardone.
Monroe officials say town cameras there were damaged and will not be replaced.
Kiryas Joel officials say the property owner should put up a fence.


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