RI Officials Support License for Salvage Yard

An operating license renewal for Woonsocket Auto Salvage, a Woonsocket, R.I., junkyard, has been given the green light by the city's zoning officer, who previously advised the City Council against any further continuance of the license.

Michael Przybylowicz, the city's zoning officer, inspected the site last in late January and stated that everything is in order there, at least under the terms of a local ordinance enacted last spring. The business is still working with the state Department of Environmental Management to comply with state regulations, however.

"The trailers on the Columbus and Madison property lines have all been cleaned out, and 'for sale' signs have been put on all of them," said Przybylowicz. "All the trailers at the site are available for sale."

The City Council, as license commissioners, will take up the matter of the salvage yard's business license this week. The junkyard's license for next year is up for renewal in April.

City administration had advised the council Jan. 6 not to renew the junkyard's current license because three trailers and a mobile home filled with loose salvaged parts had been situated within a 15-foot buffer zone from abutting property lines. But the council unanimously granted a 30-day extension to the business with the stipulation that owner Leo Lefebvre, Sr. store the salvaged auto parts elsewhere on his lot and put the four structures up for sale.

The DEM has been working with the Woonsocket junkyard for months to get them up to state code. James Ashton, DEM environmental scientist and solid waste program supervisor, said that the Woonsocket business is "on the right track to compliance."

"They have removed some 24,000 tires so far, and they still have 5-to-6,000 tires left to go," said Ashton, who said LeFebvre estimated to DEM officials that he would be able to get the excess loose tires off his lot in two months time. Only 400 loose tires are allowed on any given property, according to state law.

Based on measuring tire stacks using the formula 10 tires per cubic yard, DEM staff estimated that the site had some 6,000 loose tires back in August. Ashton said that, obviously, this estimate turned out to be very "conservative," since some 30,000 loose tires were determined to be on the site during further inspections.

"He may have to do some testing of tainted soil, but that will be evaluated at some point in the future," said Ashton.

As the scrimmage with Woonsocket Auto Salvage appears to be drawing to a close, another city junkyard owner, Don Senra of A&M Auto Parts, whose business license was renewed by the City Council recently after months of debate, is now suing the city for $100,000.

On Aug. 8, the Woonsocket police arrested Senra, a Pawtucket resident, for failing to follow the municipal ordinance, operating without a license and obstructing a uniformed officer in the execution of duty. City officials and police asserted that Senra, who was released after arraignment on personal recognizance, had illegally been operating his Privilege Street lot without a license.

The case was transferred to Superior Court and then dismissed in November, according to court records.

In a Jan. 7 letter to the City Council, Arthur E. Chatfield III, the A & M Auto Part owner's Providence-based attorney, claims that Senra was unlawfully arrested, among other things, and that it's his client's intent "to pursue common law and state statuory remedies" if the city doesn't pay up.

Joseph Carroll, the city solicitor, wrote in a Jan. 24 letter, that the matter was forwarded to the city's insurance representative and the council should take no further action regarding the issue, which is the standard response to legal claims against the city. Providence (Rhode Island) Journal