List says not guilty
Developer accused of burying debris



GUILDERLAND — A local developer was issued a ticket after a resident complained that he buried debris in her yard years ago.

The town’s code enforcer, Rodger Stone, followed up on a complaint made by Fort Hunter residents, Maureen Iuorno and her neighbor, that developer Richard H. List buried stumps and garbage in their backyards.
"We never buried anything," List told The Enterprise this week. He said he had been issued a ticket by Stone and plans to plead "not guilty" in Guilderland Town Court on April 9.
Last November, the town sought advice from the law firm of Wein, Young, Fenton, and Kelsey. At the time, the move was heralded as an "unprecedented action" by town Councilman David Bosworth.
"We were asked to come in as an outside counsel because of a possible conflict of interest," Paul Wein told The Enterprise. "If it violates the town code, then we will proceed with litigation."

Supervisor Kenneth Runion said that the town cannot get involved with a private lawsuit, but that the town looked to outside counsel to see if a town code was violated.

According to town code, it is not illegal to bury stumps at a residence as long as the location is clearly identified on a subdivision map. However, according to the complaints, List did not inform anyone about burying debris.
"That was not done," Wein said of a map indicating buried debris. "You can’t just dump construction debris anywhere you want around town."

Runion said last week that he was leaving the matter for the attorneys to sort out. Wein, said he was waiting for word from the building department.
"If they advise us about a zoning violation," Wein said, "we handle the litigation."

Iuorno said she discovered the debris when her family contracted to have an in-ground pool installed in their backyard.
"We actually called him out here when we first discovered the problem," Iuorno said of List. "He promised lip service"He kept ‘yesing’ us, but the reality of it is that he never came through with anything."
Iuorno said that List denied ever burying the debris in the first place, telling her, "You have my word as a man. I’ve never buried a stump in my life."

However, Iuorno told The Enterprise that, even if List did not bury the debris himself, she talked to List’s workers who actually did.

List’s view
List, however, said this week that there was "no merit" to the statement his workers had buried debris.
He said that, on Oct. 17, 2006, he met with Iurno, who lives at 206 Placid Drive, and a neighbor, who lives at 208 Placid Drive, in Lone Pine Village. "I explained we did not bury debris in their yards," said List.

At the time he visited the Placid Drive site, List said, all that was visible were a few pieces of wood on the surface.
Three days later, on Oct. 20, List said, a pool company dumped dirt, stumps, and debris on property he owns in a different section of Lone Pine Village, a quarter of a mile from Placid Drive. "He said they were told to dump it there," List said of the pool builder. "I did eventually get them to move it," he said. List said he did not know who ordered the dumping.
List has been in business since 1966 and never received a complaint about dumping, he said. "Our sites are clean as a whistle," he said.

List said he is involved in two businesses: Manchester Associates, Ltd., which builds homes, and Richard H. List, Inc., which does excavation, preparing home sites.
"I’ve built over 500 homes in the area and we’ve never had a problem like this before," said List.

List said that he acquired the Placid Drive properties in 1986 or 1987 and surmised that, if there were stumps or debris buried there, it was before or after he had anything to do with the properties.

Iuorno’s view
In addition to large stumps and "massive piles of woodchips," Iuorno said, construction debris such as manhole covers, siding, and scrap metal were found buried.
"They weren’t small stumps either; they were massive," she said. "Some of the trees were the size of telephone poles"We went to EnCon with it."

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation told Iuorno there wasn’t a high enough percentage of construction debris for its involvement and that it was a town matter, she said.

Iuorno said the stumps, wood chips, and other compostable buried materials made the lawn dangerous and unstable, as large sink holes would appear when materials decomposed in the ground.
Placement of the pool was impossible without removing all of the debris and back-filling the entire area with new dirt for stability, said Iuorno, expenses which all came "out-of-pocket."
"It would have been a lot easier for him because he has all of the excavation equipment readily available"and mountains of dirt," she said of having to get someone besides List to do the work.

Iuorno said List has done it to others, too, saying another nearby resident besides her neighbor was affected.
"They had to actually move their pool to the other side of their house," she said. "I think the problem is that most people tend to give up and go away. Once you go away and it happens again, you have to start all over."

The ordeal cost her family thousands of dollars for the debris removal, Iuorno said.

Their house was built in 1989 and Iuorno said the owners before them moved into the home in January of 1990. Wein said that, because of the date, there may be a statute of limitation on what can be done.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer contributed the comments from Richard H. List to this story.