Boro sues junkyard over contamination testing
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

SPOTSWOOD - - After years of being on the defense side of litigation involving a local junkyard, the borough is filing a suit of its own against the business.

The borough filed suit against Giancola Auto Wreckers, asking its operators to show cause as to why tests have not been done on a portion of borough property that is adjacent to the Manalapan Road junkyard.

The junkyard and used-auto sales business is suspected to have contaminated the borough-owned site.

Borough Council President Curtis Stollen said Giancola had a car crusher on the borough property and also on top of a water main. The borough asked that the crusher be moved, and it was, but later tests showed that the land had become contaminated, he said.

"We did an assessment of it and it came back contaminated," Stollen said.

The lawsuit contends that Giancola was responsible for a follow-up test to determine more about the contamination.

"We had asked for and want follow-up tests, and they were not done in the time frame we requested," Stollen said.

The follow-up tests would reveal, for instance, how much land is affected and whether groundwater was contaminated.

"The first test is more a cursory review of the grounds," Stollen said. "Then you have to test more specifically for locations and pollutants."

The borough is being represented by Borough Attorney Gary Schwartz.

Christopher Rafano, an attorney and Middlesex County freeholder who has represented Giancola in past litigation, said recently he was uncertain whether his firm would be handling the matter.

The legal papers were filed in December. The litigation follows a round of legal steps Giancola took against Spotswood. The operation was shut down for a period on zoning violations until a Superior Court judge ordered that the business be allowed to reopen.

The most recent legal action from Giancola ended with a settlement in which the junkyard was allowed to sell used cars under certain stipulations.