Attached is the article: A $50 dollar fine....can't even begin to say how that makes me feel.
May 21, 2010
By GLORIA CARR gcarr@stmedianetwork.com
SOUTH ELGIN -- The business at the heart of an illegal chemical dumping investigation did not have an occupancy permit or a special-use permit -- requirements for operating in the village, South Elgin officials said.
Officials said they discovered last week that D&Y Recycling, in the 600 block of Sundown Road, was occupying the building illegally. The discovery was made as officials gathered paperwork for another tenant in the same building, Community Development Director Steve Super said.
"We were in the process of verifying all the facts when they (the company) had the dumping incident over the weekend," Super said, adding code enforcement officers closed the business down earlier this week. "We went out and basically informed them they could not be in the village without the occupancy permit."
Neighbors called police Saturday evening after spotting bubbling foam and dead fish in a stream running into the river near Sundown and Route 31. Police checked the nearby industrial park and spotted two employees from D&Y pouring what is believed to have been an acid-based chemical into the storm sewer leading to the stream, authorities said.
The company is owned by John Zheng, according to reports. Calls to the firm were not returned Thursday.
"He's out of business; he is not operating there," Super said.
Code enforcement officers wrote six tickets -- two to the property owner and four to Zheng. The property owner, identified as Parker Scruggs, was cited with failure to obtain an occupancy permit and work without a permit. Zheng was cited with failure to obtain an occupancy permit, working without a permit, littering and illicit discharge, which relates to the dumping, Super said. The village cannot file criminal charges in the dumping case, but only issue the ordinance violations, he said.
Each ticket carries a $50 fine.
Both men must appear at an administrative hearing at village hall unless they pay the fines, he said.
In addition to an occupancy permit, D&Y Recycling was required to obtain a special-use permit because of the type of business it did, Super said.
Recycling lends itself to businesses "not always knowing what they are getting," Super said. "The village is concerned how they are managing it." The dumping investigation "is a perfect example of why we would require a special-use permit," he said.
According to its website, the company -- founded in 2004 -- handles waste plastic for recycling, and its main market is mainland China. The company's total U.S. sales were reported to be $50 million. Its company slogan is "making the world cleaner."
No one appeared to be working at the Sundown Road business Thursday. Zheng reportedly was removing his property from the building this week, Super said.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Januari Smith said Thursday there were no new developments in the state's investigation of the chemical dumping. The IDNR is the lead agency in the probe. It is awaiting test results to determine what was dumped into the storm sewer at the business.
D&Y Recycling hired a private company to clean up the stream earlier this week.