By November 1

Russell Jones has agreed to remove the mounds of spent compost from his Hood Road farm by Nov. 1. And with it goes a recurring item on the West Marlborough Township supervisors' agenda.
Last autumn Mr. Jones had 900 loads of spent compost trucked in from local mushroom farms to his property, located south of Hood Road near Mosquito Lane. It was supposed to decompose there for some months and then be removed to be bagged up and sold as potting soil.
However, neighbors complained about the noise and truck traffic and told the township they were worried about environmental damage. The Brandywine Conservancy, which holds an easement on Mr. Jones' property, also objected to the use. And the supervisors told Mr. Jones that under the township zoning code he needed to apply for conditional-use permission to continue dumping the spent compost.
At the township meeting on Thursday, Feb. 21, Mr. Jones's attorney, Brian Nagle of the MacElree Harvey law firm, told the supervisors that his client had worked out an agreement with the Conservancy where Mr. Jones would have the compost removed from the fields as soon as the weather and ground conditions permit, possibly as early as May or June but definitely no later than Nov. 1. Mr. Jones said it will take three months to remove all the soil.
"We're in the hands of the weather," explained Mr. Jones. He said the ground has to be firm and dry before dump trucks can enter the site (they'll be using his gravel driveway off Hood Road). He also said he didn't want the trucks tracking mud out onto the road.
Indeed, because the ground needs to be dry, a Hood Road resident told the supervisors he was concerned that the truck traffic will kick up too much dust. Roadmaster and Supervisor Hugh Lofting assured the neighbor that if he receives a complaint about excess dust during the work, he will contact Mr. Jones and "we'll take care of it immediately."
Mr. Jones said he plans to reseed the property as soon as the compost is gone.
Supervisors Lofting and Michael Ledyard approved a separate agreement reached between the township and Mr. Jones, making only a slight modification: to emphasize the urgency of the situation, they added a cross-reference to a sentence in the Conservancy's agreement about "time being of the essence." Mr. Nagle then withdrew his application for conditional-use permission, and everyone went home for the evening.
Unexpectedly, there were a couple of amusing moments from the legal profession during the evening:
-- When Mr. Nagle stood up to introduce himself, he said he was substituting for fellow attorney Mary Ann Rossi and would try to fill her "large shoes." He caught himself, remembering that in fact Ms. Rossi is a petite woman. "Actually," he said, "they're pretty small."
-- The township's attorney, Dwight Yoder, opened the meeting by offering a detailed recap of the Jones situation and outlining what action was anticipated for the evening. "That may have been more than you wanted to know," he said dryly as he wrapped up.