Compost coda

Will Russell Jones get his $2,500 conditional-use application fee back?
No, he won't, the West Marlborough Township supervisors decided at their March 5 meeting. They said that even though he withdrew his zoning request, the township still incurred costs related to the case: they had to pay the court stenographer's fees -- Bill Handy showed up for both of the hearings that were scheduled but not held -- as well as for the time of the township engineer and the township solicitor.
"I think we've used his money up," said Supervisors' Chairman Michael Ledyard.
For those of you unfamiliar with this story, Mr. Jones ran into opposition -- from the Brandywine Conservancy, from neighbors, and even from some landowners who aren't neighbors -- when he decided to allow, for a fee, spent mushroom soil to be trucked onto his Hood Road property, piled into mounds and left to decompose into potting soil, which would be removed, bagged and sold. The township pointed out that he needed to apply for conditional use permission, and he did so.
A hearing was set for Jan. 17, but it was postponed because Mr. Jones was in the process of hammering out an agreement with the Conservancy (which has an easement on the property).
Then, just before the second hearing on Feb. 21, Mr. Jones and his attorney reached an agreement with the township in which he promised to remove the compost by Nov. 1. That meant that the need for conditional use permission was moot, and Mr. Jones's attorney withdrew the application. Case closed.
One resident at the meeting suggested that the township put in writing that application fees are nonrefundable if the township does incur costs, just so applicants are aware of the situation upfront.