Cranberry Township is acting on litigation against junkyard owner Randy Spencer to “force compliance” and have him remove vehicles from his properties.
Spencer has increasingly faced lawsuits surrounding his variety of vehicles stored in lots around Deep Hollow Road, Victory Heights and his Garden Lane home.
A contempt of court request was submitted Thursday by Cranberry Township and cites an injunctive case filed by the township in 2019, according to Daniel Conlon, the township’s special counsel.
Vehicles appeared to start being removed from Spencer’s Deep Hollow Road property after he was found in contempt of Commonwealth Court in February with litigation filed by DEP, which has jurisdiction for the floodplain.
But Spencer has largely been able to keep his vehicles in place despite – as he told the newspaper in May – being buried in litigation. He deferred to his attorney after the newspaper reached out to him Friday for comment.
Timothy D. McNair, who is Spencer’s attorney, said his client is being unfairly treated, politically targeted and the actions of Cranberry Township are “childish, and you can quote me on that.”
McNair on Friday declined to comment on the new civil actions by Cranberry Township due to not having enough information on the recent filings, but he commented on the DEP and PennDOT cases.
“We got a status report from the DEP today stating that Randy was in full compliance with the DEP order,” McNair said. “Were working with PennDOT, we’re not in contempt there,” he added.
The multiple lawsuits against Spencer are potentially reaching a culmination as Cranberry Township is “going for damages now,” Conlon said.
“It’s just taken this long to go through the court system,” Conlon added.
Many of the court cases were delayed, appealed to higher courts and disrupted due to the pandemic.
Along with the contempt of court request, Cranberry Township filed four motions against Spencer this week with each one claiming $12,000.
The township is also seeking to have liens totaling about $600 placed on four of Spencer’s properties, according to Conlon.
“That means the property can not be sold without the township being paid those 600 dollars (per property),” Conlon said.
After receiving favorable rulings from two local judges and a trio of Commonwealth Court judges, the township is looking to enter judgments, Conlon said.
“Now we’re just going to go back and we’re going to get the money,” Conlon said. “And our overall goal is not the money, but to seek compliance,” he added.
So far, Conlon said the township has been awarded about $3,000 from Spencer. With the current civil action, Spencer could owe the township upwards of $50,000, Conlon said.
“We have a very, very clear goal and that is for him to remove the junked vehicles that are in violation of the township’s ordinance,” Conlon said.
The issues surrounding Spencer’s junkyards are complex as he has been odds wit the township for decades over the vehicles.
Spencer, who is 60, said he started collecting vehicles in 1979.
PennDOT issued Spencer junkyard permits in 1994 for his Garden Lane and Victory Heights lots, but he never received junkyard permits from Cranberry Township. He also never received junkyard permits from PennDOT or Cranberry Township for his Deep Hollow Road lots.
While the lots at the intersection of Deep Hollow and Route 322 were comprised of rusted vehicles and many campers, Spencer said he never had a junkyard there.
Instead, Spencer said the area was filled with “all my personal vehicles”, and he said he uses the trailers for parts to make repairs.
“I call that my staging area,” Spencer said.
Spencer has been given several deadlines from various courts to remove vehicles or meet junkyard screening requirements. Deadlines were given by judges in cases with PennDOT, the state DEP and Cranberry Township.
“Most recently we had a hearing in March where the judge ordered Spencer to move the vehicles by May 27. And he blew the date, he just didn’t comply,” Conlon said.
