OMAHA, Neb.—A former junkman has asked a federal court to let him bring back the junkyard he operated on the outskirts of Ashland.
Arlo Remmen and the city of Ashland have been fighting legal battles for years over his junkyard along U.S. Highway 6, not far from the upscale Iron Horse housing development and golf course.
The city considered the junkyard a nuisance and eyesore. Along with the state Department of Environmental Quality, the city sued Remmen in 2003 for violating state and local environmental laws because he stored thousands of scrap tires, appliances and other trash on the 2 acres.
The city hired contractors to clean up the site in January 2007.
In his lawsuit filed this month in U.S. District Court, Remmen said it was unlawful for the state to shut down the junkyard and take away his sole source of revenue without compensating him.
The city of Ashland, Saunders County and the Nebraska Department of Roads, which administers junkyards, are among the defendants listed.
Remmen is asking the court to declare that the city and state overstepped its bounds by commandeering his land. He asks that the city and state not interfere with his use of the land and the business he runs there and that the land be returned to him in its previous condition.
He also seeks unspecified damages for the loss of land value and for harm to his business operations.
Remmen acquired the land in April 1987 and operated the junkyard as Ashland Salvage Inc. Remmen contended that the city changed the zoning for the property without his knowledge a few months later, eliminating use as a junkyard. The junkyard remained in operation through 2006 despite numerous legal challenges.
Remmen, 69, said in his lawsuit that he lives with a friend and has done odd jobs the past year to supplement his monthly Social Security benefit of $629.
Ashland City Attorney Mark Fahleson said he had not seen the lawsuit, but was not surprised it was filed.
“If Mr. Remmen had spent as much time, effort and money complying with the law and keeping his property clean as he has hiring lawyers and filing lawsuits, perhaps we wouldn’t be in court once again,” Fahleson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Remmen and his attorney, Terry Barber of Lincoln, did not return phone messages seeking comment Wednesday.
In October, Remmen won an appeal of a $106,000 fine levied against him. The Nebraska Appeals Court ruled that Remmen didn’t violate state environmental laws but had broken a local nuisance ordinance.
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