NORTHAMPTON - The city this week won a court order to stop the operations of a waste hauler who owes the Department of Public Works about $35,000 in unpaid landfill fees and who has been operating without permits here for nearly a year.

In addition, city officials say BNB Waste Services of Northampton has been accumulating and storing waste and debris at two residential properties this year - operations they deem illegal transfer stations. The properties are 52 Glendale Road in Florence and 127 Williams St., the latter of which is the headquarters of the company.

BNB Waste Services is owned by Brian and Laura Maziarz, who have been doing business as waste haulers in Northampton for at least the past seven years. Attempts to reach the pair were unsuccessful this week. Those attempts included a phone message and visit to the Maziarzes' Williams Street home, where a Gazette reporter explained to a family member that a story about the situation was being prepared.

Brian Maziarz is a former landfill worker who was employed by a private company that previously managed the facility, according to the DPW.

Hampshire Superior Court Judge Mary-Lou Rup issued a preliminary injunction Monday against BNB Waste Services, ordering the company to clean up the properties where it has stored waste despite repeated attempts by the city's health department to stop the activity.

Ben Wood, the city's health director, said he went to the courts because the storage of trash, rubbish and debris on residential properties is a public nuisance and immediate threat to public health. In addition, he told the courts he was concerned that BNB may be accumulating and storing trash in places not yet known to his department.

Eric Lucentini, a lawyer representing the city, told the court: "It isn't clear, even if they remove the material from the sites, where it's going to."

'Serious concerns'

The court order also bans BNB Waste Services from operating as a waste hauler in Northampton until it has obtained the required commercial waste hauler permits from the DPW. The department issues about 450 waste hauler vehicle permits annually.

"Activity of this sort raises serious public health concerns, in addition to violating state law and related municipal ordinances," Wood, the health department director, said in a court affidavit. "My department does not have the time or the resources to engage in 'whack-a-mole' with BNB."

The city's health department issued two cease-and-desist orders to BNB Waste Services this year, and slapped the company with a $1,000 fine in September, although city officials say they have evidence the company continued to operate waste hauling services within city limits. The fine was not paid.

The state Department of Environmental Protection also has expressed concerns about the company's storage of trash and debris in Northampton, according to Wood.

"We don't know what type of material it is," Wood said in an interview this week. "They have never been forthcoming about it. At various times, there has been a lot of material at 52 Glendale Road."

A family member of Brian and Laura Maziarz resides at 52 Glendale Road, but the property is owned by Bryan J. Emond, who city officials say apparently spends much of his time in South Korea. A man who answered the phone at 52 Glendale Road and who declined to give his name described the matter as "ridiculous."

DPW Director Ned Huntley said BNB Waste Services was cut off from hauling waste to the regional landfill off Glendale Road in early February after it fell behind on invoices by about three months.

The company owes the DPW about $35,000 and more than $40,000 with interest and penalties. Huntley said the DPW declined to issue $75 waste hauling permits for the company's vehicles until it paid its outstanding bills.

"They certainly were given every opportunity to remedy the situation," said Karen Bouquillon, the DPW's solid waste management supervisor.

BNB Waste Services previously obtained waste hauling permits each year dating back to 2004, according to the DPW.

Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.