A cleanup is gradually being conducted at a Franklin Township property more than a year after a cease-and-desist order was issued.

Donna Lou Ahner of 1313 Indian Hill Road, Lehighton, received the noncompliance order from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection after an inspection of her property on May 21, 2015, determined she was not complying with regulations concerning recycling and solid waste management.DEP sent investigators to the property after receiving two complaints, on May 7 and May 18, about solid waste being illegally transported to the site. They spoke with Ahner and Gerald Getz.Investigators found piles of trash dumped over an embankment and piled along an access road at the southwest edge of the property.The piles contained construction and demolition debris, old furniture, cardboard, household trash, scrap metal, waste tires, fill material, vegetative brush and yard waste.In picking through the trash, mail items were found from addresses in East Stroudsburg and Lehighton, along with a newspaper dated March 24, 2015. There were hundreds of old tires piled in several places on the property.Getz said the debris and trash was from the clean-out and demolition of trailers located on the property after the tenants had been evicted.His plan was to separate the trash and burn the appropriate items once the county's burn ban was lifted. He was advised not to burn anything and was to leave the piles the way they were until further notice.On June 9, 2015, DEP issued the noncompliance order, citing the unpermitted transportation, acceptance, transfer, disposal and/or burning of solid waste.Ahner was given 60 days to legally dispose of the solid waste and provide the department with receipts from a properly permitted processing/disposal facility.Contacted Wednesday, Colleen Connolly, community relations coordinator for the DEP's Northeast Regional Office, said, "Based on (DEP's) monitoring and inspections, it appears that they have complied with the order insofar it appears that they have ceased accepting waste," Connolly said. "They have not fully complied with cleaning up the site. They are slowly conducting the cleanup."Connolly said that on Oct. 11, DEP sampled the water supply at the site. No contaminants were detectedto suggest the solid waste activities have contaminated groundwater, she said.DEP's Northeast Regional Office in Wilkes-Barre assisted the Office of Attorney General during the execution of a search warrant at the site on Oct. 18, Connolly said.