VERMONTVILLE -- State Environmental Conservation officials have cited the Town of Franklin for illegal dumping on what has historically been a makeshift landfill.

"We have issued a notice of violation for illegal dumping for the town," said DEC spokesman David Winchell. "However, the investigation is still open."

Neighbors to the town-owned site, located off of Norman Ridge Road near the town highway garage, had lodged complaints with the town and State Department of Environmental Conservation, said Supervisor Mary Ellen Keith.

"There were many complaints from local residents. We don't condone dumping there."

Keith said the site was never a licensed landfill but has been a popular dumping ground for many years.

Deputy Supervisor Walt Kretser said he'd visited the site with neighbors and admitted some of the dumping had been from the town itself.

"There's certainly illegal dumping there, in my mind," he said. "It looks like some debris from the neighborhoods and the town, and I think it's been going on for a very long time."

Winchell said that because the investigation is ongoing it's unclear how the town will be sanctioned.

It will be an administrative decision at the Region 5 headquarters in Ray Brook, he said.