The owner of the Pine Haven Campground Community is issued a Notice of Violation for ongoing wastewater issues.
DNREC issued the violations Tuesday after a month-long investigation into reports of illegal wastewater discharge within Pine Haven near Lincoln in Sussex County.
The Notice of Violation faulted the Beach Bungalows DE, LLC and parent company Blue Water Development Corporation of Ocean City, MD for failure to possess appropriate on-site wastewater and disposal system permits required by Delaware regulations.
It also cited violations beginning December 9, 2022 for untreated wastewater surfacing above septic tanks and cesspool disposal areas within the campground community.
Bill Kinnick is the president of the Delaware Manufactured Home Owners Association.
"Even though we had residents call them because I kept telling the residents you got to call DNREC, you got to call DNREC. You have to make the complaints, but we don't know what they're doing. They're not telling anybody what they're doing," said Kinnick.
Kinnick says nearly two dozen manufactured home communities across the state face similar issues.
"They're supposed to be checking these communities on a not annual basis, but every like 3 to 5 years they're not checking it, they haven't been," said Kinnick.
DNREC has not responded to a request for a comment, but in a press release said in this case it directed the property owner to take corrective action including frequent pump-outs of onsite systems to alleviate surfacing and submitting a plan to address ongoing violations.
Kinnick notes DNREC is not communicating effectively about the situation, including not informing his association about any plans to penalize Pine Haven.
