In 1974, Jess Bewley built his dream home - a two-story Colonial on five acres in London Grove Township.
The 3,000-square-foot house has seven bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, two fireplaces and a two-car garage. The former London Grove supervisor and his wife, Evelyn, raised eight children in that home.
Today, the dream is headed for the dumps - literally. All the neighbors have sold out, the well water is contaminated, and Bewley says he and his family are ready to move on.
But not before he gets his price - $88,000 an acre, $440,000 for the whole kit and caboodle. Bewley said the price was more than fair considering what's destined for his ground.
"The appraiser said the highest and best use (for the land) is no longer residential," Bewley said. "It is landfill space."
Therefore, he said, the ground is worth more than $2 million an acre.
The Bewleys are now surrounded by land owned by the Southeastern Chester County Refuse Authority (SECCRA), owner of the landfill adjoining Bewley's property.
Last week, the authority's board set a deadline of March 1 for Bewley to accept or reject its latest offer for his land - $225,000, or $45,000 an acre.
"We've let our offer stand for two years," SECCRA chairman Kneale Dockstader said. "It's been offered long enough and sincerely, so there's no misunderstanding."
Dockstader said acquisition of the Bewley property was part of SECCRA's long-range plan to buy ground next to the landfill. According to court records, the authority paid about $80,000 an acre last year for two properties near the Bewley tract. But, Dockstader added, there is no money in the 1992 budget of $3.3 million for any further property purchases.
"If he wants to be our neighbor, we have no problem with him being there," SECCRA manager William Stullken said.
Bewley, on the other hand, has a few problems with SECCRA.
Two years ago, he said, SECCRA offered him $165,000 for his property, an amount he considered an "insult."
"Then they came back and offered us $200,000. In the meantime, they had bought the properties on both sides of us," Bewley said. In light of that, Bewley said, he had his property reappraised for its value as landfill space.
Stullken said SECCRA's appraisers had valued Bewley's land for residential use "as if the landfill were not there."
Bewley, however, looked at just how much the authority would make dumping on his land. At the current $51.50 a ton, Bewley figures the authority will collect $2.6 million in fees. And he said his estimate presumed that the landfill was 35 feet deep and 50 feet high, a height 50 feet less than allowed by its state operating permit.
And now, tests show that his well water is contaminated with dichlorodifluoromethane and trichlorofluoromethane - compounds more commonly known as CFCs.
At 24 parts per billion, the level of CFCs found in Bewley's well is far below the threshold where they would pose a threat to human health, according to Dawna Ioven, a toxicologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"They can be an eye and skin irritant," she said, "but in general they do not have a high order of toxicity for humans." If the level rises to between 1,200 and 1,800 parts per billion, then there is reason to worry, Ioven said.
Nonetheless, SECCRA is providing bottled water to the Bewley household.
Bewley, calling water situation "untenable," said he would move immediately if SECCRA met his price.
"I can understand they are performing a service for the community," Bewley said, "but I don't think I should roll over and play dead."
