Published: September 07, 2008 04:23 pm         

Lawmaker's sale raises questions

SANDS SPRINGS — Former neighbors of a state lawmaker who spoke out against plans to expand a local landfill until he sold his house to the landfill company say they may have been duped by both the lawmaker and the company.

In 2006, Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, led the neighborhood charge against an effort to double the size of the landfill, located less than a mile downwind from the west Sand Springs subdivision where the state lawmaker lived.

But then, American Environmental Landfill Inc. bought Duncan's house, doubling the price the lawmaker had paid for the property 13 years earlier. Duncan received $270,000 for the house that had cost him $135,000. Duncan's was the only house purchased by the landfill in the subdivision.

After Duncan moved out, he built a $500,000 home in an upscale, rural Sand Springs neighborhood about seven miles northeast of the landfill.

Meanwhile, the landfill mound unaffectionately referred to as "trash mountain" keeps growing, residents say, approaching a height equivalent to a seven-story building. People say odors have increased as well.

The lawmaker said he had not heard about any recent complaints concerning the landfill. But his name often comes up when neighbors run into each other.

Neighbor Bonita Hyatt said Duncan "was vehement at public meetings in his opposition to expansion of the landfill."

"The next thing I know he sold out to the company and moved on," she said. "I guess he decided if you can't beat them, join them, and we haven't seen him since."

Duncan's most vocal critic, Tom Hardgrave, said he thinks the lawmaker has betrayed the neighborhood where Hardgrave has built several houses. A licensed real estate agent who lived not far from Duncan, Hardgrave said he thinks Duncan was bought off.

Not so, said Duncan. The attorney for the landfill company also denies that the lawmaker was overpaid to blunt his opposition to the landfill expansion.

At a 2006 public hearing at Sand Springs, Duncan gave an emotional plea urging the landfill company to back down on its expansion plans. He noted that he and his wife did not want their young daughter growing up downwind from a landfill.

The Osage County Board of Adjustment met later to consider a zoning variance for the expansion, which was the last hurdle the company had to clear. Duncan, an attorney, stood up and denounced the company's plan.

But the commission unanimously approved the variance, saying it had no choice.

Afterward, Duncan said, company manager Todd Green came over to him and said words to the effect of: "Mr. Duncan, I understand that you are angry, but we want to be a good neighbor. If you are willing to sell, we are willing to buy your house."

Green asked Duncan how much he had paid for the house. Duncan replied $135,000. During that short conversation, a deal was made to buy Duncan's house for $270,000.

Green refused to discuss the conversation he'd had with Duncan and referred all questions to the company's attorney.

Attorney Doug Boyd of Tulsa said Green, "who can be impulsive," said something to the lawmaker like: "Well, if you think this is hurting the value of your home, we'll just pay you twice as much."

But it was not a quid pro quo situation, Boyd said. Duncan did not do any special favors for the company, and the company did not have to offer Duncan a thing.

Hardgrave estimated Duncan was paid anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 more than market value for his house, based on similar property sales in the area over the last two years.

     

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