An Erie demolition contractor has been ordered to pay $50,000 for failing to clean up an illegal dump he created on vacant property he owns.

John M. Lipchik must also remove the waste from the 27-acre plot in Harborcreek Township within 30 days or risk being punished for contempt of court, Judge John A. Bozza said. Someone found in contempt of court may be fined or even jailed.

The ruling filed in Erie County Common Pleas Court marks the latest development in a long-running dispute between Lipchik and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP began investigating receiving a complaint about the site, spokeswoman Freda Tarbell said.

Lipchik's lawyer, Michael Agresti, said Lipchik has not been able to meet deadlines to clean up the site because Lipchik was not able to obtain the equipment to do it. Lipchik's own equipment was being repaired in Pittsburgh and was not available for the job, Agresti said.

Lipchik owns Lipchik Demolition, Demolition Specialists, John M. Lipchik Enterprises, and Continental Tire Recycling Corp., according to the court records.

The waste at the site is not hazardous but includes debris such as wood and bricks and metal that were generated by Lipchik's demolition projects.

The site is on vacant land Lipchik owns between Appleman Road and Four Mile Creek, according to court records.

The state first obtained an injunction against Lipchik in 1986, which barred him from dumping refuse on the plot.

In October 2005, the DEP said it discovered several hundred cubic feet of demolition and waste material at the site.

Lipchik was, in effect, operating a municipal waste facility without a permit, the DEP said.

In June, Lipchik signed a consent decree in which he pledged to clean up the site and pay a $25,000 civil penalty.

The matter appeared to be over. But then the DEP took Lipchik back to court in July and asked a judge to find Lipchik in contempt because he had not gotten rid of the waste at the site.

Judge Bozza held a hearing in September and gave Lipchik until Nov. 30 to get the site cleaned up.

When Lipchik failed to do so, the DEP went back to court. That generated Bozza's ruling, filed Thursday in Erie County Court.

Bozza said Lipchik must remove the waste and take it to a permitted disposal site. He must also restore any land disturbed during the cleanup.

Bozza gave Lipchik 30 days to pay the $50,000 penalty. He said he wanted to give Lipchik the "opportunity to devote all his resources to accomplishing the requirements of this order."