A Cortlandt Manor resident says he has been contending with rusted-out tankers and backhoes, sometimes spewing heavy smoke, behind his home for years.

James Tina lives at 18 Stevens Ave. He says he has been battling with town officials to have his neighbor's industrial equipment removed from the property since 2008.

"I get the luxury of looking at the 18-wheel septic truck that's rusting out," he says.

When Tina first moved into his home 15 years ago, he asked the neighbor, Sheldon Gardner, to put up a fence, a request Tina says was refused. Tina then appealed to the town's Zoning Board, which in 2008 ruled that Gardner's property was no longer zoned for commercial use. It ordered that all rusted trucks and equipment be removed, and that a temporary fence be erected.

Since then, the only fence present is the one that Tina put up himself. News 12 stopped by Gardner's home to inquire about the equipment, but no one was home.

In an email, Cortlandt Town Supervisor Linda Puglisi acknowledge a delay in the cleanup, calling it a long process that has involved two unsuccessful attempts to get Gardner to remove the equipment.

The town says it is asking the state Supreme Court to expedite a hearing on the case.