As of August 31, the flow of dump trucks heading up and down Catharpin Road in Gainesville will come to at least a temporary halt with more decisions to be made in court later this fall.

Dump trucks enter and exit Smith Farm, located about two-thirds of a mile down Artemus Road with another entrance off the north side of Catharpin Road.

The purpose of their entry on to the farm is a sticking point: the Smith family claims they are needed for bringing in top soil to level their fields for agricultural purposes, which is meets zoning standards.

According to the Smith Farm Website, the fifth-generation family farm produces grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, pastured, pork, hay hog branch cannery and home goods along with other services like manure removal, bush hogging and general hauling.

There are two issues at play regarding the trucks themselves.

One is centered on local residents' complaints that the trucks damage Catharpin Road and cause dangerous driving conditions that lead to traffic accidents.

Another is what the trucks are either hauling to or from the farm.

"That's the concern, that there's essentially an illegal landfill operation going there," said Gainesville District Supervisor John Stirrup (R).

He added that local residents fret "not only about the truck traffic and the unsafe condition it creates on Catharpin Road but the material being dumped on the farm as well as the number and volume of trucks."

The Smith farmers disagree with that. Farm owner Bradley Smith said on the phone Saturday that his lawyer could answer questions at a later date. The Smith farmers are set to face off against the county in court on the issue of whether there is an illegal dump there in November.

Leading the residential opposition against the farm is Mac Haddow, the Oak Valley homeowners association president.

His blog "Stop the Dump Trucks!" is directed toward the trucks entering and exiting Smith Farm.

"It happens every day where people are having to swerve their way around these dump trucks," said Haddow on Saturday.

One item posted on the blog is a June 27 letter from VDOT, which Stirrup verified, stating that "we have determined that the permits for the temporary construction entrances should be suspended effectively August 31, 2011. This will allow the Smith Farm time to complete their activities without continuing into the new school year."

The letter, signed by Transportation and Land Use Director for Prince William County Maria Sinner, also said that VDOT cannot limit the size and weight of the trucks on Catharpin Road. The department "can only impose such restrictions over bridges that are deficient," she wrote. "This is not the case on Catharpin Road."

In the short-term, that means the dump trucks can continue using the road. In the long-term, the work on the farm that requires trucks will need to be complete before September.

Stirrup backed up Haddow's main claim about damage to Catharpin Road itself along with the shoulders of the road, saying that there have been accidents that have involved the trucks.

"I have definitely noticed the volume of trucks," he said. "And there's been truck after truck after truck rolling in through Catharpin."

As for what illegal materials the trucks are unloading on the farm to create a landfill, "I'm not certain that determination has been found yet," said Stirrup. "I know that there's the discovery process that's ongoing in the litigation."

One Smith farmer said Saturday that the farmers have invited Stirrup out to the area on numerous occasions without any luck. Stirrup met with constituents last month as part of a town hall meeting at Heritage Hunt to discuss the issue.

Claims from residents run the gauntlet from a truck clipping a school bus to a car being forced off the road and into an accident. Another claim is that debris from the trucks caused a chipped windshield.

The claim easiest to verify is the damage to Catharpin Road as VDOT has already been out to fix at least two areas.

A section of freshly paved asphalt, directly in front of an entrance to Smith Farm from Catharpin Road, is roughly 30 feet long on the southbound side of the road. The shoulder in that area, as of Saturday, appeared to be severely worn, as is the area along the yellow dividing lines.

Another area is a stretch off of the northbound side of the road where a truck bottomed out between the road and the dirt to the side. That now has a sort of white netting over it.

"We paid for that," said Haddow, referring to taxpayers.