At the curve where Pine Avenue turns into Walnut Street, the city keeps a sign posted that reads, “No Dumping.”
The tires, rugs, old mattresses and other garbage often lying around the sign render its message summarily ignored.
“That’s kind of right where they dump,” Building Department Director Nathan Katona told the city council during a Wednesday work session at City Hall.
“We’ll come out, public works will clean the (illegal dumpsite) up,” Katona later told The Dispatch. “Two weeks later, we’ll have another one.”
During its regular meeting Tuesday, the city council will consider temporarily blocking access to Pine Avenue and Walnut, starting just west of the only home on Pine and wrapping all the way to where Walnut intersects with Jimbo Drive. No other structures sit along that route, save for a Columbus Light and Water substation, which Katona said the utility could still access at its discretion.
That would allow public works to clean up the dumpsite one more time and hopefully keep it that way.
If the closure is approved, owners of private land in that area would have to contact the city to let them pass the barriers.
“If anyone does come to town and they want access to their undeveloped woods, there will be a number they can call and we’ll come meet them,” Katona said.
Further, Katona said “temporary” is “undefined.” However, both he and Mayor Stephen Jones said if any of the affected property – located west of Highway 45 and south of Waverly Ferry Road – was ever developed, the road would reopen.
“It’s not just over there, but this is a road that not a lot of people really use,” Jones said. “There are homes on that (section of the) road. So we’re just trying to make sure we’re not giving them access to that road because we’re constantly having to go over there and clean it up.
“Most people use it as a shortcut if they use it anyway,” he added. “So it just makes sense to close it until we know when it is needed.”
Katona said the area is one of several illegal dumpsites across the city, but it’s one of the most secluded, making incidents much harder to catch.
“They can even come off Walnut Street, dump and then go, and no one would see them,” he said.
Illegal dumping in the city carries a fine and even the possibility of jail time for multiple offenses.
But catching illegal dumpers requires a photo of the license plate or some kind of identifying information in the rubbish, such as a receipt.
“I personally went through trying to find some identifying address,” Katona said. “We do that with every trash pile. Because then we can go after them.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
