|
- City may close green waste site if people continue to misuse it
|
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Don't abuse it or you will lose it!
Nephi City Council members have that bit of advice for members of the city who are abusing the green waste site west of Central Valley Medical Center. They ask that residents leave only their grass clippings, and not other garbage in plastic bags and cardboard boxes.
Council members indicated that they were united and would close the green waste site. Closure would remove the privilege of having a green waste site so close to the city and would prevent further dumping.
"We have received numerous complaints from residents and those using the road and the site," said Jones. "The complaints are justified."
"Now it is close to city limits where residents can take just a small trip to get to the place," he said.
Jones showed council members several photos of the site which showed the misuse of the facility.
The site was instituted, he said, for the recycling of grass clippings and leaves. There were to be no branches, construction wood, or household garbage.
At the green waste site, there is a large sign painted that tells people just what they are allowed to leave.
"There should be no garbage of any kind left there and no limbs from trees," said Jones. "This is a right we have given our residents that is being threatened."
Wade Gee, council member, said that there were all sorts of stuff left in plastic shopping bags, plastic garbage bags and boxes.
"A lot of people use the site to leave their grass clippings but some folks abuse it," said Kent Park, council member.
Don Ball, resident, asked if the site could be relocated to the county landfill.
Jones said, that was too far outside the city and, in any case, special arrangements would have to be made with the county. There is already one section of the landfill that is set aside for lawn clippings and green waste.
"Would it be appropriate to have the city police expand their jurisdiction to include the green waste site?" asked Ball.
One widow she knew had expressed appreciation for the site, said Lisa Brough, council member. For that reason, because there were those who were careful to use the site properly, she hated to make a decision to close the site.
However, perhaps the site needed to be closed to prevent further misuse and complaints from those who were located near the area.
Whenever the council discussed the topic of closing the green waste site, people would be better for a short while but then things would get out of hand again.
"If people cannot conform with the purpose and use of the site as designated, then we will have to close it," said Jones. "If we close it because of the misuse of a few, then it will have an impact on the many."
Justin Seely, council member, asked if the city could install surveillance cameras at the site. That would target the people who were misusing the facility but would leave it open for those who liked having it available.
Perhaps police could then have a record of who the violators were. There could be a fine attached to misuse of the site.
One other thing that could happen that would help, said Jones, was to have people take down a license plate for someone seen violating the ordinance.
The person making a violation could be issued a citation and be required to pay a fine.
"The fine would be determined by the judge but could be up to $750," said McKnight.
Perhaps, said Blair Painter, city recorder, the city could install a high fence around the green waste site, have certain hours of operation, a gate to close the facility at night, and could have the site monitored by surveillance and by city police.
"A fee could be set for use," said Painter.
Ball said he still thought that relocating the facility to the landfill would be one way to handle the problem.
"The same people who do this at this site would do the same thing anywhere," said Gee.
When the site was first opened, it was thought that the city parks crews could use the decayed matter which would decompose as it laid there as mulch but that did not prove workable. As the clippings lay in the open, they begin to make an organic liquid.
"Most people, when they buy mulch, expect it to have some nutritional value," said McKnight. "We are doing some experiments to see if there is something that can be done to make it more useful. To date, that experiment had not been successful but the parks department was still trying to come up with a solution.
Jones said one individual had come to the site to drop off some grass clippings and had ended up cleaning out his truck. When that was done, he opened the doors and cleaned out the interior of his truck which included all sorts of garbage.
"Violations are serious and should not be taken lightly," said Jones. "The violations need to come to an end or our only recourse and the only solution will be to close the facility."
|
