Willow Run pond fills with trash again
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on May 4, 2004 1:58 PM
Several days of continuous rain has again filled a pond in a Goldsboro subdivision with piles of trash, and the City Council wants to find an answer to the problem.
Ava and Don Callahan live on Stephens Street in the Willow Run condominium development and say they've been plagued by the city's trash problem for the three years they've lived in the development.
The Callahans say their biggest problem is when it rains.
"Whenever it rains, the trash comes through that drain pipe," said Mrs. Callahan, pointing to a pipe at the edge of her property. "That pipe comes out of a ... ditch on Harris Street."
The pipe empties into a little stream that feeds a pond beside Willow Run.
City Councilmen Charles Williams and Bob Waller went over to the subdivision Monday to see the problem.
"I couldn't believe all of the debris," Williams said. "It was like someone had a dump truck and poured it in that pond. There were cups, paper plates and whiskey bottles."
There was also a dead dog, the second found in the pond after a heavy rain, Mrs. Callahan said.
Waller agreed that the residents at Willow Run had a problem and asked City Manager Richard Slozak if anything could be done to help them.
Slozak said that the problem had been going on for years, since the development was built.
"When the developer built it, the property is in the floodplain, and instead of building it up, he dug a pond," Slozak said. "Though the city advised him not to do that, it was before there were environmental regulations."
Building the pond eliminated the ditch to catch stuff from stormwater runoff, Slozak explained.
"We put in a grate at Best Street, which works fine, except when we have a real gully washer," Slozak said. "We can try and put in another grate."
Williams suggested enacting a $1,000 fine for people throwing trash in the ditch.
Slozak responded that though some comes from the ditch, much of the trash comes from the street where litter congregates around curbs or the drains.
"Well, they do have a problem," Waller said. "This is washing over the catch basin. Let's look at it to see if we can help in some way."