Wooded area behind Trademart needs cleaned up, inspectors say

Owners of a Corbin shopping center and a nearby apartment complex have been asked by state and local authorities to clean up a wooded area littered with old tires, shopping carts, bikes and other trash.
New Port Richey, the management company that owns Trademart Shopping Center, was first issued a notice of violation by the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet’s Department of Solid Waste Management on Sept. 20 regarding garbage problems in a creek bed and wooded area that lies between the center and Oak Place Apartments. The notice asked that garbage, particularly tires and shopping carts from stores at Trademart, be removed.
“It was stuff that appeared to be generated from the shopping center,” said Liz Anderson, the Solid Waste Management inspector who issued the notice. “The did do some clean up down there, but the job is not over. We found a lot of other stuff too.”
Anderson said inspectors first became aware of the problem when a nearby property owner lodged a complaint. During a visit in Sept. then again this month, she said she found the garbage, along with some bottles and jugs that had clearly been used to make methamphetamine. She said she’s referred her suspicions to Corbin police.
Also discovered were seven badly battered newspaper vending machines, likely stolen from Trademart.
Anderson said she’s particularly concerned about carts and old tires in a creek that runs through the area.
“There’s a lot of matter in the creek that doesn’t need to be there,” she said. “I think they just didn’t want to pull some stuff out of the creek.”
While state authorities are asking Trademart owners to handle cleanup, local officials say the management company that owns nearby Oak Place Apartments is responsible. That’s because the two tracts of land where the garbage lies is owned by Oak Place.
Corbin Building Inspector Frank Burke, who also serves as the city’s Code Enforcement Officer, said he sent Oak Place Apartments management a notice of violation last week after he did an on-site inspection of the property.
“I think if someone went down there and spent a couple of hours, they would have it done,” Burke said. “This is something that’s happened over time. It didn’t happen overnight.”
Burke said much of the waste, papers, jugs, cartons, etc., is probably the result of trash blowing out of a dumpster near the woods. As for the two dozen used tires in the woods and creek, he said people often dump them in remote locations simply to avoid disposal fees.
“It seems common practice around here to roll them over a hill somewhere instead of pay the fee.”
Oak Place has 14 days after receiving the notice to clean the problem. Burke said if it’s not taken care of by then, he will issue a formal citation regarding the problem and the company could be fined from $100 to $500.
“I’m hoping they will clean it up. If they don’t, I have no choice.”
Anderson said state authorities would probably issue a second notice of violation before a citation is given. State citations also can involve civil penalties.