BALTIMORE — A local church wants a city owned lot to be cleaned up and sealed off to prevent further illegal dumping.
The property sits at 1215 W. Saratoga Street across from Timothy Baptist Church.
"When I first noticed the mattress dumped in the middle of the property that's when I called 311," said Deacon James Bannister.
That was back in February.
Since then, the church has seen more items pile up.
"It's open at both ends," said Deacon Bannister. "I know it's not the people in the immediate area. It would take a large vehicle to come and dump those items."
WMAR-2 News checked the lot out. City records show it is owned by the city and is listed under The Vacants to Value Program.
Unfortunately, the property is attracting illegal dumpers rather than prospective investors. Our cameras found mattresses, insecticide, paint cans, garbage, furniture and more littering the property.
While our cameras were rolling an inspector with the city's housing department showed up. We were told the area is a hot spot for illegal dumping.
"Any type of complaints we get we inspect it and do our best to get it cleaned up," said the inspector.
While housing isn't responsible for cleaning up the mess the next step is to alert a DPW team.
"They'll come out and clean this up," said the inspector.
"Our hope is that not only does it stay clean but that the city does something about the property," said Deacon Bannister. "We just want this area to stay clean."
