COLORADO CITY — A family in Colorado City said illegal dumping near their home is out of control. Sandy Browning and Calvin Walley are worried the trash piling up is a health and safety issue.
The couple emailed News5 with pictures showing us the mess just 50 feet away from their bedroom window. They want to know what can be done to clean this up.
“People visit Colorado and they want to see the mountains, they turn off on (Highway) 165 here, we're the first place they see,” said Walley.
Their home sits on the corner lot along Highway 165. With its white paneling and green shutters, the house is Walley and Browning's forever home.
“So we try to... make it presentable,” said Walley.
Out in the front of the house, Browning typically plants peonies, but behind there house is a different story.
“It probably looks worse than the Pueblo landfill,” said Browning.
The area is known as the ‘Green Belt.’
“There's washing machines, and all the debris is pushed up against the fence,” said Browning. “Its anything and everything. It's clothing, bags of whatever, tree limbs, everything.”
She said they have been battling this mess for many years.
“After so many years of fighting this, it makes you think, 'Well, why should I care?' But this is my neighborhood,” said Browning.
They have compiled countless photos of trash.
“I call it a record of events,” said Walley.
He also has several videos from his surveillance system of people dumping items behind his home.
“I saw them dumping what appeared to be buckets of raw sewage out there in that Green Belt,” said Walley. “What else can it be going out that looks brown like that?”
The couple is concerned about their health and safety, as well as the risk of fire danger with the dried out trash in the ally.
“The trash has just got in our neighborhood. It started out with one or two and it just exploded and we've talked to the city officials, county officials, nobody will do anything,” said Walley.
The City Manager with the Colorado City Metropolitan District said the district is responsible for cleaning up the area. Jim Eccher said the Green Belt is the metro district's land, and his team has towed cars out from the area before.
As for trash, Eccher said they have not touched it yet. He said the piles of trash could be infested with rats or other dangerous factors, so, they are waiting to work with the health department to remove trash from the area.
“Somebody's got to do something. I mean, take some pride in the community,” said Browning.
Eccher said they are working with lawyers to see if they could fine the individuals who are dumping or leaving trash on the metro district's property.
Walley and Browning say they are staying hopeful the trash problem will get fixed.
“Get the neighborhood cleaned up so it is not a health hazard,” said Walley.
Eccher said the next step is getting a group of county officials together to see how they can resolve this issue.
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A family in Colorado City says illegal dumping near their home is becoming a safety issue
One official told News5 the trash piles could be infested with rats or other dangerous factors, so they are waiting to work with the health department to remove trash from the area.
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