This resident is fed up with illegal dumping. Here's what Fayetteville is doing about it.

Fayetteville resident Michael Spellman gets embarrassed each time he invites someone to his home, because of what they see down Buhmann Drive near the Beaver Run subdivision where he lives.

He's lived in the area since 1996 before it was annexed into city limits.

Since 2016, Spellman has noticed trash and illegally dumped items on the side of the road being a persistent problem.

A vacant lot a little way down from the nearby Cliffdale Road Fire Station used to be a “major drop-off point,” Spellman said, pointing out the area Friday.

"I’ve seen tires, mattresses, washing machine, a dryer, a dishwasher, wooden spools — name it, I’ve seen it,” he said. “Before that lot was closed, there was someone’s home trash, where their mail was in there, kid’s toys, people drop off gardening stuff. I don’t get it.”

Continuous problem

Illegal dumping has been a trash talk topic for Fayetteville City Council members through the years, with the city picking up tons of trash each year and having a department dedicated to large item dumping.

Spellman said he reached out to multiple city departments about the dumping until he finally reached former Fayetteville Mayor Nat Robertson about 2016.

He credited Robertson for checking out the area, having it cleaned up within two weeks, and placing logs in front of the vacant lot’s driveway as a deterrent for people backing into the property to dispose of items illegally.

However, Spellman said, issues have persisted along Buhmann Drive’s ditches, which he believes are part of city easements that he said used to be maintained by city crews until 2021.

He continued contacting the mayor’s office when current Mayor Mitch Colvin was elected to his first term in 2017, to pass along photos of the trash.

Spellman said a mattress was dumped along the road between Dec. 30 and Jan. 1, but when he reported it to city officials, no one came out.

He said he doesn’t expect city employees to drop everything they’re doing to get out the same day he makes a complaint, but he said, he does not think waiting for weeks or months to do something is appropriate.

A second mattress was dumped in the area earlier this month, and a frustrated Spellman reached out to Colvin’s office through email.

Spellman said he didn’t mince his words.

“I got so hot when the second mattress got in there,” he said. “I went after the mayor.”

The mattresses were finally picked up last week, Spellman said, but a bag of trash hanging from a limb above one of the mattresses remained.

A large cardboard box has been near the road for nearly six months, he said.

City response

On Friday, city spokesman Loren Bymer said there have been five cases of bulky items being illegally dumped on Buhmann Drive since January 2021.

“However, we have become aware that some complaints have been forwarded to Parks and Recreation because it was in reference to litter, which RAPID (Removal and Prevention of Illegal Dumping) does not enforce,” Bymer said.

The RAPID department was established in February 2021 and has investigated 12,808 cases in the city, of which 693 were illegal dumping cases, he said.

RAPID is responsible for removing about 200-300 tons of illegally dumped items each year.

Spellman said he’d like to see the technology placed along Buhmann Road, along with other deterrents like more of a police presence and streetlights.

“The majority of dumping is happening during hours of darkness. Take away the darkness. Make them think twice about dumping ... go solar. I don’t care,” he said. “Buy a trail camera from Dick’s Sporting Goods and hang it on that tree ... Do something that doesn’t create a pattern but makes people second guess and think ‘The last time I went to go dump I saw a cop car drive by there', or 'Hey there’s lights there I’m not taking a risk that somebody’s going to drive by and see my plate.’”

Bymer said the RAPID does not have cameras with the capability to capture license plates but does have the ability to use cameras on sites that have had an extensive history of illegal dumping cases.

On Friday, Colvin said Fayetteville has looked into a T-Mobile program that’s helped cities like Oakland, California, use technology to read the license plates of suspected dumpers.

RAPID also uses large no-dumping signs illuminated with bright LED lights to deter violators and conducts weekly patrols of areas with frequent dumping, Bymer said.

Fayetteville saw 133 tons of litter in 2022. Here's what the city is doing about it.

As part of a shorter-term solution, Spellman said he’d like to see city officials respond to his concerns more quickly.

“There’s no excuse for it, but there’s less of an excuse as to why it takes, from the moment I send any email to the mayor, months for a response,” he said. “Eventually he does have it taken care of, but it’s after I’ve ranted.”

During the past year, the mayor said, the city cleaned up illegal dump sites and picked up more than 60 tons of trash throughout Fayetteville.

“It took a collaborative effort, and is a constant problem,” Colvin said. “This is something that is going to take a community effort.”

Residents are encouraged to contact the council member who represents their district or can report the issues to the city, he said.

Littering is a crime that carries a $500 civil penalty, and residents can call the Fayetteville Police Department for the city’s Removal and Prevention of Illegal Dumping department to investigate,  Bymer said.

Residents may also use the city’s FayFixIT application or call 910-433-1329, he said.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: What Fayetteville, NC is doing to address illegal dumping