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Jun 11, 2023

Tazewell County seeks public input on proposed garbage ordinance

TAZEWELL, Va. — Tazewell County officials say they are concerned about the growing accumulation of trash and litter across the county. It has become such a problem that the county has now proposed an

TAZEWELL, Va. — Tazewell County officials say they are concerned about the growing accumulation of trash and litter across the county.

It has become such a problem that the county has now proposed an ordinance to deal with the issue. The proposed ordinance, if adopted by the county Board of Supervisors, would impose liens and civil penalties against citizens who allow trash and garbage to accumulate over a period of time on their properties.

The board has set a public hearing on the proposed ordinance for Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 7:10 p.m. at the Tazewell County Administration Building, which is located at 197 Main Street, Tazewell, according to a legal advertisement in Wednesday’s edition of the Daily Telegraph.

The proposed ordinance permits the board to deem unlawful the storage or accumulation of trash, garbage, refuse, litter, clutter or other substances that may endanger the health or safety of other residents of the county. It includes an exemption for land used in active farming operations.

Part of the problem is people who are allowing trash to pile up in their yards — for whatever reason — before hauling off the garbage to community convenience stations, Charlie Stacy, the board’s Eastern District representative, said.

Some people will sometimes wait several weeks, or even a month, before hauling off the trash.

“We’ve been getting a lot of these complaints lately,” Stacy said. “We go by and look at it, and half of them have gotten to the point where it draws raccoons or bears. Some of this is probably dovetailing with the bear problem we have. You would think nobody wants their property junked up like that. But the calls keep coming in.”

The county doesn’t have zoning, which makes it more difficult to address such problems, according to Stacy.

In recent months, Stacy said the county also has seen an increase in trash being dumped along the U.S. Route 19-460 corridor.

“For whatever reason, and we aren’t really for sure what it is, but the trash problem has just gotten horrible all up and down 460,” Stacy said. “Somewhere down in our tourism world we got some commentary that people were actually surprised with the amount of litter and trash that people saw when they were visiting Tazewell County.”

One problem that could be contributing to trash along the U.S. Route 19-460 corridor is trucks and vehicles that are hauling trash to the landfill, but don’t have the trash properly secured or covered in their vehicle. As a result, some of the trash may be blowing or falling off of those trucks.

Stacy said citizens are encouraged to make use of the free convenience stations and transfer stations located across Tazewell County. In the Eastern and Northern Districts (which is the Bluefield, Va. and Pocahontas areas) free convenience stations are located in the Falls Mills and Boissevain communities.

“We have transfer stations, and what we call convenience stations, located all throughout the county,” Stacy said. “Almost all communities have access to convenience or transfer stations. The convenience station is intended for the public’s use.”

— Contact Charles Owens at [email protected]

— Contact Charles Owens at [email protected]. Follow him @BDTOwens

10 a.m., at the Calvin Presbyterian Church in Norfolk, Va. Burial will follow at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk, Va.

11 a.m., at St. Peter Catholic Church in Welch. Entombment will follow at Woodlawn Memorial Park Mausoleum in Bluewell.

1 p.m., at the Memorial Funeral Directory Chapel in Princeton. Burial will follow at Roselawn Cemetery in Princeton.

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