CHESTERFIELD COUNTY—
The site of a massive new sports complex planned for Chesterfield looks more like a dumping ground right now.
People have been dumping their garbage, even old furniture on Genito Place. The street is littered with tires, mattresses, tattered sofas, children's toys, even deer carcasses are scattered throughout the area. The dead end road is not far from Brandermill.
Not only that, the county landfull is just about a mile away. CBS 6 wanted to know who was responsible for maintaining the area and what developers of Sports Quest say about the mess.Jim Lehr, a manager of a nearby storage facility on Genito Place says it's been a huge problem for years. He says "Every day I see ten, twenty cars going down there. The police come out here sometimes to patrol and catch them, but I guess it's to no avail." Lehr says he believes drug dealers have even used the dead end road to conduct their criminal activity.
CBS 6 contacted Chesterfield officials and the Virginia Department of Transportation, which maintains the roads in Chesterfield. We asked VDOT Maintainence Supervisor Butch Sirry whose responsibility it is to clean up the road. After some research he found that VDOT is responsible. Sirry also says they were unaware of the dumping problem until CBS 6 called them. "We haven't gotten any complaints about this road. We usually get about fifty calls a day regarding various things, but we haven't heard about this" says Sirry.
Sirry and Lehr suspect the illegal dumpers just want to avoid the eight to fifteen dollar fee at the nearby landfill. A county dump that's less than a mile away from the Genito Place site.
Executives with SportsQuest who own the property surrounding the makeshift landfill tell us they are aware of the problem and say they've contacted Chesterfield County a few times. They were told police patrol the area trying to nab the culprits. The current dumping site is the same area executives say will be a gateway to the 250 acre multi-sport and family entertainment center. It'll be complete with an acquatics center, fitness center, arena, retail, restaurants, and more. A ceremonial groundbreaking for the project will be held in two weeks. Vice President of Business Development, Mark Wood tells us they plan to start construction at the site in January.
As for VDOT, officials tell us they are putting a clean up crew together to remove the debris in the next few days. Sirry says the cleanup could cost about one thousand dollars. "That's money that comes from you, me, the taxpayers. That's how we clean it up" says Sirry.
