Neighborhood News

Council committee demands trash removal near Larch Park

Officials prepare ‘huge’ 20K cleanup bill for northside homeowner

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FRIDAY, May 6 — One northside Lansing landlord could soon owe the city $20,000 while the City Council charges forward with plans to clean up mountains of trash near Larch Park.

The Council Committee on Public Safety met yesterday afternoon to address some recent neighborhood concerns about an assortment of garbage and other debris that have slowly accumulated over several years between several homes along the southern edge of Larch Park.

Eastside Neighborhood Organization Secretary Ryan Kost first sounded alarms on Facebook last month: “This pile grew because folks knew they could dump it here. This is yet another example of the Northside not getting equal resources the city has,” he wrote on April 10. 

As of this morning, the mini-landfill near the park still includes mattresses, discarded furniture, bags of trash, broken glass, half of a boat, a ceramic toilet and large mounds of other garbage.

Organization President Nancy Mahlow also wrote to the City Council early last month: “This is an absolute shame that these families are exposed to this kind of mess and filth. Summer is fast approaching and it would be nice if they could have a nice place to enjoy themselves.”

Council Vice President and Committee Chairwoman Carol Wood triaged a team of city officials to help address the issue yesterday afternoon. 

Parks Director Brett Kashinske said he inspected the mess near the park and discovered that the miniature landfill is actually on private property adjacent to the park, not part of the park itself. As a result, the city is now pushing the owner to clean up the mess or face a $20,000 bill.

Property records show that most of the debris are actually located on privately owned land just south of Larch Park.
Property records show that most of the debris are actually located on privately owned land just south of Larch Park.

“There’s a ton of trash out there,” explained Lead Housing Inspector Scott Sanford. “There’s actually a bunch of trash and a half of a boat. There’s just all kinds of different stuff out there.”

According to Ingham County property records, the trash-filled parcel to the south of the park is owned by Eulanda Wilson and extends east to include the home at 1017 N. Larch St. Taxes on the property are being paid by Glass Management LLC. City Pulse left messages at multiple phone numbers listed for Wilson. A tenant answered the door at the home this morning but said she couldn’t immediately name or produce any additional contact information for her landlord.

So far, city officials said they also haven’t been able to make contact with the property owner. And if they don’t hear back from someone this week, Sanford will send crews to clean it all up.

“This is going to be huge,” he told the Council Committee.

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