Illegal trash pile sprouts at vacant South Vancouver apartment building

A vacant apartment building in South Vancouver has become a dumping ground for a slew of unwanted household items, including discarded furniture, clothes, kitchen utensils and even razor blades.

The pile of debris has accumulated on the yard at 7350 Fraser St. The apartment block is empty now and developers are waiting for the city to give the go-ahead to demolish the building. But first the site must be rezoned. The owners submitted an application more than a year ago.

Meanwhile the trash pile continues to grow. Residents say they're concerned the mess is unhealthy and unsafe.

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"It's very disturbing," said Susan Leong. "It's very stressful for the neighbourhood, especially my family here. When we look out the window all we see is a big dump.I'm sick and tired of dealing with it."

The trash heap has even attracted scavengers. NeighbourSukhgit Teja, says it's getting worse.

"When there is a pile of junk, people come and throw their own junk on it," Teja said.

At times, residents have caught people dumping their unwanted household items, sparking confrontations.

"People would just retaliate by swearing back," Leong said. "It gets confrontational. As a home owner, what do we do?"

The Fraser Streetapartment block isn't an isolated case. Across Vancouver, homes slated for demolition are used as dumping grounds. Earlier this month, another illegal dump sprouted just blocks away. City crews eventually cleaned what had spilled over onto public property.

Last year, the city visited 85 vacant properties that were used for illegal dumping. In the case of the Fraser Street property, the city has given the owner a deadline of Sept. 2 to clean the site. Otherwise, the city will do the work and bill the owner.

The neighbours on Fraser Streetjust want the dump gone.

"I want the city to come over and remove this immediately;all the filth around here," Teja said.