By Mike Finney

DOVER — The city may put some eyes in the skies to address a recent storm of public trash dumping in Lincoln Park, off Bertrand Drive.

Old couches, mattresses and other large pieces of discarded refuse are a common site in front of a black, wrought-iron fence at the end of the street, on a parcel owned by the Dover Housing Authority.

So, on March 26, the Safety Advisory and Transportation Committee unanimously recommended that the police department and the Code Enforcement Office collaborate to tackle the issue, with the use of cameras and stepped-up enforcement of dumping policies.

While the topic is on the consent agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting at City Hall at 6:30 p.m., it is not scheduled to be discussed unless a member makes a motion to do so.

The trash problem was first brought to light when council members and Mayor Robin Christiansen received a letter from a Lincoln Park resident March 16.

“We need it cleaned up permanently and someone held accountable for this trash or a surveillance program implemented,” stated the letter, whose writer’s name was blocked out. “No one should live in a neighborhood where people feel at liberty to dump their trash in the street.

“This is so disappointing and disheartening that we have to look out our windows and see trash. It’s unhealthy and disgusting. Please help us keep this street clean.”

Fourth District City Councilman Roy Sudler Jr. then brought the issue before the committee.

“Recently, at Lincoln Park in Simon Circle, where Bertrand (Drive) is, there’s a little cul-de-sac there where a couple of people have been just riding by and dumping trash for a while,” he said during the March 26 meeting.

Further, Eddie Kopp, Dover’s chief code enforcement officer, said trash dumping is a problem that’s becoming much more prevalent.

“One of the issues with this particular property (off Bertrand Drive) is it’s not always on property. It’s been dumped in the middle of the right of way,” he said. “If it is dumped in the middle of the right of way, (then) Public Works will go out there and pick it up.

“The biggest problem throughout the city — (and) not just this community — you put one piece of trash out there, and it just triggers everyone to come pile on that.”

Mr. Kopp also mentioned a similar recent situation in another community.

“We dealt with a similar situation in the Hamlet,” he said. “Somebody put a couch out there, and the next thing you know, there’s a whole (bunch of trash) sitting next to the couch, and (the property owner is) upset because he’s like, ‘Why am I being charged so much?’

“Well, he didn’t follow the process and schedule a pickup with Public Works for the couch, so everybody thinks it’s a free-for-all.”

Perhaps the most promising solution to the Bertrand Drive dumping came from 4th District Councilman David Anderson. And it is also the most cost-effective.

“(Delaware Division of Natural Resources and Environmental Control) has a program where they set up hidden cameras, so maybe we can catch some of these folks if we partner with DNREC,” he said. “They’ll provide those (cameras) for us without it being a burden on our taxpayers, so that may be an option.”

Agreeing was 3rd District Councilman Fred Neil.

“I think the only way that you’re actually going to control it is if you do identify — through camera — the person who’s doing it and go after them,” he said. “As soon as the publicity comes out that you’re doing that, that will act as a deterrent.”

Third District Councilwoman Tricia Arndt had a different idea.

“I wonder if there might be some benefit to putting some flyers out to the neighborhood as a public outreach,” she said. “Folks that are dumping are doing this consistently. Folks are seeing this. They know who is dumping this garbage.

“It might be of some benefit to let (residents) know that we’re not going to keep doing this. We’re taking a stand, and we’re going to find out who’s doing it, and we’re going to enforce penalties.”

City resident Anne Smith, who is also on the city’s Council of the Whole, said she likes that idea but also took it a bit further.

“I have a suggestion: maybe posting a sign that says ‘Reward’ for the person who can document (someone) leaving trash. And I’ll bet you that might be a deterrent because now, you don’t know who’s looking at you, and so if they can identify you, then that’s it,” she said.

Mr. Kopp said Code Enforcement has placed “No Dumping” signs in the area where the refuse is piling up, but they are ignored.

“(Residents) were going out for a while, like every couple of days, trying to pick it up, but they can’t keep up with it,” he said. “It’s just not achievable to keep up with.”

Mr. Kopp went on to say that another answer could be moving the fence along the road out closer to the property line, eliminating the spot where trash is being left.

Staff writer Mike Finney can be reached
at 302-741-8230 or mfinney@iniusa.org.
Follow @MikeFinneyDSN on X.