South Charlotte Residents Frustrated With Construction Site Litter

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Seven-year Charlottean Jayme-Jo Kinney says it looks like snow is accumulating on the sidewalk by Scaleybark Drive.

Unfortunately, the scene at the intersection of South Boulevard and Scaleybark Road in South Charlotte isn’t one from a winter wonderland. It’s more like a man-made menace.

“At first, we didn’t know what it was,” says Kinney, “And then we realized that it was styrofoam coming from the construction. So, we just try to stay away from it.”

Video from a nearby resident shows rasping styrofoam falling from a construction site in the 4000 block of South Boulevard. The substance is used to help shape and style building material in these future apartments, but fine particles left over have made their way onto streets, sidewalks, lawns, and even storm drains. That’s a big problem, according to Mecklenburg County Water Quality Manager Rusty Rozzelle.

“Of course it’s a litter concern,” says Rozzelle.

“It will accumulate in the storm drains and end up in surface waters, and that is not a good thing to do. We don’t want our creeks full of styrofoam.”

He says his team has received multiple complaints from residents and passersby – and has visited the site multiple times, including earlier on Friday, asking them to clean up their act. We did see workers blowing and vacuuming the styrofoam when we arrived.

Another thing workers did was install a barrier over a nearby storm drain, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much to keep the plastic from entering. There are also other storm drains just on Scaleybark Road that are still left unprotected.

“In this situation, we asked them to do that for a two-mile radius around the area where they’re currently working,” added Rozzelle.

And residents are getting fed up.

Leah Oleski has lived in Colonial Village, the neighborhood next door, for seven years. She says she’s notified authorities multiple times about the litter over the past year, but not much has improved.

“This is our neighborhood,” says Oleski.

“Stuff like this is what we have to live in, and when it’s little particles in the air, you’re breathing it in, and it’s getting everywhere, and it’s kind of gross. So, be better, I guess.”

WCCB Charlotte has reached out to two companies that have received building permits at the site – Elford, Inc., and Embrey Builders, LLC – but they did not respond in time for comment on this story. We will update this story if/when they respond.