Garbage that’s overflowing from dumpsters at Valley Royal Court in New Kensington will be removed, according to the city and the hauler for the property.
On Monday, garbage filled and was piled around the apartment complex’s three dumpsters. Two are near Mt. Calvary Baptist Church on Fourth Avenue, with one of those on the other side of a fence from the city’s JFK Playground on Fourth Avenue.
Nathan Book, general manager for Shank Waste Service, confirmed city Clerk Dennis Scarpiniti’s statement that the Lower Burrell company is not emptying the dumpsters because they have not been paid by the property owner.
The local property manager, Shavontay Glover, also said the garbage has accumulated because Shank had not been paid. She could not say when it was last picked up.
Prompted by the city’s code enforcement office, the garbage is now expected to be picked up the day after a payment from the property manager, Boston-based WinnCompanies, to Shank clears, Scarpiniti said.
A representative of WinnCompanies did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Book could not say what day the garbage would be picked up.
He was not able to say how long it had been since Shank was last paid to collect the garbage at Valley Royal Court, or for how long the existing piles have been accumulating.
Valley Royal Court is located not far from city hall, consisting of five buildings between 11th Street and Hileman Drive and between Fourth and Fifth avenues. Its garbage is not collected by the city’s contractor, County Hauling.
The three dumpsters available to residents are enough, if they are emptied, Scarpiniti said.
“Thank God it’s cold out,” he said. “It would smell like New York City.”
The city has cited the property’s owner over the garbage, Scarpiniti said. He said the garbage has been piling up and out of the dumpsters over three to four weeks.
Citations also have been issued for abandoned vehicles in the complex’s parking lots, Scarpiniti said.
If the property owner did not get the garbage removed, the city eventually would have to pay to have it done, Scarpiniti said. In that situation, the city would file a lien against the property to recover the cost.
Because Valley Royal Court is subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, New Kensington has also been working with the agency to see what could be done, Scarpiniti said. The city was told a complaint would need to come from a tenant, he said.