Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

Login Options

11:54 a.m. • 2-12-12

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Today: Clear.
    • Hi: 41° F
  • Mon: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 50° F
  • Tue: Rain.
    • Hi: 53° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Marketplace Links

Social Links

Main Menu

Raleigh Neighborhood Wants Builders to Clean Up Their Act


e-mail print friendly

No one likes litterbugs, especially in their neighborhood. Some east Raleigh residents say construction trash is collecting in streams and wetlands in their backyards, and that nothing is being done to clean it up.

Residents complain that the home construction site on one side of their property is polluting a federally protected wetland on the other.

"This is pretty gross," says resident Carlyn Buckler. "I certainly don't want my son drinking this water."

For eight months Buckler has complained about the trash she finds in the stream behind her home. It is not just the unsightliness that bothers the molecular biologist, it is how that trash might affect the environment.

"They're all treated with bleaches, chemicals, dyes and these things can leach out into the water and eventually into our drinking system," Buckler said. "That's what we're concerned about."

Buckler says she has had trouble finding out who to contact to get the problem taken care of. She approached people on the job site, called the city of Raleigh and the Army Corps of Engineers about the mess. However, nothing was done.

"It's a constant runaround," Buckler said. "Nobody wants to be accountable for anything that's going on here."

But Buckler never called the construction company. Tuesday, a crew from Perry Builders was at the site to clean up.

"There's trash in the creek that I just saw," says Ryan Perry with Perry Builders. "However, the wind and the storm that came over this past weekend moved the trash in. It's our general practice that we always come back and pick up all trash. We would never leave trash in creeks."

There are actually two construction companies that have generated the trash in this wetlands area. It is worth pointing out that Perry Builders says it has only been building homes in the east Raleigh neighborhood since January. Carlyn Buckler's complaints go back eight months.

  • Reporter: Len Besthoff
  • Photographer: Joe Frieda
  • Web Editor: Jason Darwin

RELATED TOPICS: East Raleigh, Raleigh

e-mail print friendly

0 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments 0 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

View Comments 0 COMMENTS
Report It

Multimedia

Click Here