Business owners sounded off on Martinsville’s ongoing efforts to overhaul trash collection in the city’s Uptown District.
Officials, business owners and residents discussed trash collection during a Tuesday evening community meeting. The meeting was a continuation of discussions Martinsville City Council members had during their Jan. 28 regular session about the need to rethink how Uptown handles trash collection.
At that council meeting, city staff said that Martinsville’s trash-related ordinances have not been updated since 1982. Staff wants to update trash collection ordinances to allow for more effective enforcement and increase efficiency.
Public Works Director Greg Maggard spoke with community meeting participants about how the city currently handles trash collection in the Uptown District. Every weekday, city staff collect trash curbside, which Maggard and others said isn’t ideal.
“When I first came here for my interview … I drove in the Uptown and there were trash bags strewn all over the Uptown, and it looked bad,” Maggard said. “I think we can all agree that it looks bad.”
One of the suggested changes is to provide Uptown businesses and residents with eight dumpsters, located in strategic areas so no one would have to travel more than a few hundred feet to get rid of their trash. The location of the dumpsters hasn’t been determined, Maggard said, but they would either be on city-owned property or on property that the city is leasing.
Staff believes this plan would reduce the amount of sidewalk trash, which officials said had more than just aesthetic implications.
“We have a liability concern about the trash on our sidewalks,” council member Aaron Rawls said. “If we are blocking means of egress, then we are not ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant.”
Other concerns included curbside trash contributing to Martinsville’s rodent population.
“We’ve had issues where we’ve had people that have trash cans that are destroyed and animals are getting into them,” Maggard said.
Community meeting attendees had mixed reactions to the suggestion. Several said the problem could be solved if curbside trash was picked up more efficiently.
Some suggested that the dumpsters would allow the city to reduce the number of days trash is collected, and others felt it was an either/or proposition. Maggard described a scenario more like the former.
“We have three individuals and a truck that picks up five days a week,” Maggard said. “Moving to this would be one individual with one truck, it could be once a week. … It depends on the trash load.”
Other attendees asked if the dumpster suggestion was futureproof, pointing to the increased Uptown population once the former BB&T building is converted into housing.
“I think we’d have to be prepared for that,” Maggard said. The housing development will likely have its own dumpster, he said.
Planning commission member Joe Martin was among those who expressed concern about enacting a change throughout the entirety of the Uptown District, alluding to last year’s effort to switch stop lights for stop signs throughout the Uptown area.
“Let’s just do a big sweeping change. That went over well, didn’t it?” Martin said.
Maggard said he is not committed to a single strategy.
“I’m here to do what’s best for you guys,” he said. “If that is some sort of hybrid whatever type of a thing, I’m good with that. I don’t really care one way or another as long as it works.”
Although a quorum of council members were present, no action was taken. Officials said they will take into account the concerns mentioned as they move forward.
“I feel like everyone in this room really cares,” Martinsville Hotel co-owner James Hicks said. “I feel like there are a lot of smart people in this room, and I’m impressed with how many people showed up for this meeting. I think everyone needs to get their heads together. Nobody in here is an enemy, there are no sides. Everybody lives here. Let’s get together and come together with a compromise.”
