This illegal Port Royal dump site started after Matthew. It’s still growing

Bill Strader first watched as out-of-state tree contractors piled up limbs, wood chips and stumps after Hurricane Matthew.

The debris at the site remained almost a year before Irma added to the pile. Now the trash at the corner at Johnny Morrall Circle near Oyster Cove Road and Royal Oaks shopping center continues to grow with more yard waste and illegal dumping.

Someone tossed a colorful couch and white doors into the pile of branches and leaves Thursday. Old tires litter another corner of the site.

“Not only it looks bad, but it’s a little dangerous,” Strader said.

Port Royal police are investigating the illegal dumping. The town doesn’t have the resources to clear the large debris on the site and it’s on private property, town manager Van Willis said.

Beaufort County property records show the lot to be part of the shopping center property. The property’s manager said Friday he had talked to the county about cleanup after Matthew and would take action after ensuring the debris is on his property.

“If there’s debris, we’ll have it removed,” said Wilson Hinton, of Nalley Commercial Properties in Easley.

Strader and his wife walk the road regularly. The overrun lot was once well manicured, and children used it to wait for the bus, he said.

The debris is a hazard to drivers who can’t see around the corner for oncoming traffic while turning left and a general eyesore to everyone coming and going from Oyster Cove and nearby apartments, he said.

He thought the Matthew debris would have been picked up by the county contractor hired to scoop all the related storm trash. But while trees down along Johnny Morrall were removed, the debris pile stayed.

Contractors made three passes to get all the debris throughout the county, with instructions to pick up the variety of branches, trees and construction garbage left on the roadside.

Without being familiar with the site, deputy county administrator Josh Gruber said it is possible the debris pile was passed over because it wasn’t accessible by the arm of the trucks responsible for pickup.

The lot was never authorized as a designated dump site during Matthew and now Irma, Gruber said. He said he would alert the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office environmental crimes unit to the site.

The Matthew contractor’s last pass would have been sometime close to this past New Year. That’s about the time Strader got on the phone.

He rang state emergency officials. He called Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling. He chatted with Port Royal Mayor Sam Murray and the codes enforcement officer for Port Royal police.

Now he’ll wait for the growing mounds to disappear.

This story was originally published September 22, 2017 at 1:01 PM with the headline "This illegal Port Royal dump site started after Matthew. It’s still growing."