Free couches, televisions, and bicycles. There’s only one problem: a Jacksonville homeowner says those items were collected over the years in an illegal dumping site.
For over a decade, Skip Carey and his wife have built a home on Jacksonville's northside off Faye and Davis roads. That's just two streets down from what Carey calls 'the dumping grounds.'
That homeowner is left asking the city and community for help with a mess that he says is only getting worse.
"As I look down through now and see everything, it’s getting worse.”
During that time, Carey’s seen all sorts of items pile up down the road from his home along Davis Road.
“I got somebody here who has trimmed their trees, whether it’s a yard service or lawn service, they decide this is the best place to dump it.”
From landscaping, to wood pallets, to notebooks, and roofing shingles.
“We’ve got building material dumped out here," Carey said. "Somebody’s notebook from school probably. We’ve had three lazy boys dumped in the last year."
Carey jokingly said they weren't any couches he'd add to his living room.
How and why the buildup is sitting there remains a mystery. It was so bad, the First Coast News car couldn’t even make it all the way down Davis Road.
“That’s all it is, it’s just a disgrace.”
A disgrace Carey wants the city of Jacksonville to clean up.
“They need to get it cleaned up and it’s sad because that’s our tax dollars are being wasted on either people's laziness or people’s 'just don’t care' attitude,” Carey said.
Carey added he’d like to see security cameras put up to catch people in the act, maybe altering cameras along the section of I-295 directly above the site.
“Do something so that when people pull in back here and start dumping they can read their license plate number and ticket them," Carey said. "This is illegal dumping, this is littering.”
“I don’t dump in their neighborhood, it’s not hard to do, nice neighborhood, we’d like to keep it that way," Carey added.
Other neighbors who did not want to go on camera did tell First Coast News they could also see people dumping here throughout the course of a week.
Carey said there used to be a barrier to stop people from getting back there, but that's clearly been removed.
According to state statute, if you're found guilty of dropping trash off at an illegal site, you could face up a $100 fine and community service. Depending on the weight you leave behind you could also be looking at a first-degree misdemeanor or a third-degree felony.
First Coast News has not heard back from the City about the dumping grounds and possible penalties that could enforce.