Georgia Townhome Residents Face Health Hazard from Overflowing Garbage Due to HOA Neglect

Residents of a Georgia townhome community say they are being forced to live with overflowing, foul-smelling garbage after what they describe as more than a decade of neglect by their homeowners’ association, turning their neighborhood into an ongoing health hazard. Homeowners in the Reserve at Lake Ridge subdivision in Riverdale told Fox 5 Atlanta Thursday that a compactor system, which is meant to handle household trash for the townhome community, is broken, causing massive piles of garbage every month. “It's horrible, it's gagging me, it's making me sick to my stomach,” resident Patricia McCoy told the outlet. Fellow resident Cheryl Caldwell added, “It's all the trash and filth that's over there every month, and sometimes it's worse.” Some residents claim they were told a replacement compactor had been promised months ago, but the problem has only worsened. A neighborhood trash supervisor, who allegedly claims to have a family connection to the HOA president, has said that a new unit is in place, according to residents. Instead, the supervisor attributes the trash overflow to illegal dumping, including discarded furniture and other bulky items, which do not belong in the machine and added to the buildup. Residents, however, argue that the lack of proper waste management and transparency from the HOA has allowed the situation to spiral out of control. “We haven’t had an HOA meeting in over 12 years,” one unidentified female resident told the outlet. The trash supervisor’s immediate focus Thursday was to load loose trash bags into the compactor to start cleaning up the site, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. The news stations added that code enforcement officers had just left the property when their crews arrived at the site Thursday. Shortly after, HOA workers began cleanup efforts, which ended later that day. A later Fox 5 Atlanta broadcast showed the area appeared to be all clear. The Independent attempted to contact the HOA for comment by email.