East Vancouver cleanup begins at house used as illegal dump

Yellow-vested city workers began clearing out piles ofgarbage Thursday morning around a valuable empty lot in East Vancouver that was beingused as anillegal dump.

The empty house set for demolition attracted mysterious piles of refuse, to the horror of neighbours on the street.

"It's really bad bad smell," said Sukhbir Singh Gill, who has lived next to the house for the past 20 years. "And so many mouse!"

The plethora of junk has been piling up at the lot at East49thAvenueand DumfriesStreetfor the past few months.

Homes in the area are selling for $1.4 million and neighbours like Gill just want thegarbage-infested lotcleaned up.

"Who like this kind of garbage in front of your house? No one. Not even dogs," he said.

Gill has tried to confront people who come to dump their garbage under the cover of darkness, but they run away.

He's seen people leave their rubbish in the yard, back alley and even on the sidewalk.

It all began after the owners applied to have the propertydemolished and moved out, according to Gill.

The question is: who will clean it up?A City of Vancouversign on the door says the owner must remove garbage by Aug. 10.

But the owner said in a telephone interview with CBC News that he believes the city should do the cleanup.

Dumpers face $2,000 fine if they are caught.

Meanwhile, the stench around the property is overpowering, and it's not an isolated problem.

In 2014, city inspectors visited 85 addresses with similar complaints.