CHARLOTTE — A south Charlotte park is fenced off, but it is what is below the surface that is the problem. Before Southside Park was used for swings and basketball, it was used for trash. From the 1920s to 1950s, it was an unlined landfill with mostly trash incinerator waste.
About a century later, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality tested the soil and discovered high levels of lead and cobalt. Now most of the park and its fields are closed while this is addressed.
The Charlotte Ledger first reported the park’s closure.
“I wouldn’t have known if you didn’t come by and say anything so that’s not good,” resident Alavanita Surles said.
Next to the park is Southside Homes. Surles says residents play at it all the time. She’s worried about what’s lurking underneath.
“That’s a good park and I hate for it to be closed down,” she said.
A spokesperson for the county says the park will be closed for the next 18 to 24 months while remediation efforts take place.
“In the summer, a lot of people cook out in the park, so that’s going to mess that up,” resident Jimmy Boone said.
The county has struck a deal with EE Waddell to use their fields to use their fields since Southside’s will be out of commission for a while.
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