By Mike Hazlip–
A pile of scattered furniture, toys, electronics and other personal items recently appeared in the Copperwood Shopping Plaza on Sunrise Boulevard, causing residents to complain about the blight on social media.
The pile is located just outside construction fencing where a former bank building was demolished earlier this year at the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Sungarden Drive.
Update: Junk pile quickly cleaned up at Citrus Heights shopping center
Citrus Heights Police Lt. Michael Wells told The Sentinel in an email Friday evening that code enforcement had already contacted the owner of the commercial property where the debris is located and is “hoping for cooperation from the property owner and quick resolution to the clean-up problem.”
He said responsibility for the cleanup is on the property owner and said code enforcement can place fines against the property and eventually author an abatement warrant to clean up the debris, if needed.
Related: Former Citrus Heights bank building demolished on Sunrise Blvd.
A phone message and email to the shopping center’s property manager on Friday afternoon were not returned by Saturday.
A homeless woman who was observed shuffling through the items on Thursday identified herself as Sunny Distortion and said she was looking for a swimming pool, but only found a plastic bin with a hole in it. Other items in the pile included an armchair with a missing cushion, children’s books, an old mattress and a broken tv.
Related: City Council Votes to Make Owner Pay for Demolition of Nuisance Property
The Sentinel was able to trace a name found on an empty prescription bottle in the pile back to an apartment complex on Sunrise Boulevard, a half-mile north of the pile. A phone call to the apartment complex went unanswered on Friday.
Wells said he did not have any information about who owned the belongings or a “potential nexus” to the nearby apartment complex, but said he would followup with code enforcement on Monday.
A new retail plaza with a drive-thru was approved by the Planning Commission in February for construction at the adjacent former bank building site.
*This article was first published in The Sentinel’s May 31st Weekend e-Edition. Click here to sign up, free.
Related: New retail plaza, drive-thru approved at former bank site on Sunrise Blvd
