CINCINNATI — Cincinnati police will be able to tow and impound any vehicles used to illegally dump waste within the city after council passed a new ordinance.
According to WVXU, council members passed the ordinance, proposed by Mayor Aftab Pureval, on Wednesday.
According to the ordinance language, illegal dumping on private and public property cost Cincinnati around $2 million to clean up in 2021.
"Council finds that current penalties are not sufficiently deterring individuals from engaging in illegal dumping and that the additional penalty of impoundment of motor vehicles involved in illegal dumping is needed," reads a portion of the ordinance.
The ordinance says CPD officers can impound a vehicle if the officer has probable cause to believe the vehicle was used in an instance of illegal dumping. That impoundment will also come with a civil offense and fine of up to $3,000.
A presentation made by Keep Cincinnati Beautiful to the healthy neighborhoods committee on Tuesday highlighted areas that are frequently affected by illegal dumping.
So far this year, from January through the end of September, the neighborhoods most affected by illegal dumping are South Fairmount, Walnut Hills, Camp Washington and Avondale. Those neighborhoods saw 40 to 50 different dumping incidents within that time frame; some neighborhoods saw up to 70 incidents this year.
The group says it monitors, on average, around 30 different dump sites each month and hundreds of dumping incidents that have happened so far this year.
Between January and September of this year, Keep Cincinnati Beautiful said it captured 278 illegal dumping incidents on camera.
The city has taken steps to curb illegal dumping before; in 2022, council approved $300,000 in American Rescue Plan grants to target and clean nuisance dump sites. In those instances, dump sites were cleaned and new, secure vinyl-coated fences were installed around the properties.
The city also installed signs and a mobile surveillance camera program at those sites.
Residents in Linwood, the West End and Villages of Roll Hill have all spoken to WCPO about concerns surrounding illegal dumping in their neighborhoods within the last two years.
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