The former Greater Grace Community Temple Church in East Nashville has turned into a target for illegal garbage dumping.
The property is located at the corner of Dalebrook Lane and Eastland Avenue.
"It’s unsightly, but I think it does come with the growing pains," said Mary Lomax, a nearby neighbor.
On Monday afternoon, old furniture, mattresses, and scraps of building materials, dumped along the northern side of the building, were visible from the street.
It's a problem neighbors said continues to happen, even after the property's owner continues to clean up the mess.
"It’s people in general wanting somewhere to dump and they just find this is a good spot because no one is over here," said Maria Wallace, who lives across the street from the church. "I think they need to take the time to go to the dump and dump it in the right place."
The former church has sat empty for months. Property owners said a sale is under contract, but no one has moved into the building yet.
"It's an easy target, it's not monitored at all," Lomax said.
Some neighbors said they'd like to see the property more closely monitored, either by police or with surveillance cameras. But they'd also like for whoever is behind the illegal dumping to take responsibility for their actions and stop.
"We don’t complain a lot around here, we just want people to do the right thing," Wallace said.
