Asphalt mound covering Lake Balboa neighborhood in dust, residents say

LAKE BALBOA, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Residents in Lake Balboa say a 35-foot mound of asphalt housed at storage facility has been covering their neighborhood in dust.

The asphalt towers over the area near the 8100 block of Balboa Place.

"It also isn't very pleasant to live in Lake Balboa and feel like you're in an industrial area," said resident Joan Kelly.

Kelly has lived in the neighborhood for years and says the mountain of asphalt is the new view outside her window.

The asphalt is being stored at a facility next to Van Nuys Airport along Balboa Boulevard, where the city of Los Angeles stores reclaimed asphalt. When a street is torn up, the crushed material ends up at the facility as rocks and dirt. Residents say on a windy, day it goes everywhere.

"You can't have the windows open overnight because anything you leave out has a film of dusty dirt on it in the morning," said Megan Riordan.

Residents say they were told by the city it simply has too much of this material, but it can't be disposed of at a loss, so it will be stored there.

"Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is being delivered and removed on an ongoing basis. We recycle it and we re-use it," the city told Eyewitness News in a statement on Monday.

Inspectors from the Air Quality Management District went out to measured air levels and found nothing harmful, but residents are worried about breathing in the dust.

"I am concerned about my health," Riordan said. "I can't imagine that that's healthy, there is no way it's healthy."

"We have been looking for and continue to seek alternative locations to store this material," the city said.

Kelly, however, doesn't believe it's going anywhere anytime soon.

"They told me that's their yard, that's what it's meant to contain, and there was really nothing else to do," she said.

AQMD officials said when they went to the site, they didn't find any blowing dust, and the pile was being watered down, which is an acceptable way to reduce dust.

Residents say they're going to keep on fighting.