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Neighbor News

Lidl litter ignored by the Glenmont grocer

Trash accumulating for weeks has neighbors up in arms and sparked a county investigation

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Beatrice Kronicm, Neighbor
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A row of litter 200 feet long lines the alley behind Lidl in Glenmont, Maryland
A row of litter 200 feet long lines the alley behind Lidl in Glenmont, Maryland (Beatrice Kronicm - The Patch)

The Lidl grocery store in Glenmont, Maryland has drawn the ire of community members, who say they are tired of seeing mounds of trash littering the property. Residents of the adjacent apartments on Greenery Lane report rodents and odors emanating from piles of garbage on the Lidl grounds.

The building located at 2201 Randolph Road is owned and occupied by Lidl. Planet Fitness gym leases half the property.

"It is terrible. They don't do anything about it and [the trash] blows over here and brings the mice," Greenery Lane resident Rosa Alvarez told The Patch.

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The Patch visited the property today and found conditions consistent with community complaints. The alley behind the building is lined with a row of bushes approximately 200 feet long, and garbage is strewn along the entire stretch. Greenery Lane apartments are just on the other side.

Residents of the apartments on Greenery Lane, seen in the background, say mice infest the Lidl property.

On the Planet Fitness side of the building, garbage litters the parking lot and a median adjacent to a large storm water retention pond. The pond is filled with garbage and about a half dozen Lidl shopping carts.

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Litter fills the parking lot and median strip next to Planet Fitness and adjacent to a storm water pond.

The storm water pond is polluted with trash from the Lidl property and about a half dozen partly submerged Lidl shopping carts.
The Montgonion, a local entertainment and news website, first reported on conditions around Lidl six weeks ago. Pictures taken at that time and reviewed by The Patch indicate no cleaning of the grounds has taken place since then, although an abandoned mattress and couch left in the alley for several weeks made their way into the Lidl dumpster after the Montgonion published a crude satire piece about them.
According to management at Planet Fitness, they have asked their Lidl landlord to maintain the grounds many times, but their requests are usually ignored. Planet Fitness customers often complain to gym staff, a manager said.

Lidl in-store management told The Patch they are not authorized to speak to the media and provided the Lidl media department email. Lidl did not respond to several emails from this reporter.

Last week in response to a citizen complaint about conditions on the Lidl property, officials from Montgomery County's Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said they would open a case and address the concerns, starting with an inspection.

With warmer weather around the corner, Glenmont residents say relief can't come soon enough. "I hope they do it soon. Many kids play outside," Alvarez said.

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