Bellevue has been notified by Ross Township that it must clean up a lot adjacent to Memorial Park.

Public works supervisor Tony Barbarino told members of Bellevue Council at their June 24 pre-council meeting that the borough stockpiles bricks in the lot, and the fire department uses it for rescue training that involves dismantling vehicles.

The lot and park are located in Ross Township.

A row of trees along the border of the lot is infested with poison ivy, Barbarino said, and homeowners on McIlrath Drive in Ross Township have been dumping grass clippings and other debris.

McIlrath resident Jason Zombek attended Wednesday’s meeting to ask that the lot be cleaned.

Zombek said that children from the neighborhood often play in the lot and have been having problems with the poison ivy. He said that the Mt. Nazareth preschool takes groups of children across the lot to the Memorial Park swimming pool.

It’s not clean and it’s not safe,” he told council.

Barbarino said that in order to get rid of the poison ivy, the row of trees would have to be cut down.

Zombek also asked that Bellevue allow Ross residents to park in the lot, as has been done in the past, citing a shortage of parking on McIlrath.

Barbarino said that he believed Bellevue had closed the lot to residential parking for liability reasons.

Director of administrative services Connie Flasher said that she has been discussing the matter with Ross Township’s code enforcement officer to determine exactly what must be done. At this point, she said, Ross is considering the stockpiled materials to be debris that must be cleared out, a determination Bellevue disputes.

What Bellevue has done, she said, is send a letter to homeowners telling them to stop dumping clippings and other materials over the barriers into Bellevue’s lot.