YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A new eyesore has popped up along Youngstown’s Wick Avenue. It’s an illegal junkyard full of 130 vehicles that has people in the neighborhood upset because there’s a concerted effort in place to clean up this stretch of road. It’s where a new central fire station and police department are being planned. And now, this.

On Friday on a locked gate, leading into a junkyard along Wick Avenue, a legal notice was posted stating that use of the property as a junkyard violated the zoning code and ordering all the vehicles to be removed within 30 days.

“This is a blatant disregard for the laws we have in our city,” said councilwoman Samantha Turner.

The lot is part of Turner’s 3rd Ward. She’s leading the effort to have the vehicles removed.

“So the towing company needs to be held to task and get these cars out of here because it is damaging our neighborhood and it’s slowing down the progress for Youngstown to move forward,” Turner said.

The lot where the vehicles are being stored is right around the corner from the Golden Dawn restaurant, which just reopened about a year ago. We asked owner Johnny Naples if he was unhappy with how the lot is being used and he said absolutely, and so are the customers.

“I believe this problem will be rectified relatively soon,” said Mike Durkin, Youngstown’s code enforcement superintendent.

Durkin says it’s Schultz Towing, located across from the lot, that’s putting the vehicles there. Most were red-tagged, meaning they were ordered to be removed from elsewhere in Youngstown.

“They have an overload of cars right now. There’s a lot of towing going on in the city and we’re cleaning up a lot of properties. They are storing a lot of cars but they just have to find the property. They can’t just do it like that on a road that’s… It just has to be zoned for it, that’s all there is to it,” Durkin said.

“I understand their approach and I think it needs to be faster. I understand they get a 30-day notice and time to get those cars out, but it needs to happen quicker,” Turner said.

We stopped at Schultz Towing to find out if anyone there had plans of removing the vehicles. We were told there were only employees in the building at the time and were politely asked to leave.