After hearing concerns from the Crown Hill community regarding the accumulation of donation items and things being dumped on their property, the Value Village store is making some changes to improvement the situation.

Members of the community have submitted a signed petition to the company asking for a fence and locking dumpster in the donations area of the store lot, where it had become an eyesore and the company agreed to putting in a fence.

Ballard resident Ernest C. Murphy Jr., representing the Mary Avenue Northwest Block Watch; Crown Hill Business Association; and Crown Hill Neighborhood Association contacted Savers, Inc./Value Village chief executive officer Ken Alterman on the issue and received a positive response.

"We are excited to be moving in the right direction," said Murphy.

"We pride ourselves on being a good corporate citizen and have been part of the Crown Hill neighborhood since 1993," Alterman wrote. "Working toward better solutions to meet the needs of the neighborhoods in which we do business is a priority for us.

"We will be installing a fence to block the most unsightly areas of our property. The fence will help obstruct the charity donation area. We will try to make the fence aesthetically pleasing and tall enough to effectively block the primary area where donations collect," said Alterman.

Value Village is looking into other solutions to curtail illegal dumping and rummaging with locking dumpsters and security cameras. Store management and team members will review cleaning and maintenance of the store and its perimeter.

"We pride ourselves in being good corporate citizens. It's absolutely important to be good neighbors," said Stephanie Watts, public relations manager for Savers, Inc./Value Village, based in Bellevue.

Savers, Inc./Value Village believes in working with business associations where their stores are located and are willing to address concerns to be better neighbors, said Watts.

Dean Wong may be reached at deanw@robinsonnews.com