The Lost City Citizens Group and Keep Moore County Beautiful have an offer they hope no one will refuse.

They are offering to clean up property in Lost City. All they need is for property owners to sign a piece of paper giving them permission to do it, said Linda Hubbard, executive director of Keep Moore County Beautiful. Project organizers are purchasing their own insurance for the cleanup. There will be no cost to the property owner.

“It’s a win-win situation,” Hubbard told The Pilot. “There is no liability to them. We’ll do the work.”

Using names and addresses from county tax records, certified letters are being mailed to everyone who owns a lot in Lost City, an unincorporated area in West Southern Pines. The mailing will contain a note from Joyce Jackson, chairwoman of the Lost City Citizens Group that explains the nature of the project.

Lost City is small neighborhood along Eastman Road. It is completely surrounded by the town of Southern Pines. It has been a dumping ground for years.

Because it is not within the town limits of Southern Pines, the town can do little to deter dumping and other illegal activities in the area. The county Sheriff’s Department patrols the area.

A feature in The Pilot last year quoted one resident complaining about people from outside Lost City using the neighborhood for drug activity.

There have been some improvements since a meeting was held in Lost City last February. Southern Pines, which zones the area, has ordered some property owners to clean up their land. There has been a decrease in the amount of dumping.

Many of the property owners who will receive the certified letter containing the offer to clean up their property have inherited the property. Many live out of state. Several told The Pilot last year that they had not decided whether to request the town to annex their property.

Jackson said she thinks some people who own land in Lost City may have forgotten about it. “Some of the owners probably don’t even realize they own property there,” she said.

The Lost City Citizens Group is including a sheet for property owners to sign giving permission for volunteers to go onto their land and clean it up. Anyone who owns more than one lot in Lost City will receive an individual mailing for each lot. Lot owners must sign a permission sheet for individual lot.

On Thursday, Jackson, Hubbard, the Rev. Roy McKoy, Barbara Robinson and County Commissioner Bob Ewing stuffed letters into envelopes. Property owners will also receive a return envelope with a stamp and the return address on it, to make it more convenient for people to mail it back.

McKoy’s church, The Pentecostal Assembly of Jesus Christ, owns unannexed property in Lost City. McKoy found three letters addressed to the church. He plucked them out.

“Save a little bit at the post office,” he said.

A trash dumpster will be put in Lost City for the cleanup and the Moore County Landfill is waiving tipping fees for trash collected during the project.

Hubbard and Jackson hope to do the cleanup sometime in late February or early March.

“We’re trying to get permission back by Feb. 15,” Hubbard said. “At that time, we will set an actual date for the project. Between then, we are going to be recruiting volunteers.”

They have already started raising money for the cleanup.

“I did get a check yesterday from the Kiwanis Club of the Pines,” Hubbard said. “They gave us $100.”

Added Jackson, “That will sure help at the post office.”

The group hopes to raise another $500 before the date of the start of the cleanup to cover the cost of a liability insurance policy.

Hubbard also assured the Lost City Citizens Group that she will stay with the project until it is finished even though she will be changing jobs next month. She has been hired as the volunteer coordinator for the Moore County Schools. She starts Feb. 14.

“Bob (Ewing) knows that I‘ve got a yoke around my neck,” she joked with Lost City project volunteers.

The Lost City group started after a meeting at the Pentecostal Assembly of Jesus Christ in June.

Hubbard told The Pilot that she hopes the project will make a lasting difference in Lost City.