TOWN 'N' COUNTRY, Fla. — When it comes to one old landfill in Town 'N' Country, neighbors are saying "yes in my backyard." They want it to stay over a proposal to turn the former landfill site into 50 new homes.
With signs and sheer strength in numbers, dozens of people from the Twelve Oaks subdivision came in full force Tuesday night to the Hillsborough County zoning master hearing to oppose the plan. Neighbor concerns include environmental hazards from disturbing the waste during construction.
“We're very concerned about what's going up in the air while the reclamation is going on,” Nancy Hendrix said. She also cited the poor condition of area roads and the potential for added vehicle congestion.
But the developers came to the meeting last night with a compromise: if you don't want us to build on top of a landfill fine, we'll pay to dig all ten acres of it up and remove the waste.
“I am somewhat pleased that in the requirement it has to be dug out,” Susan Pritchard, the president of the Twelve Oaks Civic Association, said. “But the problem is they're not going to dig it all out, they're just going to dig it out to the property line.”
At the meeting, the consultant for the Palm Beach developer reiterated that county environmental services signed off on the new plan.
"Do they want to continue living next to a landfill or do they want it removed?” Todd Pressman, the consultant, asked. “You have to decide one or the other."
“Honestly, I’d rather have it there,” Pritchard said. “It's been 35 years, they do testing every six months. It's stable. It's safe as it currently is.”
The Hillsborough County zoning master officer will make a recommendation to the county commission, which will take up the request at a meeting later this spring. If the zoning request is approved and the homes are built, the county will require the developer to submit environmental reports and get a special sign-off from the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission.