Shannon Nickinson
When you’ve been waiting as long as these Escambia County residents have been, it stings to be asked for more patience.
The people who live near the Rolling Hills and Longleaf construction and demolition debris facilities have waited years for their complaints to be heard.
So Monday, when they had an audience with people at the state and local level who could help, they all had some version or another of Wedgewood resident Judy Cook’s question.
“When are you closing the dump?” Cook asked. “I need something shorter than a six-month solution.”
State Rep. Mike Hill, who organized the meeting, told Cook “we have to follow the procedures in place or that will make it take even longer.”
As palpable as the frustration of Cook and her neighbors is, they have made more progress in the last several months than has come in the decade or more prior.
That was part of the message that state and county officials hoped to deliver at Monday’s meeting on the pits that have proliferated in the Wedgewood neighborhood over time.
Hill, R-Pensacola, said he wanted residents to hear an update on efforts to respond to their concerns. Officials from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, all five county commissioners, county staff, and Escambia Health Department Director John Lanza were on hand to answer questions about the pit situation.
Hill, who said he’s lived in Escambia County since 1990, admitted he had been only somewhat aware of the issues in Wedgewood until he took a tour this summer of the neighborhood, organized by County Commissioner Lumon May.
“Until that meeting,” Hill said. “(then) I became painfully aware of these issues…. the sounds, the smells, the rodents were readily apparent and not good.
“I understand the residents would like to see the landfills shut down and just go away…. long term, I think that would be all of our desire.”
In the meantime, Shawn Hamilton, Northwest District director of DEP, noted the department’s recent action on three facilities in the neighborhood.
— Rolling Hills C&D landfill: DEP issued a revocation order for Rolling Hills’ permit in July. That order cites a history of compliance and financial concerns at the facility at 6990 Rolling Hills Road, owned by South Palafox Properties LLC.
South Palafox Properties has appealed that order. D.R. Alexander, an administrative law judge from the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings, will oversee the hearing, which is set for Dec. 9-12 in the old Escambia County Courthouse.
— GFD Construction Inc.: DEP also filed an action in civil court on Oct. 24 to enforce a consent order that the facility on Longleaf Drive has been under since February 2013. A variation of that order was first on file in August of 2009. The facility has been known by several names over the years, including Green Fill Dirt, Inc.; Blossom Trail C&D Landfill; Green’s Pit; and GFD Sandpit LLC.
— Longleaf C&D: Waste Management owns the facility, which is under a groundwater remediation plan with the state. The owners have submitted a remediation action plan, though DEP has not approved it, Hamilton said.
“We are hopeful that the facility will choose to implement a groundwater contamination plan,” Hamilton said.
Owners had sought a county permit to reopen the facility, but that request was denied in August. It came as the county instituted a moratorium on permits for such facilities while officials looked at a wide-ranging revamping of the county’s rules regarding permitting, inspection and management of borrow pits, land clearing debris pits and construction and demolition debris pits.
County staff also revisited information about the results of air-quality testing done at the Wedgewood Community Center. That data confirms that residents are regularly being exposed to levels of hydrogen sulfide — which smells like rotten eggs and causes eye, nose, throat and respiratory irritation.
County Commissioners Wilson Robertson and Steven Barry both expressed concerns to Hill and Hamilton about the expense of potentially closing landfills. Both recalled the $7 million or so the county spent to close the Saufley Landfill, which was left abandoned by its owners and became a public health hazard.
Escambia County paid the tab to close, cap and monitor Saufley.
“How is $600,000 going to safely close these pits?” Robertson asked, citing the dollar figure of the bond on hand to cover closure costs at Rolling Hills, should that be required.
Hamilton could not comment specifically on that matter, he said, citing the pending lawsuit between DEP and Rolling Hills’ owners.
Even as Hamilton, Hill, May and others laid out the process behind what it takes to close such a facility, many of the people who have lived in Wedgewood bristled at the idea that relief could still be months — at least — away.
Particularly grating is the fact that, for example, while Rolling Hills is appealing the DEP’s permit revocation order, the facility is allowed to continue operating.
“At least something is being done,” Hill stressed. “It’s not being ignored. It’s being addressed.”
Nearly every speaker thanked Hill for hosting the meeting, but the frustration and anger in many voices bubbled over as they spoke.
Pensacola City Councilman Gerald Wingate said he grew up in the neighborhood and has many friends and family still there.
“The dump in Wedgewood is killing people,” Wingate said. “Shut down the dump, cap it and let’s get it over with.”
May, who is credited with shining a wider spotlight on the issues in Wedgewood, told the audience, “We didn’t get here overnight. It’s going to take some time to get over it.
“Because of you, we made more progress than we’ve made in 14, 15 years …. I’d love it if we were sprinting. We’re just jogging, but we are moving forward.”
And in the meantime, the waiting goes on.
Shannon Nickinson is the editor of www.progresspromise.com, a news and analysis website in Pensacola. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
