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It's Official: Dade City Opposed To Landfill

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By GEOFF FOX

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 10, 2008

DADE CITY - "Vote NO Landfill."

That was the message on more than a dozen T-shirts at Tuesday night's Dade City City Commission meeting. Members of Protectors of Florida's Legacy came to ask commissioners for a formal resolution opposing a 90-acre landfill off Enterprise Road, a mile and a half southeast of the city limits.

The commissioners, minus vacationing Steve Van Gorden, passed a resolution opposing the landfill, proposed by Largo-based Angelo's Aggregate Materials.

The resolution is purely symbolic, as city officials have no say on whether the project will be permitted. That decision rests with the state Department of Environmental Protection and Pasco County officials.

That didn't matter to John Floyd, a member of the citizens group and owner of Floyd and Associates, a citrus nursery adjacent to the proposed landfill.

"The citizens do not want it," he said. "If it's the right thing to do, it's in the wrong place. You've got the Withlacoochee River right there, the Hillsborough River not far south and the Green Swamp. They're ready to endanger our water supply, and they don't care.

"It's a large, private company that wants to come in here and make money off our county and put us all at risk."

No one from Angelo's spoke at the meeting. John Arnold, an engineer with the company, did not return several phone calls or an e-mail seeking comment.

Although critics worry about water contamination and other issues, Angelo's has billed the landfill as a composting facility that would use innovative technologies to minimize environmental risks and speed waste decomposition.

DEP spokeswoman Pamala Vazquez said Angelo's application process began in late 2006.

"Our relationship with the public started weeks later," she said, referring to calls and visits from people concerned about the facility.

The agency is reviewing Angelo's two applications, Vazquez said.

One is an environmental resource permit pertaining to wetlands impact, the other a solid-waste permit.

The DEP, which has requested more information from Angelo's on both permits multiple times, is under no deadline to make decisions.

"We have taken many, many comments and met with citizens who have come to the agency," Vazquez said. "We promised them that when the department makes a decision and if the decision is to permit the landfill, that we would have a community meeting beforehand.

"When citizens provide comments, we send the comments to our technical experts."

If the landfill is approved, interested parties can argue against the permits through administrative hearings.

Those hearings are presided over by a judge with the state Department of Administrative Hearings, which Vazquez said has nothing to do with the DEP.

Pennie Jefferson of Dade City, who wore a T-shirt opposing the landfill, hopes it doesn't get that far.

"I'm concerned with the Green Swamp and the drinking water to Tampa," she said. "This is the worst possible place in the whole county to put a facility like that. But I know how development is and learned to pay attention when people propose these things. You have to be proactive and not wait."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or gfox@tampatrib.com.

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