Landfill opposition retracted

East Pasco Realtors withdraw the position after a prominent lawyer and his Realtor wife object.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP, Times Staff Writer
Published August 16, 2007

DADE CITY - On May 30, the East Pasco Association of Realtors sent a letter to state regulators, stating its opposition to a proposed garbage landfill just outside Dade City.

On Monday, the association sent another letter to the state Department of Environmental Protection, this time retracting its opposition.

"The Board of Directors of the East Pasco Association of Realtors, in representing the East Pasco Association of Realtors, does not favor nor oppose the East Pasco landfill," wrote the association's president, Gregory DeLa Rue.

What happened between May 30 and Aug. 13?

It involves a prominent Dade City attorney and his Realtor wife - both of whom have made millions of dollars in the quest for the landfill - and an intense public relations battle that has raised grave environmental allegations about Pasco County's waste-to-energy incinerator.

Two things happened in that period:

- On July 17, Angelo's Aggregate Material, the company that needs DEP approval for the landfill, made a presentation to the association's board. Angelo's representatives say the presentation succeeded in getting the board to issue its retraction.

- On July 19, attorney Charles Waller wrote to the association's board, saying he heard complaints from several association members that the opposition came from the association's leadership, not all of its members.

"By the term 'we' used in the correspondence, the appearance is that the referenced 233 members are in agreement with the vote," Waller wrote. "To sign it the 'Association' is causing much consternation among a significant group."

DeLa Rue confirmed that the association's members had not voted on the issue.

"Our members were divided," he said Wednesday.

Why did the board change its mind? "This way, other people can't use us as a pawn," he said.

DeLa Rue also said Waller had "a relative" who was a member of the Realtors association, who had objected to the board's May 30 letter.

Waller said his wife, Cynthia Waller, was that member, but added other Realtors had complained to him, too.

"If they want to write that the board feels that way, or if they feel that way personally, that's fine," Waller said. "But they shouldn't create the wrong impression."

Waller and his wife made $6.7-million on June 14, when they sold 158 acres on Messick Road and Old Lakeland Highway to Angelo's for the landfill.

"My money is in the bank," he said. "I'm not dependent on them getting the permit."

He also said he's not courting Angelo's business for a local bank he and others in Dade City are trying to set up.

"That company Angelo's parent is out of Detroit," he said. "Their money is not going to come to some little bank here."

Waller does not represent Angelo's. DeLa Rue said Waller has no role in the association, and said the retraction had nothing to do with Waller.

In his letter, which also went to the DEP, Waller criticized Pasco's waste-to-energy facility, another term for the incinerator. County officials are thinking of expanding it, which would threaten Angelo's proposal.

Waller said the plant in Shady Hills is an unnecessary tax burden and environmentally unsound.

"The alternative is another incinerator, which has been determined to be spewing out mercury and many other chemicals, and if our air becomes unusable, there is no reasonable alternative," Waller wrote. "The proliferation into the air is not a mere possibility, but is a reality right now with the one incinerator."

Covanta, which runs Pasco's facility, disagreed.

"Those comments are absolutely wrong," spokeswoman Beth Leytham said.

According to reports filed annually with DEP, she said, the Pasco plant emits 0.0233 tons a year of mercury, about 9 percent of the state's permitted level for that facility. It's putting out 3.256 tons of particulates a year, or 3 percent of what the state allows, she said.

John Arnold, Angelo's project engineer, dismissed the numbers.

"They have good days and bad days," he said. "The day they do the stack test is a good day."

Angelo's representatives say they'll include an "organic composting" technology in their landfill to turn waste into energy. If permitted, the landfill also could take some pressure off the incinerator, which currently can't burn Pasco's trash fast enough.

Arnold said not all of the East Pasco Realtors board saw the opposition letter sent out May 30. Angelo's representatives warned the board that it may have violated its Realtor code of ethics.

"They can't make statements they can't back up," Arnold said. "They said, 'Tell us what you want us to do.' We said, 'If you can't support it, you should take it back.' They said, 'We'll do that.'"

Landfill opponents say that smacks of intimidation.

"I think what we're seeing is the type of approach they use to get their way," said Carl Roth, spokesman for the Protectors of Florida's Legacy, which opposes the landfill.

DEP officials said last week they were still evaluating Angelo's proposal and may not have a decision for months.

Staff writer Molly Moorhead contributed to this article. Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at (813)909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 15, 2007, 22:16:36]