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In Port Richey, a couple again wants to burn trees. Neighbors again protest. The city enacts a 90-day ban and seeks a permanent one.
By MATTHEW WAITE
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 15, 2001
PORT RICHEY -- It was just like old times.
All the right people were there. They were talking about the same things. The groans, the grumbles, the speeches, it was all there.
The incinerator debacle was back before the Port Richey City Council on Tuesday night in a different form, but the same people were upset.
This time, residents of Suncoast Gateway Mobile Village were angry because the couple who bought land behind their park were wanting to burn trees they cleared off the land in a portable incinerator.
"This is like a bad dream," said Ed Schultz, the former owner of the mobile home park. "It just keeps coming and it won't go away."
Because of the ruckus, the City Council on Tuesday night passed a 90-day ban on burning associated with clearing property and ordered the city attorney to draft an ordinance that would permanently ban burning trees cleared from land.
Though the move satisfied the nearly 80 residents of the park who came to the meeting, the landowners, Tim and Cindi Walker, were upset.
If it weren't for a statewide burn ban in effect, the Walkers already would have burned trees with permits they had, Tim Walker said. He said having to haul the debris away would cost him as much as $30,000.
"This is the final word," Walker told the council. "Either you follow the guidelines, or I'll have an attorney talk next."
City Manager Vince Lupo said, however, that the Walkers already might be grandfathered in under any ordinance the council passes because they already have permits.
Last June, the park residents came en masse to City Hall to fight a zoning change for the Walkers, who at first said they intended to put a permanent air-curtain incinerator on the land at the end of Siesta Lane, but later withdrew. The zoning change was later approved, despite the objections of the park residents.
In other business Tuesday night, the council passed the official school impact fee agreement unanimously with little discussion. The vote was largely perfunctory: The council voted unanimously to support it in February.
-- Staff writer Matthew Waite can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is waite@sptimes.com.