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Southgate Apartments residents contend that the requirements are inconvenient, or even dangerous, for the elderly and disabled.
By BETH GLENN
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 21, 2000
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Residents of Southgate Apartments on Charlotte Avenue plan to fight tonight for their right to leave their outdoor trash bins exposed.
The city code requires that trash bins be screened on three sides so the view is obstructed at ground level. Southgate's trash bins would also require a gate. But 110 of Southgate's 135 residents signed a petition asking council members to exempt them from the ordinance. And they sent in a stack of letters against the ordinance.
Southgate's request for a variance from the ordinance says the apartments are "for the elderly and disabled" and argues that the gates and screens would become another barrier for residents to navigate.
Ed Worrell, who sits on the committee that would normally review requests for exemptions, abstained from a vote on the matter. But he acted as a spokesman for the residents and summarized their concerns in a memo to Development Review Committee members last month. Worrell's memo said residents feared:
Difficulty opening and closing the gates, "when confined to a walker, motorized vehicle or wheelchair."
Rodents and snakes living in the enclosures.
That elderly residents might fall inside the enclosure "and not be discovered until it is too late."
People leaving their garbage outside the enclosure or not putting it in the trash bin.
"Problems with undesirable people hiding inside the enclosures with no good intentions in mind and do(ing) harm to people.
"(The) ordinance is for cosmetic purposes only and the complex is not seen by anyone other than residents and people coming to visit them," Worrell's memo continues. "Seniors cannot easily adapt to changes such as the enclosures."
But those concerns fell on deaf ears before the review committee. Members voted unanimously Feb. 24 to deny the complex an exemption, finding that a variance would not prove "injurious or particularly detrimental to the public welfare."
"Ninety-seven percent of the 480 identified Dumpsters within the city have come into compliance," review committee members wrote in a memo to council members. "This will set a precedent with respect to regulations regarding trash receptacles in New Port Richey."
Council members have the option to override the recommendation tonight and allow Southgate's three trash bins to go unscreened. They can also choose to tack conditions onto the request.