BRADENTON — Site preparations for a development called SeaFlower that is planned at the southwest corner of Cortez Road and 75th Street West have generated a litany of complaints from nearby residents who say not enough is being done to mitigate dust. Manatee County officials say contractors will be shut down at least through Wednesday to concentrate solely on dust mitigation.
Nearby homeowners say the site has led to an influx of dust and dirt in their neighborhoods, which has been an issue for months. The heavy winds that took place over the weekend caused an even more problematic dust cloud.
"They cleared a massive amount of land at once last year and do not plant grass or water near enough to control the sustained dust," one resident told TBT. "Our adjacent neighborhoods and businesses are inundated with it. Our homes and vehicles are covered with it, not to mention eyes and breathing it. They could be using that sprayed on grass like the FDOT or at least sowing seeds for temporary grass and spring more water when operating."
An investigation was launched by WFLA's 8 on Your Side. The news station reported Monday that they had received word from the county that the site had been closed.
"Manatee County monitors the air quality at construction sites," an unnamed spokesperson was quoted as having told WFLA. "County staff is in the process of shutting the contractors down to focus solely on dust control through Wednesday and potentially longer depending on the success of achieving dust control. Unfortunately, it appears that most contractors did not perform any dust control activities during the weekend to meet their responsibilities. While achieving zero dust leaving a construction site is not possible, the amount of dust control provided was unacceptable, and staff is making sure the contractors are taking corrective action before work will be allowed to commence again."
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WTF
Major developers have been operating this way for decades because they contributed heavily to previous elected officials who chose to look the other way. That being said it does not negate the fact that laws and policy have been broken and the staff along with Code Enforcment were instructed to look the other way. This is unacceptable when the previous board and administrators instructed staff not to shut them down. That should say something about the moral compass of Staff at the county and not one whistleblower coming forward in years. Apparently the Almighty dollar and a paycheck are more important than the health welfare and safety of our community.
As always…. FOLLOW THE MONEY
Wednesday, March 19 Report this
nmtruax
This was truly an act of raping the land. The dust "storms" after the land was destroyed were horrible. One could barely see sometimes while driving, but the elected officials have absolutely no regard for saving any precious land in Bradenton. Destroy Destroy Destroy, to hell with nature, and let's make sure the forthcoming nightmare traffic on Cortez to the island begins at 75th and Cortez.
Remember "Where have all the flowers gone"?
Here the theme song should be "Where have all the wetlands, reeds, birds, bee hives, wild grasses, respect for Nature gone"? Gone to developers' pockets so more pollution and harm to the environment can continue in full force. (I should have added gladiolas to the above line ... Remember when they were on that land?)
Money Money Money ... It's a rich man's (developer's) world.
Wednesday, March 19 Report this
Dianna
Changes need to be made to Code Enforcement. Even when the county tells violators options to correct, violators don’t follow county directions and make up their own “fix” to violation which does nothing to correct. Magically Code Enforcement states your problem is now civil? Also, making complainants pull public records every time they want an update is lazy and unproductive and must also create a lot of unnecessary work for our public records department. This is not good customer service to the taxpayers.
Wednesday, March 19 Report this
sandy
I saw NO water trucks at 75th St W and Cortez Rd this past weekend. The worst of the dust was blowing north across Cortez where there are a lot of homes.Code Enforcement should be out there on windy days citing the developers that are not complying. It's bad enough that pollen is high and now dealing with this dust on top of it for people with respiratory issues.
Wednesday, March 19 Report this
David Daniels
It shouldn't take residents generating a litany of complaints to get the county to act. It shouldn't take getting News Channel 8 involved. Residents that live near the hundreds of acres that have been clear cut experienced this same thing a few months ago. They were told that no new ordinances were needed, just enforcement of existing requirements. That hasn't worked. The worksites are being shut down AFTER the damage is done. After homeowners right to enjoy their property has been violated. The answer is #1 - to require financial reparations for the damage. #2 - to prohibit clear cutting. The BoCC should pass those two changes, otherwise, we'll see this cycle continue to repeat over and over. A windy weekend, residents complain, damage occurs, then the county acts after the fact.
Wednesday, March 19 Report this
rayfusco68
Besides the dust storm problem they have been working on the two traffic circles for almost a year now. This is causing major congestion on 75th street at the light on Cortez. The County needs to deal with this and make the contractor finish the job post haste. This is a ridiculous situation.
Wednesday, March 19 Report this