Community urges county to block expansion of landfill in SE Gainesville neighborhood
Local organizations and community members are urging the Alachua County Commission to prevent the expansion of a landfill they say is threatening public health in a southeast Gainesville neighborhood.
The landfill, owned by Southeast Landholdings Inc., is over 48 acres and lies across the street from historic Boulware Springs City Park and the Alachua County Sweetwater Preserve. Residents of the neighborhood have expressed their concerns at recent county meetings, saying the smell is awful and that dust and debris cover their yards and homes. Now, the landfill may be on track to expand from 35 feet tall to 70 feet.
“The residents of Southeast Gainesville have been subjected to the noise, dust, and pollution from this landfill for more than 50 years,” a press release from Sierra Club reads. “This is an environmental injustice that our community must make right.”
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Southeast Landholdings Inc. had a Special Use Permit (SUP) that expired at the end of January. Since then, the company has filed for a legislative extension of the permit that would allow it to double the landfill in size as well as circumvent any public hearing process before the county.
Seven local groups — Sierra Club Suwannee-St Johns Group, Alachua County NAACP, Saint Peter Saint Paul Community Council, M.A.M.A. Club, Alachua County Labor Coalition, North Central Florida Indivisible and Florida For All — sent a letter to the county Feb. 9 urging commissioners not to honor the extension of the permit.
“To protect the health and safety of Southeast Gainesville residents, and to preserve water quality throughout Alachua County, we respectfully ask that you not honor the Legislative Extension of the Special Use Permit for the Florence C&D Landfill and enforce a closure plan in 2024,” the letter reads.
Members of the neighborhood gathered outside a county building in January to demand the commission take action against the landfill. Doing so, they said, would be important to a predominantly Black, low-income neighborhood.
“I have a dump less than 1,000 feet from my front door. The man on the northwest side has a plaza with a Publix, McDonald’s, and an Anytime Fitness Center,” said resident Johnell Gainey. “I don’t want to trade places with him. All I want to do is, when I go out my front door, to see a community that has value, a community that’s an asset to the city, a community I can be proud of. Can that be a reality? Or is it just another dream?”
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Community asks county to close dump in SE Gainesville neighborhood
