Our homes and businesses are investments. In most cases, they are a family’s largest investment. Those investments have already been rocked.
Placing a landfill in this area would put those investments at risk.
The East Pasco Realtors sent a letter to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection outlining their concerns about property values. Their concerns were validated by a quick review of the property valuation Angelo’s had purchased. The value of this property has already dropped 32 percent.
Citrus farmers should be especially concerned. By law, growers must enclose pre-planted citrus trees in screened nurseries to avoid insect-transported diseases.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services wrote to the Department of Environmental Protection to explain that an increased bird population would mean increased maintenance to these enclosures. That means increased costs to farmers.
This facility would take money away from the community as well. If the landfill were constructed, Pasco County would give up the extra $7.5 million in revenue it could have made from generating electricity. That’s how much more the community stood to make each year from expanding its waste-to-energy facility at Shady Hills.