WCOM NEWS

6-24-04

County testing material used as filler in Miramar

MIRAMAR--Trucks have been dumping thousands of loads of fill -- dirt mixed with construction debris -- and spreading it for free to any takers in the Country Club Ranches community.

But after hearing neighbors complain that bits of beer cans, razors and glass were mixed in with the dirt, city officials ordered soil tests, which came back positive for arsenic, county officials said.

"After I inspected the fill, I realized there is something wrong. There are inconsistencies, and we needed to get involved," City Manager Robert Payton said Wednesday. "There's enough of a concern that it requires more thorough testing to see if there's negative consequences as it relates to drinking water."

As a result, Broward County's Department of Planning and Environmental Protection took over the case, retrieving soil samples from six locations in the western community, said Richard Wilkins, director of the pollution prevention division.

He said the results are expected back in about a week.

"There's two concerns -- direct contact [ingestion] of the soil that has elevated levels of arsenic; and the arsenic leaching through the soil and getting into the groundwater," he said. "But the levels the city found were not high enough to be concerned about the leaching into the groundwater."

Payton said the police department is stopping all trucks with fill that enter the 290-home community, south of Miramar Parkway and west of Flamingo Road.

The city is notifying residents not to put the dirt on their land.

Many of the community's residents have taken advantage of the free fill, using it to boost the elevation of their properties for drainage reasons. However, they lacked the needed permits to do so, prompting complaints from neighbors who feared their yards would flood when it rained.

The trucks have been coming for five days a week, every week since March, said Larry Rockliff, a director with the Country Club Ranches Homeowners Association.

"Here's thousands and thousands of truckloads coming in, all for free," he said. "If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true."

About 50 people have filled their yards, said Fred Cooper, who has lived in the community for 12 years and is worried about what else might be in the dirt.

"Construction materials like fiberglass, pressure-treated wood and plaster or concrete products contain known carcinogens," he said. "Also, the presence of sharp objects such as broken glass, metal and razor blades cause a safety concern for people and animals."

The city is not sure who is dumping the fill,Payton said, but if the county's tests confirm there is enough arsenic to cause a health problem, the fill would have to be removed by either the company that delivered it or the owner of the site that provided it.

Cooper said several of his neighbors received the free fill after calling Sun Recycling, which serves Broward, Dade and Palm Beach counties.

The company's spokesman , Philip Medico, said they deliver and spread fill, but screen the material so nothing bigger than an inch and a half can get through. He said other companies are also delivering in the neighborhood.

"The material that we provide is properly permitted through the state Department of Environmental Protection and Broward County's Department of Planning and Environmental Protection," Medico said. "That is not our material, we don't deliver that nature or quality of material."

Wilkins said the city talked to about 60 homeowners, and many said they received the fill from Sun Recycling. However, he said that doesn't mean it all came from the company.

"There are a few companies that do this kind of thing," Wilkins said. "The fill material can be from anywhere. It doesn't have to come from Broward County. We would have to look at each individual property."

Henry Talton, director of Miramar's engineering services, said residents are supposed to apply for a permit before raising the elevation of their yards but concedes the city's rules are vague. The city is working to amend its ordinance to make it clearer.

"I drove through the community in March and saw some lots with a significant number of piles -- 10 or 15," Talton said. "One vacant lot is 31/2 feet above the road. That is the most extreme case."

(source) Sun Sentinel (Lori Sykes) 6-24-04