SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. — The vultures circling over Lake Panasoffkee make for a foreboding welcome to people who drive into what was supposed to be a rural lakeside paradise.
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It’s not the birds that has the residents of the Sumter County community up in arms, though. Instead, the stench from a large private landfill just to the southeast brought them to Bushnell city commissioners Monday night to complain.
“We live in a community that’s beautiful, and the smell just turns you away,” Stormie Boyer said.
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Boyer and others claimed when the wind blows toward them, the stink becomes unbearable, forcing people to stay inside. One person said ambulances have been called for people who passed out.
The landfill, called the Heart of Florida Landfill, has been open since 2013, according to its website. It’s considered a Class 1 landfill, which can handle the most amount of waste per day. Many of the homes in the area were built decades earlier.
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Residents are now calling on Bushnell, county and state leaders to investigate the landfill and its affiliate, Waste Connections, for possible violations of Florida laws regulating odors, especially because the landfill is going through the permitting process to be allowed to expand.
To date, though, there’s no proof that the landfill or Waste Connections is violating the law in any way. The landfill has a number of probes monitoring ground water and other systems.
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“I just really think they’re not taking care of business like they should have,” Dale Whitaker said.
Residents said they believe there’s a path forward, but it begins with a conversation about how to minimize the landfill’s odor.
WFTV reached out to Waste Connections for comment and to see if the company was engaging in conversations with local leaders and neighbors. The company’s spokespeople did not respond to questions Monday.
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