November 14, 2004
By Robert Perez
Sentinel Staff Writer

The massive tree trunk in Carolyn Betts' front yard came from a single water oak that towered over her Sanford home before Central Florida's summer of hurricanes. It's about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, and other pieces in the 6-foot-high pile easily outweigh the 72-year-old widow.

Betts and her neighbor paid $6,600 for a private crew to take down the damaged tree and get it to the curb for pickup by city workers.

But there it still sits like company that's overstayed its welcome, and Betts fears it will never be carted off because the city has completed its sweep of hurricane debris.

In pockets throughout Central Florida, uncollected debris -- from tree limbs, splintered fencing and roofing material -- remains piled in front of homes despite months of methodical cleanup efforts. The reasons: cleanup crews that missed sites, and homeowners who didn't haul debris out in time.

Now, government-paid debris removal has halted or is winding down in many cities and counties, and homeowners such as Betts face the possibility of having to get rid of the stuff on their own.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Betts asked. "I don't have any more money to get this moved."

Not all homeowners are out of luck. Large areas of the region are still collecting debris, but even their time is running out.

Osceola County residents have until Friday to haul their refuse to the curb. People in Orange County have until Nov. 28.

Orlando has set up a hotline for reporting uncollected hurricane debris, and city residents have until Dec. 17 to get their stuff out.

Seminole County will continue collecting through the end of the month -- picking up mostly large trunks and stumps -- though the deadline to put out debris was more than a month ago.

But in many places, especially smaller cities such as Sanford, debris removal has ended. And, despite repeated reminders and extensions, people are still dragging large debris to the curb.

The deadline for Deltona residents was Oct. 15, but Mayor John Masiarczyk knows additional debris has been put out. He says there is no way all of it will be picked up.

"There are an awful lot of people who didn't move the debris to the curb," Masiarczyk said.

That means some, especially the elderly who would likely have more trouble getting debris out, might have to turn to friends, neighbors and charitable organizations for help.

"We could be hard-nosed and say, 'You didn't put it out on time,' " he said. "But I look at it differently. They are our people, and they need our help. If they can't get it out, I'll get veterans groups, Cub Scout troops or someone else to help."

Sanford officials are scrambling to find help for Betts and others who didn't get their debris collected. The city's contractor, DRC, wrapped up a third sweep of the city and left town weeks ago, City Manager Al Grieshaber said. But he also acknowledged that debris is still out there.

"We have piles of debris remaining for whatever reason," he said. "We need to get a plan together and a cost estimate to get it cleaned up."

For people such as Betts, their best chance may be to contact local officials, such as a city or county commissioner, for help.

Sanford City Commissioner Art Woodruff last week asked Grieshaber to come up with a plan for dealing with uncollected debris. He said he understands why some people missed the cutoff.

"I have three trees in my yard leaning at a 45-degree angle," he said. "They're going to have to come down."

Woodruff and other city and county officials will have to balance their desire to help with the understanding that the Federal Emergency Management Administration eventually will stop picking up the lion's share of the cost.

"I know we can't break the bank picking stuff up, but we have to allow for exceptions," Woodruff said.

The challenge will be finding the money for those exceptions. At least one local government is working on a solution.

Orange County Chairman Richard Crotty announced earlier this week that he had asked Gov. Jeb Bush and state legislators to allow state sales tax revenue to be used to cover what FEMA will not.

Under Crotty's proposal, which he said is modeled on legislation passed after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the state would return sales-tax revenue generated by hurricane rebuilding to the counties where the money was spent.

In addition to covering leftover cleanup expenses along public rights of way, the money also could help those living in gated communities. Orange, like other governments, refused to enter those neighborhoods because they are considered private property and FEMA won't reimburse it.

Although Crotty raised the possibility with county commissioners, he admitted that "there's a long list of other things" he would want to fund first.

Instead, Crotty has ordered his staff to review Orange County's gated-community rules. Potential changes could include notifying people who buy such homes that the county will not clean up the neighborhood after a hurricane. Orange also could force the communities to buy disaster insurance or maintain a reserve fund for emergency damage.

"Hopefully we'll bring it forward in the next few weeks," Crotty said.

For people who don't want to rely on government contractors, several cities and counties continue to have community drop-off sites. Orlando is down to one location, having closed two others last week. Residents still can drop off debris at the site on South Street near the Citrus Bowl from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week, except during the Florida Classic on Saturday and the UCF football game Nov. 23.

One of the byproducts of the debris removal may come back to Central Florida residents. Many jurisdictions have run debris through chippers, creating mountains of mulch. Seminole County, for example, will give away unlimited amounts of hurricane-generated mulch Saturday and Nov. 21 at Soldiers Creek Park on County Road 419.

Jason Garcia of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Robert Perez can be reached at rperez@orlandosentinel.com or 407-322-1298.

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