TAMPA, Fla. — An unpermitted commercial dump in Hillsborough County has grown into a three-story mound, despite multiple warnings from state and local agencies.
The ABC Action News I-Team has learned that the owner of the company operating the facility has a history of environmental violations.
Acting on a tip in January, we staked out the site and captured a steady stream of trucks entering what was once a vacant lot. A mountain of waste composed mostly of construction and demolition, called “C & D” materials, towered above the trees.
Site has no permit, contains wetlands
State estimates said thousands of tons of debris has been dumped, piled and packed by heavy machinery on the site, even though the facility has never had a permit.
Maximo Sanchez is the president of the company that owns the site. “I'm sure you’re not doing any good,” Sanchez said when we met him at another waste facility he operates in Drew Park.
When we asked him about the violations at the Hartford Street site, he referred us to his attorney.
Records show his company didn’t obtain a permit for the Hartford Street site but still dumped waste into the environmentally sensitive wetlands there.
The Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission, or “EPC”, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spend millions every year protecting Florida's coastal wetlands.
“They’re important parts of our ecosystem. They're the kidneys of our landscape,” said Hillsborough County EPC Wetlands Director Michael Lynch.
“Any sort of material that would be put in a wetland that could degrade its environment would require an authorization from EPC point blank,” Lynch said. “Currently, the site on Hartford Street has no authorization from EPC or any other regulatory body to fill the wetland.”
“They’ve been warned”
The Hillsborough County EPC opened a case last November. Records show Florida DEP first received a complaint in 2022.
Walter Smith II owns an environmental engineering firm and represents the Tampa Bay Sierra Club.
“I cannot understand for the life of me how it is that something unpermitted can go as long as this has gone and nothing be done about it,” Smith said. “It’s not good at all.”
Records show state regulators contacted Sanchez multiple times about violations and informed him the site would face enforcement action if they were not corrected.
“You know clearly they’ve been warned,” Smith said.
An email obtained by the I-Team shows the Environmental Protection Commission contacted the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in July of 2022, saying full solid waste management activities were going on at the Hartford Street location and that they were not permitted.
Florida DEP spokesperson Brian Humphreys sent us the following statement regarding the Monday:
"The responsible party and owner of the property, Tri-County Hauling and Demolition (Tri-County), applied to register as a solid waste container-to-container sorting facility in 2021 but was denied registration. Tri-County intended to store solid waste in roll-off dumpsters while sorting it by type before hauling the waste to landfills for disposal. Complaints from neighbors indicated the site was operating despite not being registered. DEP’s investigation is active and ongoing, and we are committed to enforcing Florida's environmental laws and holding violators accountable."
Sanchez’s lawyer, George Gramling, declined an interview, writing in an email, “I cannot discuss this matter until it is finally resolved, given the potential for litigation.”
Smith says that even though most of the material in the dump is considered C & D material, that doesn’t mean it’s safe for the environment.
"To say that is to assume that you know exactly what has been dumped,” Smith said.
C & D material makes up about 25 percent of Florida’s solid waste. According to a Florida DEP report, 1.4 million tons of C & D material was collected in Hillsborough County in 2022. That’s nearly a ton for each county resident.
The state does not know how much material is in the Hartford Street landfill.
Smith worries the Hartford Street site may not separate and remove hazardous materials like tires, lead paint, asbestos and arsenic-treated wood.
“It could, at one point, leach out into the wetland area. And when that happens, it gets into the groundwater. It gets into the groundwater, then we have a real problem because then it begins to affect wildlife,” Smith said.
Owner has history of violations
Sanchez has a history of environmental violations.
He was warned by Florida DEP for violations at a site on Linebaugh Ave.
In 2021, Sanchez was charged with criminal misdemeanors by DEP for failure to obtain a permit and failure to comply with environmental regulations at the Linebaugh Avenue site, including storing waste tires at that facility.
Sanchez pleaded “not guilty,” and his criminal charge was thrown out as part of a pre-trial diversion agreement.
“I've been in business 40 years, run a successful business. I have multiple businesses but I don’t need to tell you all of that, you can find it,” Sachez said.
He would not discuss his prior violations.
“You’ve got any questions, contact my attorney,” Sanchez said.
Agreement finally reached with EPC
On March 14th, the Hillsborough County EPC negotiated a consent order with Sanchez for the Hartford Street site.
“That consent order is saying remove the fill material, re-grade and plant that wetland to restore it,” Lynch said. “You can’t just take it to another unauthorized venue.”
The agreement says the company is to remove all the fill material within nine month and will have to pay $4,000 for investigative costs, expenses, and civil penalties.
“That would be a huge undertaking, because now what you’re going to do is reverse what you’ve done,” Smith said.
He estimated that the costs of the cleanup could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
If you have a story you’d like the I-Team to investigate, email us at adam@abcactionnews.com
