PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Broken toilets, moldy mattresses, tons of splintered plywood, and piles of water-logged carpet.
Big doesn’t even begin to describe the debris pile that stretches the length of a football field at the back of the Gateway Mobile Home Park near Gandy Beach in Pinellas County.
Months after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the debris hasn’t been collected, and Connie Aguero wants to know why.
“It’s stinky, it’s moldy, and there are critters living in it now,” she said. “We’re not sure exactly what’s really going on, and we’d like to have some answers, and we’d really like this gone.”
Matthew Soehnlen, the president of Gateway’s homeowners association, said the pile isn’t just an eyesore. It’s a moldy health hazard bringing rats to the mobile home park.
“We have a cat at the house there, a stray cat, and she caught a rat the other day again,” he said.
He urged homeowners at Gateway to call Pinellas County, and they’re doing just that.
“My office gets phone calls from Gateway Mobile Home Park every single day,” said Vince Nowicki, a Pinellas County commissioner in a Tuesday meeting.
In the meeting, homeowners learned cleaning up the mess is complicated.
According to the county, before the government pays to collect the debris, FEMA has to see if the mobile home park’s insurance will cover the clean-up.
“If they received insurance, then why, you know — why should we do that collection?” said County Administrator Barry Burton.
To make matters more complicated, the park is owned by a California company. Homeowners told ABC Action News they struggle to contact ownership directly.
“Can this be a code enforcement issue where you could start fining the park?” Commissioner Chris Scherer asked county staff.
“Yes,” they replied.
However, the county is not taking that step yet. It’s giving FEMA and the park more time, which means homeowners like Aguero are stuck with the mess for now.
The park manager told ABC Action News the park has submitted paperwork and was assured by the county the debris would be removed, yet that hasn’t happened.
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