FEMA rules about gated communities affect cleanup
Some leaders worry that funding is uncertain
Mounds of storm debris in a Gotha gated community worry homeowners association president Mike George, who wonders if Hurricane Irma’s mess will ever get picked up — and by whom.
“The whole area really got blasted,” said George, standing in front of a waist-high stack of sticks, logs and bagged leaves in the Oaks of Windermere, a neighborhood of 74 homes southeast of Winter Garden.
“We’re taxpayers. We’re part of the community. I’m a little surprised and extremely disappointed the county isn’t stepping up. It seems like picking this up would be common sense.”
FEMA rules have muddled the slow-moving cleanup of hurricane debris in Central Florida, where some officials, including government leaders in Orange County and Orlando, fear the agency may not reimburse the costs of hauling storm debris from gated communities like George’s.
FEMA views gated communities as private property and generally won’t reimburse local governments for disaster work performed on private property. Despite that policy, in the wake of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, FEMA has said it may fund the cost if debris “is so widespread that it threatens public health and safety or economic recovery of a community.”
But it’s no guarantee. Orlando, for example, “is following FEMA rules and not using contractors to collect from private property, like gated communities,” city spokeswoman Heather Fagan said in an email. “City crews will continue to service these areas.”
Frank Yokiel, project manager for Orange County Public Works, said the county has fielded debrisremoval inquiries from 117 of its 270 gated communities, and about half of those neighborhoods are handling the cleanup themselves. County staffers will begin assessing conditions in other gated communities next week.
Lake County commissioners relied on FEMA’s view about gated communities this week when they voted to spend another $500,000 on contractors to take rotting piles of curbside debris from all residential properties, including those in gated communities and along roads not maintained by the county.
“They wouldn’t have approved that without this,” said Lake County Interim Public Works Director Kristian Swenson, referring to FEMA’s flexibility on covering costs in gated communities.
The gated-community dilemma is another headache for Central Florida governments, many of which have had to scramble to find properly equipped outfits to pick up fallen trees and limbs from public rights-of-way.
That’s because many contractors couldn't fulfill pre-storm agreements with counties and cities after subcontractors bolted for better-paying debris-removal jobs in South Florida and Texas, where battering hurricanes also left a trail of downed trees and fallen limbs.
Seminole County commissioners decided this week to renegotiate an emergency debris-removal contract with Ceres Environmental.
The former pact called for Ceres to earn $7.49 for every cubic yard collected, but they could now get $15.48 per cubic yard, more than double the price.
While looking for more help, short-handed communities say the pickup chore could take six weeks to two months, possibly longer.
Some estimates put the total bill in the tens of millions in Central Florida.
Despite uncertainty about FEMA reimbursement, some local governments directed contractors to collect Irma debris in all neighborhoods, including gated ones.
“They’re our citizens. They pay taxes,” Winter Garden City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said. “They’re entitled to the same level of service and it’s our responsibility.”
Maitland City Manager Sharon Anselmo said the city would remove storm debris from its three gated neighborhoods, too.
“Whether we’re reimbursed or not — and we hope we will be — we’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do,” she said last week.
If FEMA rejects the city’s removal expenses, Maitland will appeal, she said.
Apopka Mayor Joe Kilsheimer said while the city hadn’t gotten clear guidance from FEMA about reimbursement, the city intends to serve residents of gated communities anyway.
“We’re going to pick up their storm debris, absolutely,” he said.
However, Yokiel said Orange County won’t take the risk. He said gated communities that need help removing storm debris will be given options: hire a contractor to take debris to one of the county’s 11 dropoff sites or ask the county for a Dumpster-like container that could be parked outside the community’s gates and filled with neighborhood storm clutter.
The county used that strategy after hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne in 2004.
“We had to literally drag all the debris off the property and out onto the public roads,” said George, homeowners association president in Oaks of Windermere.
The area was less developed back then.
“There are houses there now,” George said. “Now you’ve got crossing guards, you have schoolbus traffic, you’ve got a lot of major traffic throughout the day. It’s a nightmare. There’s got to be a better plan. Where are you going to put the [storm] trash?”