This week, the saga of the Rolling Hills construction demolition debris landfill will see another chapter.

The landfill has long drawn complaints from residents concerned about the noise, traffic and health impacts the facility has on their neighborhood and their property values.

Brandy Smith, external affairs manager for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said DEP officials have a meeting this week with South Palafox Properties Inc., owners of the property.

“We have a meeting… to discuss the department’s closure requirements and the possibilities of how South Palafox Properties can incorporate an extensive waste removal project into that process,” Smith said. “However, it is the department’s firm expectation that South Palafox will immediately address site conditions that led to the facility’s closure and that any long-term site activity, such as the proposed waste removal, will need to follow a transparent, regulatory-approval process.”

Earlier this month, Scott Miller, managing partner of South Palafox, issued a statement outlining
part of a plan to excavate and recycle waste from the landfill.

“As it stands, South Palafox Properties has not provided the department with any additional details on the proposed waste to energy project or the closure and long term care plan required by the final order,” Smith said.

On May 29, DEP upheld an administrative law judge’s revocation of Rolling Hills’ permit.
That order is linked here.

The DEP's order notes that South Palafox Properties had 30 days to submit a permit application for closure and long-term care of the facility, close the facility, complete closure within 180 days of obtaining the permit for closure; and conduct the long-term care of the facility all in accordance with Florida Administrative Code.

On May 15, county officials closed the landfill to new debris based on conditions county environmental personnel found at the landfill that violated a special magistrate's order to the owners to address code provisions including:

• — Discharging a nuisance odor beyond its property.
• — Failing to properly cover landfill to deprive debris of oxygen to prevent emission of offensive odors and reduce the threat of fire inside the landfill.
• — Exceeding the height restriction of the facility’s permit.
• — Allowing the landfill mound to become visible from beyond the property line.
• — Accepting land-clearing debris in unpermitted areas

In April the county fined the landfill owners for violating the magistrate's final order. The landfill began as a small borrow pit, but grew into a larger facility over time that came into conflict with the neighbors and faced numerous financial woes.

Officials monitoring site

Rolling Hills was the county’s only construction and demolition debris landfill. It’s closure has forced builders to take their debris to other smaller facilities a greater distance away or to the Perdido Landfill — where they must pay a $45.06 per ton tipping fee.

Escambia County staff have continued to monitor the site. That includes air quality monitoring for the presence of hydrogen sulfide. The gas, which smells like rotten eggs, is a respiratory irritant and can exacerbate symptoms for people with breathing problems, the elderly and others.

Keith Wilkins, Escambia County’s director of community and environment department, said “we are trying to work with DEP to get them to maintain their compliance, and make sure air emissions are not a nuisance or a health hazard.”

Wilkins said Rolling Hills still is in violation of the nuisance odor standards and there remain issues with the elevation of the debris pile at the landfill.

Meanwhile, Escambia County Commissioners postponed until Aug. 13 finalizing a new ordinance governing land clearing debris and CD&D pits, a move inspired by the problems at Rolling Hills.

The new ordinance would establish new, more strict monitoring rules. All of the facilities in the county would need to get new permits, County Attorney Allison Rogers said, with limited grandfathering for setbacks and acreage.

The county has a moratorium in place in permitting new pits that will expire on Aug. 21.

Commissioners were to vote on the ordinance at the July 23 meeting, but put it off.

Phillip McCoy, the owner of McDirt Industries, spoke at the meeting about concerns about how the new ordinance would impact his construction material recycling operation.

McCoy said his company recycles concrete, asphalt, topsoil and gravel into reusable building material. Language in the new ordinance about storing such material at a recycling facility McCoy felt needed clarification.

“We get a lot of material in daily, but we don’t process and recycle the same amount of material out daily,” McCoy said. “There is some excess that ends up inventory. We turn over inventory everyday. but it would be impossible to empty the entire yard in six months.”

Staff will work on the language that will clearly differentiate between “storage” and “recycling” and bring it back to commissioners for a special meeting on Aug. 13.

That way “(code enforcement director) Horace (Jones) has a very strong stick when he goes out there for enforcement.”

“We have to remember that we live in a county where somebody had a borrow pit and they called it a catfish pond,” Underhill said. “The bad acts of the past are the things we must consider when we think about the ordinance that we pass.”

Gloria Horning, who has been advocating on behalf of the residents, also noted her concern that Escambia County Health Department Director John Lanza is using the standard of 200 ppb (parts per billion) for a health alert to be issued for the presence of hydrogen sulfide.

Horning would prefer the standard of 70 ppb be used. That level is listed by the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry and the minimum risk level for “acute exposure” to hydrogen sulfide.

Escambia County officials report weekly air quality monitoring results at the Marie Young Community Center in Wedgewood.

LaFanetta Soles-Woods, who lives in Wedgewood, spoke about the frustration many have felt about the issue.

“Right now you all have an ordinance in place and no one does anything about that one,” she said.