ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A stinky situation in Orange County has left residents of a townhouse community to find their own solutions, including piling their trash bags on their own patios.
Kristy Porter, the property manager of the Decatur Street townhomes, near Baldwin Park, said her father used to own the property and split the cost of a dumpster with the building next door.
The owner of the other building sold the property, and the new owners earlier this month removed the dumpster, leaving the townhouse tenants without a place to take their trash.
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For over 15 days, the townhome residents have been clearing their own trash, taking it to dumpsters at their workplaces or outside other businesses.
At times, however, the trash piles up on enclosed patios.
“So this has been kind of standard practice for the last 15 days or so?” News 6 community correspondent Mike Valente asked.
“They’ve been very patient, but now it’s been like over 15 days and that’s just not acceptable,” said Porter, who added that she ordered trash bins from Orange County’s solid waste management division in early December.
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“They said that they canceled the trash bins on Dec. 15 and told me to call because it was a business,” Porter said. “This is not a business, it’s residential.”
News 6 reached out to Orange County Utilities, who said in part in a statement, “This is a very unusual situation.”
The Solid Waste Management team at Orange County Utilities has been in contact with Ms. Porter and is aware of this issue related to the townhome properties. These properties have not been assessed or paid County collection service since an exemption was granted in the 1980s. This is a very unusual situation, and staff is looking into the matter, but it will take some time to research. Our team apologizes for any confusion that began when the cart order was made December 2. Due to the unique circumstances of these properties and the previous dumpster arrangement, the townhomes do not currently qualify for our program’s carts, but we are reviewing options.
Orange County Utilities
Until then, residents will continue to deal with the stinky situation.